Lighting candles for Gloucester
Posted by Richard Graham, MP for Gloucester, at 08:51, Tue 2 July 2013:
I once said I'd avoid Twitter like the plague. Now the disease has got me and I'm Tweeting so please follow me @RichardGrahamMP
Below is my latest e-news: Lighting candles for Gloucester
During this time of year everything looks wonderful soggy green with growth and blossom, and almost every day or week celebrates something - Carers Week, Volunteering Week, Cycling Week, Fathers Day and so on. As in my weekly article for The Citizen, I wanted to use this e-news to highlight some of my awards that celebrate some of what I've seen over the last two weeks.
The first is to the youngest, Charlotte Fitzjohn of Podsmead Platoon, Glos Cadets. She was one of the winning Cadets Tug of War Team at Parliament on her 16th birthday, and handed over a cheque of money raised for Macmillan Cancer Research. There were five Gloucester girls in this team and they did our city proud in front of a large audience.
The second goes to Maureen Parker of the Glos Bike Project, where she and Jemma train up young people to rehabilitate and sells bikes. It's a good cause, she has an infectious enthusiasm for it and if you have an old bike to donate, contact info@gloucestershirebikeproject.co.uk
The third is to Rosie Meek of EdF Energy for winning Gloucestershire Apprentice of the Year at the Glosmedia Awards. I encouraged EdF Energy to create their business apprentices at Barnwood three years ago, met Rosie and the first team recruited not long after and was very impressed. So congratulations to her and the company.
Then there's an award to Julia Hurrell and her committee of the Friends of Hillfield Gardens who've transformed the top part. It's a Gloucester triumph, scarcely a penny of taxpayer money, more or less everything made in the county and masses of volunteering. Everyone should go and see it. Julia gets my Make it Happen award. I want to highlight two others. Roger Taff Evans has been a cricket lover all his life. He's had more bad luck with health than anyone I know, most recently an amputated leg. But he turned up in his wheelchair the other day to watch our humble GCW CC team play at Tuffley Park. Full of enthusiasm and the joys of life, Roger gets my Look on the Bright Side of Life award.
Lastly there's Veronica of Westbourne Care Home, whom I met opening their new wing. She's been in the care sector for 13 years, and is now doing a Care Apprenticeship NVQ. Veronica works hard, does other exams at the Care Home and the NVQ in the evenings. Her children are grown up and she wants to keep on bettering herself. Veronica is a great star at the home, and gets my award for It's Never Too Late to Study - which is as true for me as for her, and perhaps all of us.
I was trying to think of how to summarise all this when I saw a card at the Pilgrims shop in College Court. It had a quotation from Confucius: 'It is better to light a candle than shout at the darkness'. All my award winners have lit candles, and they'll shine for years to come.
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Posted by Joe Kilker, 11:12, Wed 3 July 2013: (Is this post abusive?) #
Is that why your blog won't accept comments, because you don't want people to shout at you, Richard?
That's one of the unavoidable aspects of being an MP, something your predecessor never seemed to get, as he or his staff would remove even the mildest of critical comments. Isn't feedback an important element of market forces?
Posted by Joe Kilker, 03:03, Mon 5 August 2013: (Is this post abusive?) #
A month later, and you still won't address the fact that no-one is able to post to your blog, Richard. I certainly can't, and don't think I didn't try...
Posted by Joe Kilker, 21:34, Sat 20 December 2014: (Is this post abusive?) #
We know now that Richard Graham *has* deliberately prevented people from commenting on his blog. He claims this is because he was getting abusive comments, but he won't specify if this was a small minority or a vast majority. In the first instance, it's unfair on polite commenters to take away their right to express an opinion, instead of dealing with the 'trolls' another way, perhaps in the way that has become so popular nowadays, police action. In the second, if most commenters are being abusive, shouldn't we intuit something from that, namely that our MP has not inspired the support of his constituents?
It has been nearly a year and a half since Richard Graham sent this second message above. His failure to continue updating this hearfromyourmp page speaks volumes about how he knows he's really thought of, and that's how he'll be going into the general election, as a lame duck, simpering about apprentices.