Worcester Mela has been successful in bidding for Arts Council Funding and has been awarded £48,000 of National Lottery Arts council Funding to deliver their ‘Melting Pot project’. The Melting Pot’ continues the Worcester Mela journey, where their hugely successful award winning ‘Worcester Voices’ documentary left off. It will highlight and explore the role of South Asian migrant settlers in the success of the City through an Industrial Heritage Lens. It aims to bring to life real stories from workplaces of the great industrial factories of Worcester, including Lea and Perrins, Metal Box, Metal Castings & The Royal Porcelain. The project will span 18 months with a series of interactive workshops aiming to engage the workforce who worked in those factories and their families . A test piece on the Worcester Mela –Stage on August 13 th at the Worcester Show at Pitchcroft will whet your appetite. The final multi-disciplinary performance will take place at...
Posts
The site of the former Porcelain Factory was once a proud heritage asset for our city, sold of years ago to a national builder Berkley Homes. To one side it is occupied and to the other you could be forgiven to think that it was an abandoned haunted house in the woods which time has forgotten. Over time rats/Gulls and Pigeons have taken over the building causing a huge nuisance to the local residents the roof collapsed and some action was taken to board up the windows. Residents have contacted us and we have taken action – We have been in contact with enforcement officers to ask them to serve notice on the developer to put new windows in and to restore it to its former glory. We have also been in contact with Gull control officers to ask them to implement gull control measures in the area. Developers must be held to account and not just scarper from a site once they have made their money. We will be writing to the developer to express our concer...
Cost of Living Crisis As the cost of living begins to bite, with prices rocketing in everyday items and energy prices go to astronomical levels many ordinary hardworking families face the real prospect of not being able to afford everyday items. This time last year, a constituent of mine was a regular donor to the food bank. But in December last year he had to stop. Despite working full-time and being on UC Universal Credit he had to start using it himself. More and more ordinary hard-working people are turning to foodbanks to survive. As someone who grew up on a council estate in the 80’s with my parents in Worcester, I know what it feels like to scrimp, save and get by. Research by poverty charity Turn2us found that four in 10 of those on universal credit – about 2.5 million people – are struggling to afford food after the removal of the £20 uplift. The cost-of-living crisis in a first world country is something we should all be ashamed off, and only a Labour go...
Ever since nearly drowning at Sansome walk swimming pool as a kid I have been campaigning for free swimming for kids and when Perdiswell Swimming pool was built I ensured a clause existed in the service level agreement to provide free swimming for kids, who couldn’t swim a minimum of 25 m by the time they leave school! Recently I have also identified another need, Ever since the Closure of Sansome Walk Swimming pool , years ago there has been no provision for ladies only swimming in the city . I identified this need through my role as the chairman of the Perryfields community Association, that works with vulnerable groups and people from disadvantaged backgrounds. It is a well known fact that women from minority backgrounds are the most vulnerable and least likely to be able to swim, after some high profile drownings recently, I decided that I needed to do something about it. I managed in conjunction with a local school and a qualified teachers to start up swimming classe...
As a cricket lover, I know England’s Dramatic World Cup Win! & Worcestershire’s T20 Win lives fresh in the memory for Many! Yet on a grass roots level there are still barriers to enjoy the game. You may be surprised to know that for a cricket loving City we do not have any municipal cricket pitches for use or hire! With the advent of quicker formats of the game T20, the 100, T10 and Tape ball cricket it is even more crucial that our children and people from all walks of life get to experience the joy of cricket. That’s why I am proud to say that I identified this need and with the backing of the council got £10,000 of funding for a new cricket pitch in the city! There is a local consultation going on right now to determine the best site for the pitch and I am trying to get it installed by June, so you can all enjoy it! Your labour councilors bringing the facilities and fun back to our local parks and we are always on your side
Green Spaces in the City Centre -Action on preserving our Green Spaces The Lack of green space in our City is shocking, add the alarming increase in air pollution, decrease in our pollinator numbers, it doesn’t make good reading. I have been working with the Worcester Environmental Group to identify spaces such as these to get them protected and listed as public green spaces and I am calling for a campaign to MAP a network of spaces within the City Centre to be identified and protected. It is crucial that we preserve these spaces for future generations to enjoy before they get built on, if you have any spaces within the city centre that you can identify and think need protecting, please do get in touch!
