The Queen this week celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of her coronation and I was honoured on Tuesday to be invited to attend the special thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey, to mark her life's work in the service of our nation. The Queen's reign has been a model of duty and dedication to the service of the people, and should be an example and inspiration to everyone in public life today.
Inspiring and supporting young people to become involved in projects to benefit their community would be a fitting legacy from The Queen's diamond jubilee and it is also an important function of the National Citizen Service. Last Friday I met the team who are running the summer programme for the Service for 16 and 17 year olds in south east Kent. They are organising a series of residential courses in July and August which will focus both on teamwork and practical outdoor skills, as well as social action projects. For the social action projects, the young people will be asked to create a campaign to support a particular need in their community, and will be given help to deliver it. I am looking forward to meeting the young people taking part in the National Citizen Service during their residential camp at Kingsdown later in the summer. If you would like to find out more about this scheme, or apply to take part, you can do so online at www.cxk.org.
This week I was also appointed as the Small Business Ambassador for the Conservative Party for Kent and the south east of England. The purpose of the role is to promote the interests of smaller and start-up businesses to Ministers and policy makers in government, and I hope that I can use this position in particular to further champion the interests of business in Kent. More people work in small businesses than in larger ones, and they are the life blood of our economy. We are fortunate in East Kent to have business support schemes like the £35million regional growth fund which is already helping local businesses to invest and create new jobs now. My role as an Ambassador for Small Businesses also builds on my work since the general election as President of our local Chamber of Commerce. I would also like to encourage all new business who have been trading for less than three years to enter the Start-up hub competition that I have set up with the Conservative Party. The 12 competition finalists will be given the chance to promote their business, free of charge, at our special Start-up Hub stand at the annual Party Conference. You can find out more information about this, including testimonials from previous finalists, online at www.conservatives.com/startuphub.
Today, 6th June, is also the 69th anniversary of the D Day landings. It is an important time to remember the sacrifices of all those service personnel who gave their lives to fight for peace and freedom, and the liberation of Europe.