Stephen Hodgson

Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

The main Loughborough constituency hustings event took place last night (25 April 2010) in Emmanuel Church. The event was hosted by Loughborough Churches Partnership. It was probably the most well-attended hustings event I’ve ever been to, which perhaps indicates just how much interest there is in this General Election and particularly in the marginal seat of Loughborough. Nicky Morgan (Conservatives), Andy Reed (Labour) and Mike Willis (Lib Dems) faced seven questions over the course of an hour and a half. The questions had been pre-selected by a committee prior to the event and covered a range of topical issues.

I ‘live-tweeted’ throughout the hustings (so please take a look at my Twitter feed if you want more details of how the debate developed) but here are what I thought were four of the highlights of the debate:

(1) The second question of the evening concerned jobs, training, apprenticeships and employment. At one point during the answer Lib Dem Mike Willis, drawing on the now famous Gordon Brown television debate moment, said ‘I agree with Nick…y’ (referring to Conservative candidate Nicky Morgan, rather than Nick Clegg whom Gordon Brown referred to).

(2) Whilst the audience were asked not to heckle at any time there was one incident – actually triggered by the chairman rather than any of the candidates.  The fifth question was about Christians feeling marginalised and protecting freedom of expression for Christians. When Andy Reed said he didn’t think Christians are marginalised the chairman used his perogative to intervene and tell Andy Reed that Christians are marginalised – this drew a heckle of ‘chairman, you’re out of line!’ from one person in the audience.

(3) In responding to the sixth question about promoting family life, Conservative Nicky Morgan launched a passionate defence of Conservative support for two-parent families and changing the tax system to not discriminate against two-parent families. Nicky then challenged Labour’s Andy Reed to disassociate himself from Labour leaflets that have been distributed in Loughborough which falsely say the Conservatives would close Sure Start children’s centres. Andy Reed refused to distance himself from the lies contained in Labour’s leaflets.

(4) The seventh and final question posed to the candidates was a variant of the “balloon question”. The candidates were asked, if they were in a hot air balloon together and they had to shed some weight to avoid crashing, which of the other candidates would they throw out of the balloon and which would they keep on board to work with. Andy Reed’s initial response was that he would jump out of the balloon! He then said that if he had to choose, he would keep Lib Dem Mike Willis in the ballon with him “because balloons need hot air”!

The event was good-humoured and enjoyable and all of the candidates showed real passion for the election.

There are a further two Loughborough constituency hustings planned before polling day. (Read about the previous hustings here.)

The first of the further two hustings takes place at Emmanuel Church at 8.15pm on Sunday 25 April 2010. The event features Conservative candidate Nicky Morgan, Labour candidate Andy Reed and Lib Dem candidate Mike Willis. Questions must have been submitted in advance by Friday 23 April 2010. Anyone can attend on the night. The event is hosted by Loughborough Churches Partnership and this is the main hustings event for the Loughborough constituency.

The second of the two futher hustings takes place in The Turing Room in the Sir Denis Rooke Building at Holywell Park on the Loughborough University campus at 7.30pm on Thursday 29 April 2010. This event focuses on science and will be attended by Conservative candidate Nicky Morgan, Lib Dem candidate Mike Willis and UKIP candidate John Foden. Labour will be represented by the Labour candidate for the neighbouring Charnwood constituency: Eric Goodyer. The event is being hosted by the Royal Society of Chemistry. It is open to all members of the public but advance online registration is essential.

A full schedule of St George’s Day celebration events taking place in Charnwood can be viewed on Charnwood Borough Council’s website. The celebrations begin with the raising of St George’s flag at the council offices at 9.15am.

This Tuesday (20 April 2010) there will be a free careers workshop in Shepshed aimed at equipping school-leavers, college-leavers and graduates with the knowledge and skills to succeed in today’s competitive jobs market.

The event has been organised by the Conservative parliamentary candidate for the Loughborough constituency – Nicky Morgan – and follows on from the success of a previous careers workshop that Nicky organised at John Storer House in Loughborough. Nicky was delighted that the previous workshop helped some attendees to find jobs soon afterwards.

Tuesday’s workshop will focus on CV skills and confidence-building. The event is open to all people of all ages looking for help finding a new job or switching jobs.

