AGM Part I

By tradition, Brent Council splits its Council AGM into two parts. The first of which was on Monday during the England / Mexico game. I came to the Town Hall that evening by Tube, and would be glad not to share a train with quite so many sweaty football fans for a while. The AGM itself is quite nice though, with a series of Community Awards to people who have done voluntary work for an extraordinary range of organisations in the Borough. The diversity of people and organisations has to be seen to be graped.

You can get an idea of the range of backgrounds from the names of the awardees, which are: Alia Coleman, Ami Udeshi, Hajrudin Sistek, Bhavinbhai Patel, Nedim Mujcinovic, Jasvinder Sawhney, Jennie Doble, Meena Patel, Minakshi Patel, Ramesh Devani, Samia El-Ali, Sharon Bennett, Alfred "Teacher Freddie" Totesaut, Sylvia Wiseman, Zamira Ruspi, Urmila Parbhu, Rajnikant Somabhai Patel, Dr. Peter Moore, Josie Warshaw, Ezra Cohen, Fatima Khalil, Christina Connolly and Cassandra Cheng.

The organisations on represented by the Awardees on Monday were (in no oparticular order) St Michael’s Youth Project, Alperton Community School, Brent Victim Support, Brent Irish Advisory Service, Brent CAB, Brent Parent Partnership, Afghan Association Paiwand, St Johns Ambulance, St Lukes Hospice, Brent Youth Parliament, School Stationery Shop, Friends of River Brent, Brent Heart of Gold Support Group, Claremont High School, Brent Multi-Faith Forum, Preston Manor High School, Stonebridge Amateur Boxing Club, Brent Carers Centre, Lyon Park Infant School, Mother Teresa Albanian Union, Federation of Patidar Associations, Brent Indian Association, Harlesden Environmental Action Residents and Traders (HEART), Neasden Gateway Club, North West London Jewish Day School, Brent Fairtrade Network, Brent Indian Community Centre, Kingsbury High School, Bosnia and Herzegovina Community Advice Centre, Brent Eleven Street Residents Association and Cycletastic.

Quite a celebration of diversity in one of Europe's most varied muncipal authorities.