This week has been Carers Week and I was pleased to drop into the event hosted by Carers UK, alongside a number of brilliant charities including Age UK, MND Association and Rethink Mental Illness. I am very conscious of the incredible work carers do in all our communities. Organisations like Carers Together in Romsey and Romsey Young Carers have always been brilliant at highlighting to me the challenges carers face, but it was humbling to listen to the experiences of the carers who came into Parliament.
I Chaired a debate on sustainable aviation fuels on Wednesday, as well as popping out of Parliament to meet representatives from Transport & Environment with an electric HGV earlier in the week. All too often people see MPs shouting at each other across the chamber, but when it came to debating more environmentally conscious fuels there was wide consensus.
Parliament had its very own "Repair Cafe" this week and I met representatives from Hampshire based Chineham Repair Cafe. It was fascinating to hear about the variety of repairs they undertake. Southampton's Repair Cafe celebrated its 15th Birthday last October and meets every 1st and 3rd Sunday at various locations around the City.
The highlight of last weekend was celebrating Awbridge resident Fred Tucker's British Empire Medal, which he was awarded for his service to the community. Fred is a phenomenal stalwart of the village, he set up the Awbridge and District Village Association, mows the grass round the War Memorial, for years has run the village fete (although is most often seen directing the car parking) and is one of those people who is just a doer. The event was attended by the Mayor, the Leader of the County Council and was full of local residents with a tale to tell of how Fred had helped them. It was a real privilege to have been invited.
Finally, I had an impromptu street surgery in Romsey last week whilst supporting a George's Trust fundraising endeavour. Phil Glasgow is cycling from Truro to Romsey at the end of the month raising funds for the Trust, and has an ambitious £4k target. He is some way off that but his fund raising page is here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/philip-glasgow-1