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Posted by Edward Vaizey, MP for Wantage, at 20:59, Tue 3 November 2009:
Four constituency matters came up in Westminster recently. On Monday, very sadly, I paid tribute to Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid in the Chamber during defence questions. S/Sgt Schmid though not a constituent, was based at Vauxhall Barracks in Didcot, the home of 11 EOD Regiment. He was very popular and a good friend of our county councillor, Tony Harbour. He was killed trying to defuse a bomb on Saturday in Afghanistan. He had already defused 64 on this tour, and was due home for two weeks’ leave on Monday. His body will be driven along the A420 on Thursday. Incredibly sad.
At Defence Questions, I raised the issue of the agreement between the Veterans Agency and the NHS which is meant to give veterans priority treatment. A constituent told me about this, and that neither his local GP or the JR had ever heard of it!
I also had a meeting with the Association of Train Operating Companies, who amazingly believe that we could re-open Wantage Station. They think we could run a shuttle service between Swindon and Didcot, and that it would not cost much to re-open the station and run the service. There won’t be any progress on this until 2014 at the earliest, which is when the next investment period begins, but I am planning to write to Network Rail and the Department for Transport to express my support.
I also attended a meeting of the mobile homes group, as part of my on-going campaign to get changes in the law to combat unscrupulous site owners, following the debacle of the Ladycroft Park in Blewbury.
That’s all for now. Oh, GQ, a glossy magazine, have made me the 19th most influential man in Britain, and David Cameron the most influential. Which just shows how clueless these lists are (except in David’s case of course).
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Posted by Angela Bayley, 11:02, Wed 4 November 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
It would be really do to get trains to Wantage they have far better restaurants than we do in Didcot and it is a really nice place to meet up with friends. I look forward to hearing more about it in the future. I would like to say how much sorrow every death of our soldiers brings to me again 5 today I send my condolences to all their families.