East Ham on Sea: Mayor's Newham Show 2011

Picture is of a beach complete with deck chairs, a paddling area and even free donkey rides for children.  In the middle of London.

Last weekend was the annual Mayor's Newham show in Central Park, which despite being very soggy at times was still successful with over 25000 people attending.

I was in a tent on both days for an hour or so with other Councillors talking to local residents about a wide variety of community issues. 

As well as the beach there was music, dancing, sports, live theatre, exhibitions, history, cabaret, arts, crafts, freshly cooked food and a fun fair.  Apparently the rain did encourage more people than ever to go inside the marques to have the free medical and health checks on offer.  So it is true - every cloud does have a silver lining.

First day of London Blitz 70th anniversary and a local tragedy

 70 years ago today nearly 1000 Nazi Germany bombers and fighter aircraft attacked London.  More than 400 Londoners were killed on this first day alone.  There followed 57 consecutive days of bombardment.

During this year's Mayor's Newham show I came across a local history exhibition.  By co-incidence there were two display board recounting a local tragedy that occurred on the 7 September 1940 in the Newham Ward that I represent as a Councillor.  A German bf 109 fighter plane was shot down probably by a British "Hurricane" fighter and crash landed in Ranelagh Road, West Ham, E15 killing 5 people including at least one small child.

The board's explained via diary extracts from neighbour Freddie Burgess (top centre) of the horror of the crash and the dangerous attempt to rescue anyone amongst the burning aviation fuel and exploding ammunition.  There was also a report on the investigation into the crash site by a TV history series in 1996.

32,000 Londoner's were killed during the blitz but it is probably local tragedies such as the deaths in Ranelagh Road that make me stop, think and reflect on the terrible price paid by so many ordinary people to defeat fascism during World War 2.

Update: Check out a special Newham Council exhibition on "Black Saturday" here

The Mayor’s Newham Show 2010

Busy but on several levels a “good day” yesterday. I helped with the preparation of the West Ham Labour Party Leadership Hustings in the morning (see next post) then attended a local community “Big Lunch” event at the Rokeby Children's Centre in my ward. I had to try all the different foods on offer (including chicken noodles, goat curry, meat curry, jerked chicken, sausage rolls etc. just to be polite:). There was also Double Decker “play bus” from the Children’s play charity “Honeypot” which I had a quick tour.

Then off to the show in Central Park. Some 50,000 people visited this event over the weekend. I really enjoyed it and I think everyone else did as well. It brought all the different communities in Newham together. As I entered the Park there was Russian folk dancers singing a song called “Red Boots”! There was rap music, different types of Asian music and dancing and even a traditional brass band! The kids could ride donkeys on the beach, knock coconuts off the shy, take part in a tug of war or climbing walls. I think mind that they thought the fun fair was best.

There were also tents on health, fitness, hobbies and local interest groups, recycling, Council regeneration, training, community safety and two local history hubs- which I will post upon later this week.

Pity I missed the carnival on Saturday (because - see future post) and already looking forward to this event next year.