Chuka paid a visit to the Palace Project last week and was really inspired by the centre and its staff.

The Palace is a community centre and youth group on the Palace Road Estate in Streatham Hill. It offers a range of activities for local residents of all ages, as well as a space for the community to relax and interact. Chuka was given the guided tour by The Palace Project’s manager, Glen Neil and Terry McAteer, a member of the Estate’s Tenants’ and Residents’ Association.

On offer are activities for elderly residents, a mother and baby group, and dance and guitar lessons for the community. But it was The Palace’s youth activities that particularly impressed Chuka. With a recording studio and internet access, up to 50 young people use the centre’s facilities every day. Chuka was full of praise for The Palace’s youth activities, saying ‘It’s a great space for young people
to be creative, active and positive’.

Glen and his colleagues have also been helping to provide a voice to local young people on issues that affect them, through Palace films. After a series of deaths of young people in Lambeth at the hands of guns, the centre helped local kids to make a film to respond to the killings and discourage gun crime in the community. The result, ‘Fast Train to Fool City’ was produced in a week, and features contributions from musicians, artists and over one hundred Lambeth teenagers. Interviewing both victims and perpetrators of gun crime, it has been taken up by Lambeth Police and was distributed to every school in the Borough.

The film is available on youtube in 3 parts, we’ve embedded part one below:

For information on The Palace, visit their website.

Carys Afoko

Chuka welcomes government plans to improve security and services at train stations across Streatham and South London.

The Department for Transport has announced that all trains running on the South London rail network are to have CCTV cameras installed on them to increase safety for users. In addition, rail stations, including Streatham, Streatham Hill, Tulse Hill and Streatham Common, are to be staffed at night, and an extra 1,500 secure cycle bays will be provided to stations across the network.

The measures have been written into the criteria of the new franchise agreement for the South Central rail network – currently operated by Southern - which covers stations across South London and parts of Southern England. They were developed after consultation with rail user groups to improve services for commuters.

The operator that wins the bid to run the South Central network between 2009 and 2015 will be required to implement the security measures, and increase services running through South London. Late night services will run until 12.30pm on Fridays and Saturdays and at least 11pm all other nights of the week.

Chuka welcomed the recent government announcement:
“Improving our transport links and services to the Streatham constituency is an absolute priority and we are doing just that with these moves to increase safety on our stations and extend running times.”

Chuka is currently campaigning to maintain Thameslink services to Streatham rail stations, click here to find out more information and to join the campaign.

Carys Afoko

Chuka was one of the studio guests on Sony Speech Broadcaster of the Year, Eddie Nestor’s BBC London Radio show this Sunday.

He joined Eddie for the Rum Shop, where guests and listeners discuss the main stories making the headlines in London that week. Discussion ranged from the Baby P case to teenage pregnancy and tax cuts. Eddie is best known for his starring roles in The Real McCoy and Casualty, and presents his own blend of outspoken, opinionated and entertaining radio.

Listen again to the show at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/networks/london/aod.shtml?london/eddienestor

Streatham Drop-in Centre for Asylum Seekers and Refugees has been awarded a Lottery grant to help it to continue all the hard work it does in the community.

The grant is for £8,781 and is from Awards for All, a Lottery grants scheme for community organisations. The money will go towards providing opportunities for asylum seekers and refugees to integrate and adapt into the community, introducing them to local resources.

The Drop-in Centre was founded in 2002, and provides vital services as well as a safe and welcoming environment for refugee and asylum seekers in the local area. Based at English Martyrs Church Hall, the centre offers English lessons, complementary therapy and access to health advice as well as a crèche, weekend family support group and homework club. It works in partnership with a range of local organisations including Lambeth College and PCT. All services are free of charge.

Chuka congratulates the Drop-in centre on its recent funding award, and the good work it does for local asylum seekers and refugees.

Carys Afoko

Chuka has been quoted in the press over the last week, and a few people have been asking for the links to be put on the website…

• Our Thameslink Campaign has appeared in The Evening Standard and Streatham Local Guardian
• Chuka responds to Trevor Phillips’ claims of institutional racism in the Labour party in The Independent
• Chuka was a guest on Radio 4’s the Week in Westminster, you can listen again here.
• Chuka contributes to the Guardian’s Comment is Free, click here to read his recent articles.

Carys Afoko

Lambeth Primary Care Trust has been rated as one of the best in England by the Healthcare Commission. Lambeth’s 2007/8 Annual Health Check saw it ranked in the top 7% of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) with only 1 Trust in England scoring higher.