City Centre Community Space is needed! Living in Worcester you get a sense of pride and community in most parts of the City, developers naturally have used the relaxation of planning laws to cash in on unused space above shops . This means hundreds of new Flats are being approved in the City centre with no associated facilities or adequate amenity space. Therefore, a community HUB in the city centre would create a sense of belonging and ownership to residents who often have no access to all the benefits and facilities traditional communities enjoy . Facilities in the City Centre would enhance the lives of residents and ensure residents for the better and create a sense of belonging. Lynn and I have been working with officers so that we have a vision for the high street that caters for hundreds of new people living in it & that adequate community spaces are close by for them to enjoy. Your Labour Councillors highlighting the Issues th...
Diglis Community Centre For years there has been a planning condition on this building behind me, of providing a community center for the residents of Diglis. Your labor councilors have been trying persistently, to ensure that the property remains visible and is marketed as a community center. After years of campaigning, we are proud to say that we are making good progress! We are working with the Diglis Hub who are a local community group, they group have now managed to get charity status, with a view of finding ways to take ownership and convert this empty abandoned space into a fully thriving wellness hub which the residents can enjoy. A much-needed facility for a beautiful area of the city to create a sense of community and belonging. Some results are instantaneous some take years we will continue to ensure that we do everything we can to realize this ambition for the Diglis community! Your local Councillors Working Hard all year round
Porcelain Property Developer When you buy a new property on a new site, you usually expect your Property Developer to build to the highest standard and finish the job. Far too many developers get away with shoddy jobs or leave jobs unfinished, often taking the easiest and cheapest route out! Leaving residents to foot the bill in often hefty maintenance and leaseholder charges. Here in the Porcelain the developer has built on the former porcelain site and has left the site with some rather concerning issues! When the old canal Wall was rebuilt by the property developer, it was built poorly The Wall is now bowing out and in danger of eventually falling down! This poses a danger to canal boat users ! The Metal Railings are falling apart, and the ground is sinking, this is a big concern to residents who were initially been asked to foot the bill for these faults by the developer, residents have contacted us and we are taking action! We need to hold develop...
Ever since nearly drowning at Sansome walk swimming pool as a kid, I have been campaigning for free swimming for Children. When Perdiswell Swimming pool was built I ensured a clause existed in the service level agreement to provide free swimming for kids, who couldn’t swim a minimum of 25 m by the time they left school! Recently I have also identified another need, Ever since the Closure of Sansome Walk Swimming pool a few years ago there has been no provision for ladies only swimming in the city. I identified this need through my role as the chairman of the Perryfield's Community Association, that works with vulnerable groups and people from disadvantaged backgrounds. It is a well known fact that women from minority backgrounds are the most vulnerable and least likely to be able to swim, after some high profile drownings recently, I decided that I needed to do something about it. I managed in conjunction with a local school and a qualified teachers t...
Come let us mock at the great That had such burdens on the mind And toiled so hard and late To leave some monument behind, Nor thought of the levelling wind. Come let us mock at the wise; With all those calendars whereon They fixed old aching eyes, They never saw how seasons run, And now but gape at the sun. Come let us mock at the good That fancied goodness might be gay, And sick of solitude Might proclaim a holiday: Wind shrieked -- and where are they? Mock mockers after that That would not lift a hand maybe To help good, wise or great To bar that foul storm out, for we Traffic in mockery. W. B. Yeats's Come Let Us Mock At The Great - Section V of Nineteen Hundred And Ninetee
This is a copy of a letter I sent today to the County Council/ Police & Local MP Robin Walker I hope that that this letter reaches you in good health & spirit. I would like to take this opportunity firstly to thank your Council for the great service that we received in our time of difficulty & secondly to ask for some assistanc e in a matter that affects non-Christian Faith communities within Worcester & the Shire. Over the weekend my aunt passed away at the Worcester Royal Hospital & we found ourselves in a awkward situation where we needed a death certificate issued, so that the body could be released for burial preparation. Your Registrar Ros Parker went out of her way to to come in and help us to sort our matter out & issue the family with a death certificate. She kindly explained all the procedures & steps required so that our passage would be made easier. However everything went according to plan except that we unable to make contac...
Dementia I was privileged enough to have witnesses something spectacular last night at the Worcester Arts Workshop. What I witnessed was something profoundly gut wrenching, something that touched the very depths of my soul and stirred such powerful emotions that you would not have believe me had I said to you that I silently wept through it. I witnessed an incredibly powerful full mask touring production of , Finding Joy; a funny, touching, vital, and heroic tale of dementia. Of how a young man learns to put his addictions aside to care for his grandma. What it shows, is the true reality regarding dementia, what inevitably many of us will have to go through personally as victim & witness. It brings home the harsh reality of what many experience daily and what many are yet to go through. This brave production , performed excellently by VAMOS , is performed without words. Thus making it all the more poignant & significant. The actions strking, gestures amplified, the flow p...
