Last Friday I was delighted to accept the invitation of the Mayor of New Romney, Councillor Roger Joynes, to take part in a question and answer session with young people from the Romney Marsh area. The event was held in New Romney’s historic town hall and was part of local democracy week. During this week local councils are encouraged to throw open their doors to let young people come in and see how things work in their community. Similar events are organised as well throughout the year and I am also happy to help any school that would like to come and visit parliament.
At this meeting in New Romney I received an excellent range of questions from students from the Marsh Academy, as well as from Brookland, Greatstone and St Nicholas, New Romney, primary schools. We covered topics from play facilities and school travel to tuition fees; however one issue that came up consistently was employment opportunities. Young people with their lives ahead of them, like most adults, want to know what qualifications they will need to get the jobs they want, and whether those jobs will be available to them. That’s why attracting investment into our area to create new jobs and support local businesses is so important. It is also why I have campaigned for a new power station at Dungeness, supported Shepway Council’s decision to allow the controlled expansion of Lydd Airport and worked to improve the quality and coverage of broadband for homes and businesses.
Later that evening I attended the Schools Shakespeare Festival performance at the Quarterhouse in Folkestone. Four schools from East Kent were invited to put on a condensed Shakespeare play, and whilst they were all of a high standard, I was particularly pleased to watch the performance of the students from Brockhill Park, who were representing the Shepway area. They put on an innovative and creative adaption of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ that was very well received by the audience. My congratulations go to all of the staff and students involved.
On Saturday I met with a group of local students at the Sandgate Farmers Market, who have been learning about how to set up and run a food business. Working with the youth charity Catch22, they had developed some high quality chocolate products to sell, including refining the recipes and designing the packaging. My children would be happy to speak up for the quality of the product, and I hope that these students are encouraged by this project to develop a business of their own.
I would also like highlight the local successes at the Kent Village of the Year Awards which were decided last week. Elham won the overall best village award, as well as the award for the best environmental work. This award is due to the hard work of so many people in the village, and in particular the members of the Parish Council, Village Hall Association, Elham Environment Group and Play for Elham. Brabourne was one of the three runners-up for the overall best village award, but also won the award for the best local economy, helped I’m sure by the great success of the re-launch of the Five Bells pub. Congratulations to everyone involved.