Labour Party Councillor serving the London Borough of Brent
A few years ago, I featured a blog post from one of my constituents Mansingh Narrandes when he published a book ‘They Came From India.‘ The book gave account of his family’s journey in South Africa.
He has now published a second version of the book. Further details is given about how his great grandmother, Pooyjee came with her five year old daughter Lauder, to Natal in 1863 , lucky not to be ship wrecked off the coast of Port Elizabeth, followed by the father in 1864, Narain Dass Singh.
The Incredible Journey from India presents a fascinating view of one family’s history from the 1860s to the present day. It records the hardships and struggles of the first members to arrive in South Africa as part of the indentured workforce and, through a rich, pictorial narrative, how they contributed to the socio-economic infrastructure of Natal and South Africa as a whole.
South Africa would certainly not be the country it is today without the significant contribution of these people.
As the author points out, this is “An Untold Part of South African History” that had to be told and revealed to the whole world. Mansingh does an excellent job in telling his story, drawing the reader in with historical facts, documents, photographs and family anecdotes.
All in all a thoroughly captivating read and, in my opinion, a book that should form part of the documented history of South Africa.
The local police team from Dudden Hill have increased the amount of drop ins they have for local residents in the area to bring forward any crime and anti-social behaviour issues to them.
The dates, times and locations for future sessions are listed below
| Start Date (dd/mm/yyyy) | End Date (dd/mm/yyyy) | Location of Session |
| 06/06/2018 13:00 | 06/06/2018 14:00 | St. Mary’s Church Willesden, Neasden Lane |
| 27/06/2018 10:00 | 27/06/2018 11:00 | St. Mary’s Church Willesden, Neasden Lane |
| 20/07/2018 13:00 | 20/07/2018 14:00 | St. Mary’s Church Willesden, Neasden Lane |
| 12/06/2018 11:00 | 12/06/2018 12:00 | Costa Coffee, Neasden Lane, Neasden |
| 04/07/2018 12:00 | 04/07/2018 13:00 | Costa Coffee, Neasden Lane, Neasden |
| 25/07/2018 12:00 | 25/07/2018 13:00 | Costa Coffee, Neasden Lane, Neasden |
| 31/05/2018 12:00 | 31/05/2018 13:00 | Pakistan Community Centre, Marley Walk, Willesden Green |
| 20/06/2018 12:00 | 20/06/2018 13:00 | Pakistan Community Centre, Marley Walk, Willesden Green |
| 11/07/2018 12:00 | 11/07/2018 13:00 | Pakistan Community Centre, Marley Walk, Willesden Green |
| 01/08/2018 11:00 | 01/08/2018 12:00 | Pakistan Community Centre, Marley Walk, Willesden Green |
Thank you for supporting Aslam Choudry, Krupesh Hirani and Janice Long in Dudden Hill ward. We have always strived to represent local people and will continue our commitment to knocking on doors outside of election time and being easily accessible to our residents.
The ward has repaid us by giving us our best results ever in Dudden Hill ward. The Conservatives have passed the Lib Dems as the second party in the ward.
The local election period is not officially over. Sadly, one of our colleagues who was well known in the area Lesley Jones passed away the weekend before the elections so the Willesden ward election has been postponed until the end of June. She lived in Dudden Hill so it is a sad time for many of us living locally who knew her.
On Sunday, local residents sadly woke up to Nazi graffiti on our streets by the Dollis Hill tube station area. I was alerted to this on the day and joined local residents in scrubbing the horrific graffiti off in what was a great instant community response.
Last night we organised a vigil to get people together and show our unity against this abhorrent act of vandalism.
Local children placed positive messages at the location where the hateful graffiti had been sprayed.
We were joined by the local Rabbi from the Brondesbury Synagogue.
It was humbling to see that attempts to create division had created a positive community response and united us.
Police have been informed as this is clearly a criminal act and the Council have been helpful in deep cleaning the graffiti to ensure no paint marks or signs of the red graffiti remain.
With the local elections on the 3rd May, we have an inspiring Manifesto for Brent residents ahead of the vote.
Our main strapline is A Borough of Culture, Empathy and Shared Prosperity.
Young people are the future so echoing a previous national Labour Manifesto’s promise, we focus on education, education and education!
We’ll develop stronger partnerships with schools to help them deal with the pressures they are facing due to the Tory Government cutting funding to schools and investment in our children.
Employment and growth is also important and we will connect local people to opportunities in the Borough and across London. We will also promote decent wages and continue our pledge to pay the London Living Wage and encourage others to do so too. We’ll also make apprenticeship opportunities available for young people.
Roads and pavement replacements are becoming more difficult to fund. This is because the Government has raided Vehicle Excise Duty (more commonly known as Road Tax) receipts for Londoners. The fund that helped on road schemes in Brent was contributed by TfL and this was based on income passed on via Vehicle Excise Duty. Despite the Government taking this money and not passing it on, Brent Labour will still renew 300 miles of roads and pavements and we will also cut down the amount of time it takes to start and finish urgent repairs by using newly available technology.
Sadly under Tory Britain, Foodbank demand has increased in Brent and we will support them to deliver for those in need and work with them to tackle the root causes of poverty.
We’ll expand our new area based approach to delivering local services with Neighbourhood Managers and Town Centre Managers spending less time at the Civic Centre and more on the streets with communities and local businesses.
Our other public sector partners such as the NHS and our schools are struggling to retain and recruit staff because of housing pressures. We will support them by building more key worker staff so that our residents have more stable local services with staff that have a stake in the Borough.
On estate regeneration, we will hold binding votes on plans so that we can work with communities to ensure support for schemes. This is especially important when major schemes mean people have to temporarily relocate because of works.
We’ll expand our highly successful outdoor gym schemes and ensure that no resident lives more than a mile away from one by 2020. We’ll establish a Brent Network (social prescribing) and integrate access to social activities and events with GP surgeries.
We’ll continue to campaign on housing the NHS and the police and keep up the pressure on the Government to reverse their cuts and to properly fund Brent services.
And finally on improving the environment and public health, we pledge to double the number of street trees in Brent and increase electric car charge points.
All indicators from the last few elections show that in Brent it is now a straight battle between Labour and the Conservatives on 3rd May.
To read the full manifesto document, click here LINK
As Police front counters at Harlesden and Kilburn stations have closed the local Dudden Hill police team are providing a contact point in the community to enable the public to come and meet officers. You will be able to talk to an officer on a one-to-one basis in confidence.
The next session is at Costa Coffee, 291 Neasden Lane, Neasden, NW10 1QR on Thursday 8th March 2018 from 12-1pm.
As Police front counters at Harlesden and Kilburn stations have closed the local Dudden Hill police team are providing a contact point in the community to enable the public to come and meet officers. You will be able to talk to an officer on a one-to-one basis in confidence.
The next session is at Costa Coffee, 291 Neasden Lane, Neasden, NW10 1QR on Wednesday, 21st February 2018 from 12-1pm.
As Police front counters at Harlesden and Kilburn stations have closed the local Dudden Hill police team are providing a contact point in the community to enable the public to come and meet officers. You will be able to talk to an officer on a one-to-one basis in confidence.
The next session is at B&M Stores, 473 High Road, Willesden, NW10 2JH on Thursday, 15th February 2018 from 11am-12.