The Healthcare Commission is the independent watchdog for healthcare in England. It assesses the quality and safety of services provided by the NHS to improve services for patients and the public. The Annual Health check is an overall performance rating of local healthcare services, reporting on a Trust’s ‘Quality of Services’ and ‘Use of Resources’.

Lambeth PCT received an ‘Excellent’ rating for use of resources, and a ‘Good’ rating for quality of services. The Healthcare Commission said it found Lambeth is “excellent at managing its finances and has made improvements on its good standard of the last two years”.

The improvements mean Streatham and Lambeth residents are receiving some of the best healthcare services in England.

Chuka congratulated Lambeth PCT on their rating:
“One of the reasons I joined the Labour Party was because it was our post war Labour government that set up the NHS to ensure everyone receives good quality health services regardless of their means. It is fantastic to see our local health service carrying on the best of the traditions of the NHS. All I can say is a huge thank you and congratulations to everyone at Lambeth PCT!”

The full Annual Health Check can be found on the Healthcare Commission’s Website. For more information on healthcare services in the area visit Lambeth PCT’s Website.

Carys Afoko

Words cannot express how happy I am at the victory of Barack Obama in the US Presidential election last week.  He is a huge inspriation and I think he has all the makings of one of the finest presidents that country has seen.  Some of my personal thoughts on his election are below.

I have never seen anything like it. I had the honour of presenting prizes at Dunraven secondary school in Streatham last week, a school whose most famous ex pupil is supermodel and Streatham native, Naomi Campbell. For all her alleged faults, Campbell is an icon, but in the course of the evening the school principal mentioned a very different model - Present Elect Barack Obama.

Young people are supposedly so switched off and removed from politics that many don’t bother to vote if they can. But the instant reaction of those present at the prize-giving to the mere mention of Obama’s name was loud cheers and applause - and he is not even their president! When Labour came to power in 1997, can you imagine Tony Blair getting the same kind of response? I think not.

Everyone is asking - could we see an Obama figure in the UK? Undoubtedly Obama’s multiethnic heritage is part of his appeal. There is something in his background that we can all relate to and grab hold of. Here we have seen great progress on ethnic minority representation this last decade with the appointment of the first ever ethnic minority ministers to the Labour government - there were none before, there are 7 now. The numbers of ethnic minority MPs is projected to rise to 25 in the next parliament, up from 9 in 1998.

And though we still have a long way to go in turning Parliament into a place that looks like Britain of the 2000s rather than the 1950s, the elevation of the junior Senator from Illinois to the most powerful office on the planet surely makes further strides more, not less, likely.

Some ask whether I think my unusual name could hinder me when I ask the good people of Streatham to put a cross by my name at the next General Election - well I need not worry if someone called “Barack Hussein Obama” can make it to the White House. More importantly, many more young people who share Obama’s heritage are saying “yes I can” and taking a serious look at getting involved.

The obstacles for today’s new politicians of colour are not what they were for their parents’ generation. The army of Obama fans enthused by what they have seen in this year’s presidential election will be demanding a place at the top table. Expect to see many more putting themselves forward to be local councillors, assembly members and members of parliament in the near future.

However those who focus on Obama’s race somewhat miss the point. Yes, eight years of one of the worst US presidents in history and an economy in turmoil helped, but it was Obama’s ability to inspire and his determination to move away from the harsh, shrill, “punch and judy” politics of yesterday, to a politics of change, hope and working together across different lines which clinched it in my view. That is the model that we should all be seeking to follow.

Last month saw the launch event of Transition Town Brixton, a grass roots project aimed at engaging our community with the challenges of climate change.

The Transition Town model encourages people to work together in their local communities to find sustainable solutions to rising energy prices and shortages. Transition Town Brixton was established 18 months ago making it the country’s first inner city model of a low carbon community.

Transition Town Brixton held an ‘unleashing’ event, in Lambeth Town Hall, which Chuka was pleased to attend. After hearing from the project’s organisers, attendees split into groups to discuss how improvements can be made to the way in which we use energy locally, alongside reducing waste.

A key focus is encouraging and supporting people who wish to grow their own food, for example residents of six Brixton estates are being assisted in farming vegetables. The organisation is also working with market traders and shops to cut down plastic bag use. It’s think global act local approach has gained widespread support and is generating many innovative local solutions to creating a more sustainable lifestyle. Chuka wholeheartedly supports the initiative, and is looking forward to see what new ideas it generates.

If you would like more information on Transition Town Brixton visit their website. All photos are courtesy of Amelia who attended the Unleashing and wrote a great blog on the event.

Gabriel Huntley