THE PAST few weeks have been full of celebrations in our communities; last weekend we celebrated Easter, and a week earlier there were the Holi celebrations.
Later this month the Muslim community will celebrate Eid as Ramadan comes to an end and then the Sikh community will celebrate Vaisakhi. It’s part of what makes our towns and villages such a great place to live, seeing all our communities come together to celebrate each other’s festivals.
Elsewhere, we have had further reason to celebrate with some incredible sporting success for two local champions. Last month, Danny Quartermaine won the European Super Featherweight Boxing Title and Jaya Kalsi won the National Junior Championships. Incredible success coming out again from Clearys Boxing Gym based in Whitnash.
We’ve got a long history of boxing success to be proud of in our towns, starting of course with the Turpin Brothers. Dick Turpin was the first black British boxer to win a pro title after he broke the so-called ‘colour bar’ in 1948 while his brother Randolph is rightly honoured with a statue in Market Square in Warwick. Pride of place for one of the brilliant sons of our towns.
More recently, we saw Lewis Williams – another fantastic product of Clearys – win Gold at the Commonwealth Games back in 2022. A real history and future for our towns to be proud of.
Next month, there are local elections taking place across the country on May 2. There was every chance a General Election could have also taken place on May 2, but the prime minister does not seem too keen…
Here in Warwickshire, there are Police and Crime Commissioner elections, and it is so important that, whatever your political persuasion, you ensure you are registered to vote so you can exercise your right to vote.
Local elections are just as important as General Elections. An active and passionate local representative can make a huge difference to local communities, ensuring your concerns are taking seriously and dealt with swiftly.
While registering to vote is the first step, you now must ensure you take photo ID to the polling station when you go to vote. This is a recent measure introduced by the Government (despite incredibly low levels of voter fraud) so it is hugely important to remind friends, family, colleagues of this new requirement. Please check you have an eligible form of photo ID and ensure your vote is not taken away from you.
More information about registering to vote and photo ID can be found at https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/
As always, please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any issues or concerns you would like to raise with me. I can be reached on [email protected] or on 01926 882006.
Matt Western
MP for Warwick and Leamington
