Last weekend was incredibly busy, with the Mayor’s wonderful charity concert, the Vaisakhi ceremony in Southampton to celebrate the Sikh Harvest Festival, St George’s Day being celebrated in Romsey Abbey and a litter pick with North Baddesley Infants School. Romsey does St George’s Day incredibly well and there were huge numbers of representatives of Scouts and Guiding, as well as proud parents looking on as the young people paraded through the Market Place.
However, this week in Westminster there have been fewer smiles, and we had the interesting and unusual experience of an SO24 debate, “ping pong” between the Commons and Lords on a number of Bills, including the Children’s Well-Being and Schools Bill, and the expected prorogation delayed somewhat. The State Opening is on the 13th May and I am still optimistic that I will get a ticket in the ballot for one of my constituents to attend in the Royal Gallery.
Last week I also attended the 10th anniversary of the Freedom Church in Romsey and had the chance to talk to their debt advice surgery about the challenges local residents face. Alongside that I was at an event in Parliament with the Money Wellness Service talking about the advice they provide both over the telephone and on-line. They had provided an information pack by constituency, which gave some pretty stark figures for Romsey and Southampton North. I suspect it would chime closely with the information CAP hold from their debt advice work in Romsey, but it did indicate that the average level of personal debt in this constituency is above the national average.
Back in 2012 I hosted the first ever Hampshire Day in Parliament and on Thursday the MP for Basingstoke hosted the second such event, in conjunction with Hampshire Fare. I know we have some great local food producers in this constituency, not least the national award winning Chalkstream, and these events are always a great opportunity to showcase the best food and drink an area has to offer.