July 5, 2007

8:13am Thursday 5th July 2007

THE Government re-shuffle has taken place. It is easier to ask which ministers have stayed rather than which have moved. Five out of six Health Ministers have been changed. We have lost Andy Burnham with whom I had a good working relationship. The new Ministers will have to prove themselves quickly at this difficult time.

Initial impressions of the handling of the terrorism crisis by the new Prime Minister and Home Secretary have been favourable even to the Opposition and it was good to hear of unanimous cross-party support for them at a statement in the House on Monday.

This was followed by a statement on flooding and although I was pulled up short for going on too long by the Deputy Speaker I was able to ask the new DEFRA Secretary if he would ensure that the Environment Agency checks all culverted streams under housing estates for their patency and fits new design grids at the entrances to these culverts.

The Mayor of Bewdley has launched a local appeal to help those in Bewdley so badly affected by the unexpected flash floods there. I hope this will be supported. Other offers of help are being made at national level and I shall watch these to see how they will be distributed as there are many parts of the country that have been severely affected.

Congratulations to the head teacher, staff, young people and governors of Blakebrook School which has just achieved the status of Specialist School for Special Educational Needs. This high award is hard-earned, rarely given and richly deserved.

I have just heard that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham has won a huge award of £471,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund. This is to restore the Malt House at Harvington Hall to provide a new educational and community space at this superb historic house which is a memorial to those terrible times before religious freedom was accepted as a crucial part of our way of life.

Last Saturday the Stourport Choral and Operatic Society joined forces with the Stourport Brass Band to present Fanfare for England. The sound produced by voices and instruments in Parry's Blest Pair of Sirens was magnificent only surpassed in volume during the encore Land of Hope and Glory aided by enthusiastic audience participation.

The Mayor's Sunday Service ended with all three verses of our National Anthem. The words in the second verse, Frustrate their knavish tricks' were especially appropriate although in 2007 we would express this wish more forcibly than the original author.

I enjoyed a tour of Titan Steel Wheels and was given a stimulating overview of their progress and successes leading up to their well-deserved Queens Award for Innovation. Hidden in a valley in Cookley we are not sufficiently aware of this world-leading organisation and factory in our midst.

For people sadly made redundant elsewhere they have vacancies for skilled maintenance technicians.