Mary Reid

Never attend an Annual General Meeting unless you want to be on the committee!  That happened to me over 20 years ago when I attended the AGM of Kingston WelCare as a church representative. I offered some suggestions, and immediately found myself co-opted on to the executive. 

Thus began a long association with this voluntary organisation that offers support to families.  Ian made WelCare his mayoral charity and enabled them to re-roof their house in Canbury Park Road, where it now offers an extensive range of activities as well as offices for other organisations such as KREC.

The Chair of WelCare, Elva Ainsworth, had contacted me ages ago to ask if I would be the speaker at their AGM. That was before I knew I was going to be invited anyway as Mayor, so I was really pleased to go along with two hats on.  I told them about the impact of 'Every Child Matters' on the provision of services for children and their families, and the key role that the voluntary sector plays in that.

Another organisation that is doing excellent things with young people is Fulham Football Club.  We are very fortunate in having their training ground in the borough at Motspur Park, because we have benefitted from a number of their Community Sports Trust activities.

Some weeks ago I met their football team for youngsters with Downs Syndrome.  This week I was in the House of Commons for the formal launch of the Trust by Richard Caborn, the Sports Minister. He spoke about how the club was harnessing the power of football and the recognition of the Premier League in order to achieve educational goals. 

In Kingston the Positive Futures project on the Cambridge Road Estate has used football as a catalyst for a all kinds of sporting activities, from go-karting to street dancing. The three girls in the picture had taken part, and they spoke very well about what they had gained from the project and explained that they had now been asked to help with a junior club over the summer.

I also took the opportunity to chat with Jim Fitzpatrick, the Minister for London, whom I had met on a number of occasions  (and here and here) when he was Minister for Local Government with responsibility for e-Government.