The trio that were convicted of Terrorism charges Fanatics Irfan Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid, 27, and Ashik Ali, 27 in no way represent true Islam. Their sickening, twisted & demented views represent an illness & disease that has no place in a modern, democratic & civilized society. Islam by nature is a peaceful religion & at every point the Prophet Mohammed taught & preached moderation, tolerance & a middle of the road approach to life. Neither excessive or moderate but a balanced perspective which would nourish the spiritual as well as the material. Extremism of this nature is a relatively modern phenomenon feasting upon the emptiness of the soul and is the product of the void that is created by years of neglect, ill thought and a diseased, corrupted mind. It feeds of the anger, resentment and hatred that have been constantly fed to the perpetrator over months if not years by unscrupulous Extremist Groups who literally prey on young impressionable mi...
Things that annoy me & I suspect the British people as a whole include; People talking without hands free on mobile phones whilst driving, Persistent Chuggers, dog owners that don't clean up after their dog, foreign call centres & people that park in disabled bays when they're not disabled.Most of all and rapidly rising up that list must be utility/road works that seem to go on for ever? I know most cities are blighted by this predicament up and down the country on an almost never ending basis, but add into the mix the lack of a ring road, a city dissected by a temperamental river & numerous one way streets/systems you have the recipe to make peoples commute a little less pleasant in the Faithful City. Recent history has shown the impact of these on commuters in the City, the shutting of Tolladine Road for almost 2 months to carry out repairs on the Railway Bridge and the never ending Foregate Street Station bridge restoration.These works were originally sch...
I have a new Website , which will bring together my blog, video, audio & articles regarding my work and the issues that matter to you in the City of Worcester. www.jabbariaz.co.uk
Plans for a Day Centre & Move on Accommodation for Homeless People have been announced by Worcester Community Housing in conjunction with St Paul’s Hostel. The plans aim to tie in with Worcester City Councils Homelessness Strategy and utilize S.A.S.H funding of £254,00 grant allocation from the Department of Communities and Local Government(DCLG) My Aim of writing this blog about the proposed development in Lowesmoor is to engage fully with residents and get the full facts and concerns out in the public, so that these can be properly aired to the Planning Officers and other Ward Councilors and an informed decision is made. I have been around, to Sansome Walk , spoke with residents, personally ,via telephone and engaged via-electronic media and this is my summary of residents views and the W.C.H. proposal No decision has been made Firstly WC.H. & ST Paul’s Hostel Case The Centre will be: Front line provision to prevent s...
I am bitterly disappointed at not getting the HLF bid, however am now optimistic that the original plans of improving the play area and the entrance to the park will now get done quicker something the residents have always wanted as a key priority. Worcester Standard Article AMBITIOUS plans to breathe new life into an historic city park have suffered a setback after it emerged the project had failed in its bid to secure £1million in lottery funding. Worcester City Council had hoped to win the backing of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to help cover the cost of a major overhaul of Fort Royal Park on Wylds Lane which stands on one of the key sites of the English Civil War. But the council and its partners were disappointed to discover the bid had failed and they must now decide what parts of the project can still be pursued. The council has already pledged £200,000 from its own budget towards improvements to the park to help celebrate its great historical significa...
Press Release For immediate release: 29 November 2012 Have your say on application for new Worcester swimming pool Planning permission is being sought for Worcester’s potential new swimming pool – and city residents have until December 17 to get their views on it. The application is for outline planning permission for a new pool complex at Perdiswell. It’s been submitted following a public consultation on ideas for a pool earlier this year, which showed broad support for the idea. Worcester City Council has not made a definite decision to go ahead with a pool, and is still exploring funding options. If outline planning permission is granted, a further application for detailed permission will have to be made if the council does decide to go ahead with the scheme. Councillor Jabba Riaz , Cabinet member for Safer and Stronger Communities, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for Worcester to provide a modern state-of-the-a...
Worcester Play Council Coordinator Vacancy 15 hours/ week, £7800, 12 Month contract, January 2013 start. Worcester Play Council is looking for an experienced and driven individual to coordinate the exciting developments of play opportunities taking place within Worcester City over 2013. As a registered charity, we work with a wide range of partners within the City to seek, develop and embed local opportunities. With 2012 being such a successful year, the coordinator would enable Worcester Play Council to seek substantial fundraising to enhance a range of play developments (including the development of a robust training programme, provision, partner developments, charity developments, play capacity etc.), facilitating the Worcester City Play Strategy across 2013 and beyond. Application deadline: 6 th December, 12 o’clock midday To apply , please see attached application form , visit: http://worcesterplaycouncil.btck.co.uk/Jobvacancies or fo...