February 12th, 2023
Written by John Grogan
🎭 I began the week at a meeting at Keighley Creative which is a charity based currently on Cooke Lane in the heart of the town. We discussed how best to take arts provision forward in the area. The aim is to get a permanent building so Keighley and Ilkley Constituency can take full advantage of Bradford City of Culture.
After a morning talking about the arts it was time for some sport…
🏉 On Monday evening, I was down at Cougar Park to see @Keighley Cougars first match of the season. It was a baptism of fire against Featherstone Rovers for the newly promoted team but there was great passion on the pitch and on the terraces. There was a much more promising performance today away at Widnes where the team lost narrowly. One of the big matches of the season will be the visit of Bradford Bulls on March 26th so save the date.
🗣️ On Tuesday, I was at the Keighley Civic Centre for an event organised by the @Eden Community Association attended by the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire and the Lord Mayor of Bradford. The Association has now opened an office in the Civic Centre and is doing some great work offering free advice on debt, housing and welfare both in Keighley and Bradford.
I am finding that more and more businesses are eager to meet me to find out about Labour’s plans…
🌡️ On Thursday, I had a good meeting over coffee at the @Wheatley Arms in Ben Rhydding with Tom Lowe, founding director of @Thermal Storage UK. We spoke about energy policy and net zero and the contribution of thermal storage.
👩⚕️👨⚕️ Saturday saw a visit to Steeton Surgery (with Craven Ward Labour council candidate @Andrew Knight) which because of GP shortages is closed for most of the week. Labour’s plans to increase the number of places at medical school are crucial to all our communities. Locally I will be contacting the Modality Partnership, of which the Silsden Practice is a part, to discuss the situation.
🍺🌍 I had a quick half of beer and a @Lishman’s of Ilkley sausage roll at the @Ilkley Beer Festival before speaking at the AGM of the @Leeds for Europe group at the Editor’s Draught pub in Leeds. I explained Labour’s policy of improving our relations with our European Union partners andallies in the next Parliament starting with agreements on veterinary standards, education and mutual recognition of professional qualifications.
Just before I spoke, today’s lead story in The Observer appeared online which revealed a crossparty meeting last week which talked about negotiating changes in the UK-EU trade and cooperation agreement which could make life easier for business. A Labour Government will have a big job to do getting growth back in our economy and rebuilding our public services. We will not be reopening the question of our membership of the European Union which would cause much uncertainty and totally dominate our Parliament again but we will deliver real change improving our relations with our neighbours and improving so much else in society besides.