I very much enjoyed my visit to Lindridge Road this morning to the Cancer Support Centre of which I am the Patron.

It’s my first visit since all the issues of location and the centres future have been sorted out (see earlier messages) and i was so please to see that.

I met some of those involved in running and organising this important and very highly valued jewel in Sutton Coldfield’s crown and toured some of their newly altered facilities.

I also looked in on an art group (fortunately the choir who roped me in on an earlier visit were not performing today so avoided suffering my singing voice!)

A huge thank you to the chair, trustees, volunteers and organisers for all their fantastic work in our Town.

Last night at The Royal Sutton School (formerly John Wilmott) our 19th annual schools’ debating competition took place. I had the great pleasure and privilege of chairing and introducing the debates.

The competition was held at Royal Sutton school because, for the first time since the competition began 22 years ago, they won it last year.

And our host and head teacher, Nicola Gould, clutching last year’s coveted trophy welcomed us…

The eight debates and 16 debaters put on a brilliant show and hugely entertained and amused us over the next couple of hours.

The judges had to take some time to decide as the results were so close, but finally agreed that the winners of the competition 2024 are:

Local MP and Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell opened the new British High Commission in Dodoma and announced life-saving support for women and girls in Tanzania.

This aims to protect mothers and babies, tackle diseases, and boost access to green energy. 

UK funding announced today will help reduce maternal deaths in Tanzania, creating a safer environment for women and their children.

You can read more about it here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-announces-life-saving-support-for-women-and-girls-in-tanzania

Andrew Mitchell attended a meeting of the Sutton Coldfield Amnesty Group at the Holy Trinity RC Church, where they were discussing the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as well as the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Andrew spoke about how the UK government remains resolutely committed to protecting and promoting human rights.

In relation to the deeply troubling situation in the Middle East, he spoke about how, through diplomatic efforts, the government are committed to finding a sustainable ceasefire, getting essential aid into Gaza and the hostages out.

If you have any enquiries about the local Amnesty group, please see here: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/groups/sutton-coldfield

Andrew Mitchell also visited Birmingham City Council this morning to meet with the Chief Executive, Deborah Cadman, and the Director of Intervention Response, Rishi Shori. The senior officers of course work with this council administration which has done such damage to and broken Birmingham City Council’s finances. They also work with The Commissioners which the government have put in to run Birmingham council to try to sort it out.

Andrew said:

“Apart from a discussion about the future structure of council services and the need for serious devolution of services, we also discussed the Midland Lodge in the park which has gone to rack and ruin under Birmingham’s ownership and also our park where I am very concerned about the administrations delay in managing to take sensible decisions about its future.

“I shall be reporting back to you in more detail early in the new year I also made clear that I do not expect to see the council’s financial failure billed to my constituents council tax . Assets must be sold off by the council which owns more assets which are not necessary for its proper functioning than any other local authority in the country.”

This week Birmingham Live published an article illustrating the extent of the financial mess Birmingham City Council is in, which you can read here:

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/broke-birmingham-city-council-ask-28274531

Photo: Andrew Mitchell MP meets Deborah Cadman, the Chief Executive, and ad Rishi Shori, Director of Intervention Response at BCC

Local MP Andrew Mitchell joined West Midlands Mayor Andy Street on a visit to the new Amazon facility to see their Christmas operation supplying hundreds of thousands of items to thousands of residents of the Royal Town.

Andrew said:

“I had the pleasant task of opening Amazon Sutton Coldfield earlier in the year. The operation now employs 2000 people (exceeding previous estimates of 1600) and has 1100 local good quality jobs, is an investment of £550 million, and produces 3.6 MWh of solar energy. In Peddimore, Amazon holds more than 30 million items. You can probably tell I am impressed by the extraordinary investment in our Town and window on the future, but also at the number of high-quality jobs secured and local employment opportunity.

“Amazon are also playing a role in our local community more widely - I have already asked them to look at supporting some terrific local charities which they are doing – particularly at the suggestion and organisation of local councillor Ken Wood, Amazon led the Water Orton Lane litter pick!”

Andrew Mitchell was in Minworth today on the canal at the rear of the Boat where he launched “The Spirit of Royal Sutton Coldfield” which is the brain child of David Train, former Olympic Coach and President of the Fladbury Paddle Club.

Andrew said:

“His boat stands for our hopes in combatting climate change and promoting the biosphere.

“It flies the flag of Samoa which next year will host the Commonwealth heads of government meeting and where climate environment and nature will be incredibly prominent in their discussions.

“As the crew paddled off down the canal we cheered their resolve and public spiritedness.”

Andrew Mitchell officially open an innovative new ‘intervention hub’ at Fairfax Academy, which is already making a significant difference to life at the school.

The ground-breaking hub, which was built over the summer with funding of more than £35,000 from Sutton Coldfield Charitable Trust (SCCT), provides a place for students to spend time, where they receive intensive mentoring and coaching following incidents of poor behaviour.

Staffed by a Behaviour Lead and a Mental Health lead, the new building is in a sectioned-off, landscaped area near Fairfax’s sports hall.

I was joined by Inge Kettner, vice-Chair of SCCT, Fairfax Principal Sean Castle and Karen Bloor, of Fairfax Multi-Academy Trust, as we unveiled a plaque to officially open the Hub on Friday, November 24.

It was a great pleasure to see how this Hub is making a difference to students’ lives and is clearly enabling an innovative approach to helping students who display behavioural issues.

Sutton Coldfield is lucky to be blessed with very good and forward-thinking schools, and this brilliant idea at Fairfax is a great example of that innovative outlook.

It’s also a great example of how the Royal Town’s oldest charity – Sutton Coldfield Charitable Trust – continues to support very important schemes with vital funding.

Fairfax Principal Sean Castle said: 

“We are very grateful to Andrew Mitchell for coming along and opening our Hub today, and finding out more about how it is contributing to transforming the culture of the school.

“Last year we launched our Behavioural Curriculum, which is about teaching our students social norms and helping them understand how to behave in certain situations, covering everything from how we walk through corridors to taking pride in our appearance and treating each other with respect.

“The Hub is a very important part of the journey we are on as a school, in terms of behaviour. Like all schools, when students are involved in an incident of poor behaviour, we have a specific tailored programme for them to follow, which aims to refocus them so they can get back into the classroom relatively quickly.

“However, the Hub provides a place where some students can benefit from a longer, more intensive time period out of lessons, to have mentoring and coaching around that particular behaviour.

“For example, for some students being in the Hub is a much more productive form of suspension, as they will come into the Hub and still get their lessons, while being mentored and supported,”

he added.

Inge Kettner said: 

“Anything that helps keeps children in school and gives them the opportunity to make a success of their lives has to be a good thing, so we were very happy to support this project.

“We work with other organisations that deal with children who are often outside of the school system through exclusion, and we know from their results that it is so much harder to turn their lives around – so early intervention like this can be vital.

“Supporting education is one of our primary eight aims at the Trust and it was great to see how pupils are already benefitting from this grant.”

Last Sunday, the Royal Town, along with the rest of the country, remembered the men and women in our armed forces who perished in defence of our freedoms, and those many people who have fought and suffered to protect us over the years.

I joined the Royal Town Mayor, Tony Briggs, Veterans, and other participants at the ceremony at the King Edwards Memorial after attending the Holy Trinity Parish Church service.  

Very many thanks to Adrian Harvey for so generously providing free parking at the Townhouse Hotel for those who attended the Remembrance service this weekend.