19th October 2009
Last week ended for me on a very relaxing and positive note – watching Yeovil Town FC beat Carlisle by 3-1 at Huish Park.
There were some excellent goals, and Yeovil’s performance in the first half was as good as in any game which I can recall in the last year. My congratulations to Terry Skiverton and all his players on their success – which must have given them, as well as Yeovil fans, a real boost.
After the game, I had to catch the train to go back up to London, to attend a meeting with Party Leader Nick Clegg and with my predecessor Paddy Ashdown - to discuss the coming General Election. The meeting was supposed to be earlier in the evening, but it had to wait on the Yeovil game!
Last week was a busy week, with a lot to catch up on after Parliament’s long recess.
At present, the Government is trying to get MPs and Lords to agree to its latest legislation so that this can be passed into law before the current Parliament ends in mid November. So there are lots of debates and votes in order to decide on the final shape of legislation, and sometimes the Government has to back down on some issues in order to secure support in the House of Lords (where there is no Government majority).
On Monday, I questioned Schools Secretary – Ed Balls – in the House of Commons. On Tuesday, I held a large number of meetings on Education Policy, including with Christine Gilbert - the Head of OFSTED, the schools inspectorate.
On Thursday, I returned to our area in the morning, and in the afternoon I travelled to Sir John Colfox School in Bridport, for the official launch of the new “Language Double Club”, with Yeovil Town Community Sports Trust.
This is an excellent initiative to help boost the teaching of foreign languages in schools, and this is linked up with sports coaching. So, instead of learning modern languages in a very dry and uninspiring way, young people are taught French with a football theme for 45 minutes, and they then have a further 45 minutes of football coaching – but only using the French language!
Yeovil Manager, Terry Skiverton, and Yeovil Town player Jean-Paul Kalala had both travelled down for the launch – and Jean-Paul spoke to the pupils in French about his life, and then answered questions in French.
The teaching of modern languages in schools has been in steep decline in recent years, and I hope that this initiative will help to stimulate a bit more interest amongst young people.
I am hoping that some of the schools in South Somerset will be able to take up this scheme in the future.
Later on Thursday I held a Roving Advice Centre in Merriott, and on Thursday evening I went home and signed letters for about 4 hours (my Yeovil staff had been working very hard as usual, and had not wanted to post papers up to me in London because of the threatened postal strike.)
On Friday morning, I travelled to Brymore School, near Bridgwater. This is a secondary school which specialises in farming and rural technologies. It is a rare state funded school, because most of the 250 pupils board at the school, and a lot of their work is very practical and some of it involves working outside on the farm – which is part of the school.
In the afternoon, I returned to my Yeovil Office and held a meeting with Michelle Hargreaves, the Managing Director of Stagecoach buses. There have been lots of problems with local bus services over the last couple of months, since a new timetable was introduced. There have been long delays on many routes, with buses regularly turning up late. There have also been complaints in villages such as Merriott about the irregularity of bus services.
Stagecoach assured me that they are planning to introduce a new timetable as soon as possible, which should resolve the issues of delays. The County Council is also arranging two more morning services from Merriott, and one additional return service from Crewkerne, and this should help address some of the concerns about bus frequency.
On Friday afternoon, I held a Roving Advice Centre in Tatworth, and then a second one at Henson Park in Chard.
This week there are debates in the House of Commons on the Economy, Equitable Life, and Climate Change.
When I return to our area at the end of the week I will be holding Roving Advice Centres in South Petherton and in Tintinhull, and Advice Centres in Yeovil, Ilminster and Crewkerne. I will also be attending the Yeovil College Awards on Friday afternoon, and the Yeovil Poppy Appeal Launch on Saturday.
On Saturday evening I will be speaking at the Trafalgar Day Dinner in Yeovil.
Best wishes,
Ever,
David.
PS: My next Advice Centres are in: Yeovil (Friday 23rd October, Saturday 7th November), Ilminster and Crewkerne (Saturday 24th October), and Chard (Saturday 14th November). All details from my Yeovil Office on 01935 423284.