Full details are as follows:

Free careers workshop
Organised by Nicky Morgan
Tuesday 20 April 2010
6.00pm – 8.00pm
Hind Leys Community College, Shepshed

I’m looking forward to running one of the sessions on CV writing.

To register to attend please contact Nicky Morgan’s office on office@loughboroughconservatives.com or 01509 219370. The event can also be found on Facebook.

Last Thursday evening Loughborough Conservatives held their highly-anticipated “Hollywood Night” event with special guest Eric Pickles MP, chairman of the Conservative Party. The event was organised in support of the prospective Conservative MP for Loughborough – Nicky Morgan.

The event was attended by about one hundred local people – both people already involved in local politics and the Conservative Party and those seeking to become involved in the run up to the General Election (whenever that happens to be).

Eric Pickles mingled with guests and enjoyed Reel Cinema’s generous hospitality before giving a 15-minute speech. Eric explained just how important this year’s General Election will be for people in Britain, describing it as a “once in a generation” election. This year’s election offers people in Britain the chance to vote for real change. In Loughborough, we have in Nicky Morgan the opportunity to elect a hard-working and committed Conservative MP. Eric was full of praise for Nicky.

Nicky has been the prospective MP for Loughborough for more than six years now and if elected there is no doubt she will be an strong voice for Loughborough and a very effective MP in the Commons.

Many thanks to Eric Pickles for taking the time to spend a very enjoyable evening in Loughborough.

Further to my blog post at the weekend about the upcoming Loughborough Conservatives Hollywood Night, the event now has its own promotional video!

Further to the success of the Loughborough Conservatives “Bollywood Night” before Christmas, another big, themed fundraising event has been organised along the same lines – “Hollywood Night” – with our own Hollywood-style celebrity: Eric Pickles MP.

Hollywood Night will take place on 18 February 2010 at Reel Cinema, Loughborough between 6.30pm and 10.30pm. It’s a fun opportunity to meet prospective Conservative MP Nicky Morgan, to meet other Conservatives in Loughborough, enjoy some drinks and nibbles and hear from Eric Pickles – chairman of the Conservative Party – all whilst enjoying a Hollywood-themed evening. Most of all we are promised an evening of “glamour, glitz and splendour”.

Event summary

• * Thursday 18 February 2010, 6.30pm – 10.30pm
• * Reel Cinema, Devonshire Square, Loughborough
• * Black tie / lounge suit
• * Tickets are £10 including drinks and nibbles

Tickets

• Facebook users can join the “Hollywood Night” Facebook event.
• Tickets can be purchased online through myconservatives.com.

Tickets can also be purchased by contacting Loughborough Conservatives on
office@loughboroughconservatives.com or 01509 219 370.

The event is open to everyone so please come along, have some fun and help raise some money for the campaign to elect Nicky Morgan as the next Conservative MP for Loughborough.

Prospective Conservative MP for Loughborough Nicky Morgan has organised a couple of interesting events later this month, both being held at John Storer House in central Loughborough.

The first event is a half-day Careers Workshop on Saturday 21 November from 10.00am to 2.00pm. With the official rate of unemployment at 2.5 million people and the real rate of people out of work even higher than that, this event is not only helpful but extremely timely. According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics today, figures for youth unemployment (16-24 year olds) are now at their highest ever level with one in five people in this age group unemployed. This workshop is an opportunity for people in Loughborough to receive free careers advice covering a range of areas from CV writing to goal-setting and confidence-building. Further details  of the careers workshop are on the Loughborough Conservatives website and on Facebook.

The second event is a Community Safety Workshop on Friday 27 November from 1.30pm to 5.00pm. The event will take the form of two Question Time-style panels with panelists from Charnwood Borough Council, Leicestershire Police Authority, Neighborhood Watch, the TaxPayer’s Alliance and the Conservative Disability Group. With increasing instances of so-called anti-social behaviour and other crime, this is another important and timely event and will give people in Loughborough the chance to air their views on crime and learn more about the work of various local and national organisations trying to reduce and prevent crime. Further details of the community safety workshop are on the Loughborough Conservatives website.

Both events are open to the public and free to attend. Further enquiries should be directed to Loughborough Conservatives on office@loughboroughconservatives.com or 01509 219370.

Update (17/11/09): The community safety workshop has featured in the Loughborough Echo.