Letter to Cotswold MP following Cotswold Vote to Remain

Dear Geoffrey Clifton Brown MP,

Please note that, as your constituent, I request that, following the results of the EU Referendum, you should vote against Britain leaving the EU in any vote in the House of Commons.

My reasons for this are as follows:

    Since the result was announced, some of the main reasons that were put forward to support leaving have been revealed as fraudulent. Firstly, there is no possibility of £350 million extra per week being spend on the NHS, despite this being displayed in giant letters on the side of the Vote Leave Campaign “Battle Bus”.  Secondly, it has been acknowledged by the Conservative MEP, Daniel Hannan, in a television interview, that there is no scenario under which the UK will be able to stay inside the European Single Market without allowing freedom of entry to the UK to EU citizens.

     While the members of the Vote Leave campaign may repudiate these claims now, they certainly did not deny them during the campaign and these same promises were touted by tabloid newspapers such the Sun, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express, leading to a general perception that these were on offer. The content of these newspapers was so misleading and biased that the general public could not be expected to understand the issues and problems raised by exit from the EU.

    The turnout was only 72.2% and the results were only 48% In, 52% Leave, a very slender margin upon which to make such a momentous decision, much narrower than that of the Scottish Independence referendum and the vote which brought the current government to power.  The future of our country cannot be jeopardised on such a poor mandate, which was only achieved by misleading the electorate.

    The Referendum result is not legally binding on the Government and as the legal processes required to extract the UK from the Union are complex, disruptive and expensive to the point of being unfeasible, then the Government should be able to ignore the result. As the exit of the UK is also likely to trigger a second referendum on independence for Scotland and even calls for the incorporation of Northern Ireland into the Irish Republic, which will cause the break up of the United Kingdom, this is also grounds for ignoring the result.

    Since you yourself were unable to persuade your own constituency to vote in favour of leaving the EU, I therefore call upon you vote against UK’s leaving the EU in any House of Commons vote.

Yours sincerely,
Bob Irving

Jumble Sale!

Keeping useful things out of landfill...

Our Stroud candidate - Chris Jockel, and our Cotswold candidate Penny Burgess will both be there during the afternoon, so it's an excellent opportunity to meet them and have a chat.

Drama, Community, Action

Friday 25^th October  'An Evening with Dementia' A play written and performed by Trevor T. Smith at 8.00 pm at the Cotswold Playhouse. Discover the highs and lows of living with dementia - from the sufferers point of view. This play gives a portrait of an ageing actor living in a care home who 'accepts' rather than 'suffers' from his condition. The wryly intelligent text allows the audience to empathise with the state of being called dementia. When it was played in London Trevor T. Smith was nominated as the Best Male Performance in the The Off West End Theatre Awards and the British Medical Journal stated, "The play enlightens, inspires and, most importantly, teaches what the individual with advanced dementia might want others to understand if he could be the teacher." The Daily Express called it, "A love-letter to a life well-lived.....Insightful and undercut with a surprisingly upbeat sense of humour"

Tickets £10 For more information visit www.cotswoldplayhouse.co.uk  (Check before you go, this may well sell out)

 

Sunday 27th October – Stratford Park, Stroud - free Pumpkins and Apples in the Park – run by Stroud Five Valleys Project

Another opportunity to try apple pressing to make your own juice. There will be workshops from 11-12.30pm and between 2-3pm. Apple cake and warm apple juice will also be on sale.

Join the Pumpkin Lantern Trail. Get busy at home carving your home grown pumpkins – there will be carving). Entries should be dropped off in the museum courtyard no later than 3.30pm on Sunday 27th October. From 5.30 the twilight Pumpkin Lantern Trail starts and this is when judging will take place.

Good luck everyone.

 

Tuesday 29^th October

Making Morsbags at Fresh Ground, Cainscross (opposite Tricorn House), starting at about 6.30 and going on till 9pm. These are fabric shopping bags, as part of Stroud’s move away from disposable plastic bags. There will be a charge of £2.00 for tea/coffee.

Anyone who can bring suitable fabric (fairly heavy cotton is best) which is clean and ironed is encouraged to do so.  Also, anyone who can bring dressmaking scissors, thread, pins... There will be three sewing machines and a couple of irons and ironing boards - a few extra would be welcome but obviously if everyone brings them we'll have too many, so common sense would suggest people make contact beforehand to arrange details, on 077 066 19295.

 

4th November 9.30–12, 11th November 9.30-2.30 How to Make A Wildlife Garden Adult Education Course Severnview School, Bisley Old Road

Would you like to know how to make your garden more wildlife friendly?  Subsidised cost £25 (total)

Concessions are available. The course will be very practical and we will hold your hand in each step of this process. It will cover:- Wildflowers. Planting three different seed mixes that are suitable for this area and how to care for them afterwards. Ponds and safe water in a garden How to measure for a pond liner and exploring options for safe water in a garden. Compost (if time allows).  Do feel free to pass this information on to your contacts.

To register to take part, contact Julie at Stroud Valleys Project on 01453 753358 or email julie@stroudvalleysproject.org.