Come on Rachel, Brent is right behind you!

 The BBC has succumbed to pressure and will be screening the Women's World Cup match between England and France on BBC2 at 5pm.

Local woman Rachel Yankey, who scored the second goal against Japan in England's 2-0 win, will have lots of Brent kids cheering her on. She is well known to them from her football training sessions at local schools, after school clubs, and summer training schemes.

I worked with her at Park Lane Primary School when she did after-school football training. She was always hard working, committed and totally unassuming.  She is an excellent role model for local children.

All change in the local press

A couple of weeks after reporter Tara Brady moved from the Wembley and Willesden Observer to the rival Willesden and Brent Times, Kate Ferguson  of the WBT has moved to the Hampstead and Highgate Express (the Ham and High).

I am sorry to see Kate go as she has been a committed and resourceful reporter who went well beyond the re-writing of press releases that is becoming characteristic of so many cash-starved local papers. Tara Brady is well able to take up the baton.

Meanwhile things at the WWO are less clear.  There has long been a problem of the title not living up to its name with a preponderance of Harrow news, features and letters and this seems to have worsened recently - purchasers need more than a token Brent story on the front page.  The Harrow Observer series needs to strengthen its reporting of Brent issues as well as extending its features to cover the borough if it is to win credibility.

The Harrow Times dabbled in reporting Brent issues a while ago and seemed to be trying to increase the paper's range but again this has diminished recently. This week there is only one Brent story (the teachers' strike). There is no attempt to connect up issues common to the two boroughs such as academy schools,

Something moving on Chalkhill Park?

A little over a week since Chalkhill Primary Pupil Council lobbied their ward councillors over the failure of work to start on the much needed new local park,  a bull-dozer has moved on to the site and has been levelling the mountains of top soil dumped there six weeks ago.

Is this a sign that work has finally begun? Local people are still cynical and rumours that it will be used for housing persist on the estate. We need a definitive statement from the Council about start and finish dates to allay suspicion.

Commerce, educational prospectors and political pressure groups take note

There has been a campaign in Brighton against the possibility of Varndean school becoming an academy.  The headteacher and chair of governors have now posted the following notice on the school website:

Varndean school is not about to become an Academy now or in the near future.

Over the next year, we will be sharply focussed on the needs of our students by continuing to develop our excellent classroom practice. We will be sharply focused on standing shoulder to shoulder with our secondary partners to improve learning across the city as a state funded, comprehensive and inclusive school. We will continue to keep abreast of changes in the educational landscape.

In the event that governors foresee national and local changes as having a significant impact on our ability to deliver high quality education for our students suggesting a change of status, there would be a consultative process with staff, students and parents, prospective parents and other interested parties.

In the meantime, we request that staff, students and governors, be allowed to get on with business as usual, free from some of the unpleasantness that we have experienced as a result of this political activity. Our school is run by skilled professionals, ably supported by governors and educational expertise both locally and nationally.  With regards to commerce, educational prospectors or political pressure groups:

Varndean school is not for sale.

Brent secondary schools take note.

Taxi Cards: "Don't take our freedom away"

Brent New Company TV

Libraries Judicial Review on July 19th and 20th

The date for the Judicial Review of Brent Council's decision to close six of our 12 libraries has been fixed for July 19th and 20th at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand. When times are available for the hearings I will publish them on Wembley Matters so that as many people as possible can attend to show their support.

The Brent SOS Libraries case can be read HERE
and Brent Council's case is HERE

The Brent SOS Libraries Campaign is continuing to hold events to fund-raise for their legal costs:

Wed 13 July - An Evening with the famous actress Harriet Walter and author Deborah Moggach at the North London Tavern, Kilburn 

Wed 20 July - An evening with Philip Pullman, best-selling writer of His Dark Materials - Oueen's Park Community School 

Sat 30 July - The Preston Old Skool Dance 

All details available here: http://brentlibraries.wordpress.com/events/

Brent SOS T-shirts are also available as is signed merchandise by the likes of JLS, Nick Cave and Erasure at the Kensal Rise Library Campaign Shop

The 'Power of Community' Comes to Willesden

Click on image to enlarge

Pupils press for work to start on new park

Plan for the new park (March 2011) Click on image to enlarge

Chalkhill Primary's Pupil School Council lobbied ward councillors recently when they held a walk-about on the estate.

The children presented councillors with a letter that asked when work would start on the park and when it would be finished. They stressed that local children needed a park and how awful the site looks at present. They finished by asking if the Council really did want to build the park.

Cllr Shafique Choudhary, on behalf of the three Labour councillors, promised to keep writing to the Council until something was done.

The new park will be built on the site of the old Chalkhill Health Centre between the ASDA car park and the Metropolitan railway line. Work was expected to start last Autumn but was delayed, according to the parks department, because of severe weather. A Spring start didn't take place, this time because of 'staff shortage'. Top soil was recently brought to the site, raising the hopes of local residents, but no further work has taken place.