Hinckley Info : News and Information

FIRSTLY, can I say what a pleasure it is to be writing for hinckley-info for the first time and I thank Editor Mark Rowley for generously allowing me to do so. I have always lived in Barwell and I love it for a number of different reasons.

The generosity and warmth of its people, it's many clubs/charities/societies (a number of which I have the privilege to be involved with), it's annual Carnival-which, for my money at least, remains the best in our Borough; but then I would say that, with me being its Press Officer!, it's football team which has done the village so proud this year, and that's just for starters.

As we know, Barwell has, over the past couple of years, been through a very tough time, thrust into the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Of course, we will never forget what happened and our thoughts remain with the families of those concerned and we must ensure that any lessons that need to be learnt by statutory agencies are, indeed, learnt.

We will never forget what happened.

But, equally, we need now to look to the future and to re-building the self-confidence of our village and to ensure its regeneration.

I am so pleased that a lot of very good people are committed to ensuring that is the case.

I was recently elected to the position of Chairman of the George Ward Community Project, which is a local body which exists to organise events, for the good of the community, which can be held at our wonderful new £2million George Ward Centre-which was funded by proceeds from the sale of the Cedars centre, which was gifted to Leicestershire County Council by Mr and Mrs George Ward way back in 1946.

George Ward was a boot and shoe trade employer who went on to become the Borough's Member of Parliament.

Those of us involved with the Centre are really excited about our official opening day, which is Saturday July 3rd.
It's a free event and we'd love to see as many local people as possible.

It runs from 10am-4pm and will be full of activity, with a number of potential users of the centre coming along to show people what they can do.

There'll also be stalls, musical performers, and much, much more.

We'll also have local dignitaries in attendance and the official opening will take place at 12.30pm.

I'm the Master of Ceremonies on the day, so I hope to see many of you there!

This is just one of a number of examples of how Barwell and its people are fighting back.

We're determined to ensure that this is a vibrant, exciting, well resourced place to live.

I'd love to hear your local stories/thoughts for future columns.

See you next time!
 
* Mathew presents a twice-weekly radio show, each Monday and Friday 12midday-2pm, on Hilltop Radio. Listen via: https://www.hilltop-radio.com
* He also writes a weekly column called 'A lighter look at life,' for the Hinckley Herald and Journal newspaper.
* E-mail him via: