By the time you read this you will be in the privileged position of knowing the contents of the Chancellor’s Budget, which sadly I am not at the time of writing. So I will be discussing that in next week’s column, and will look forward to receiving your reaction to it as well.
Last week I was in the House of Commons to hear the statement made by the Prime Minister into the Saville Report on the Bloody Sunday killings. This report was 12 years in the making and the event itself, which took place in the Bogside area of Derry in Northern Ireland 38 years ago, but has touched the lives of so many. The families and representatives of the 14 men who were killed that day, where present in the public gallery to hear the statement, and I was able to meet some of them afterwards. The Report makes clear that the military should not have opened fire on the people on the streets and David Cameron apologised on behalf of the Government of the day for that, and the needless loss of life. But those actions, wrong though they were, were carried out in the midst of a conflict in which so many lives were lost. So many families grieve still for their loved ones, and without the comfort at least of a final report into their deaths, and an acknowledgement of blame. This was an occasion in which the House of Commons was full of intense raw emotion, but the support with which the statement was greeted, painful though it was to listen to, shows how far all sides have come along the path towards a lasting peace.
I have found in the last few weeks that I am not the only person taking on new responsibilities in our area. I recently joined local Catholics, fellow MPs and community representatives from Kent and South London at St George’s Cathedral in Southwark, for the installation of Peter Smith as our new Archbishop. And last Friday I was delighted to attend a special service at St Mary & St Eanswythe’s Church in Folkestone for the licensing and installation of their new Vicar, the Reverend Barry Johnson. I wish them both well in their new ministries.
Earlier that day I met with Lynn Woods, the Chairman of Folkestone Invicta, to discuss the club's plans for the next football season and then joined Steve and Penny Riley at their recently opened Terlingham Vineyard and winery, near Hawkinge. They recently won a bronze medal in the South East of England awards for their ‘Saxon Shore’ wine, and you can find out more about their range and opening times at their website www.terlinghamvineyard.co.uk .
On Saturday, along with my wife Sarah and our children, we joined the Mayor of Lydd, Cllr Rochelle Saunders, for the opening of Lydd Club Day. This is, as always, a great family day and my daughter Claudia particularly enjoyed the face painting generously provided for the children on behalf of the operators of the wind farm.