AGM Friday 6th February 7.30pm

Our AGM will be held at Fairkytes at 7.30pm, followed by a guest speaker.
We are hoping that Basildon Council Leader Gavin Callaghan will confirm. Essex is an area where Local Government Reform is being introduced which will create 4 or 5 Councils to replace the existing  District and unitary Councils. Gavin will be able to update us ion the latest position.

Dawn Butler MP Thursday 12th February 7.30pm

Dawn Butler MP will be our speaker on 12th February, 
Dawn was re-elected in 2024 as MP for Brent East. She has had two terms in Parliament,

Wikipedia gives the following biographical details for Dawn First term (2005–2010)   Following the retirement of Paul Boateng to become British High Commissioner to South Africa, she was selected as the Labour candidate in Brent South and retained the seat for her party at the 2005 general election with a majority of 11,326.[7] She was the third black woman to become a British MP after Diane Abbott and Oona King. Interest in youth services continued as one of her main interests in parliament. On 24 October 2006, she was appointed chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Youth Affairs, and she is an honorary vice president of the British Youth Council. After Gordon Brown became prime minister in June 2007, Butler was made one of the Labour Party’s six vice chairs, with particular responsibility for youth issue Second term (2015–present) In 2013, Butler was selected as the Labour candidate for Brent Central at the general election in 2015.[22] Prior to the election, Teather had announced she would stand down from parliament, so she did not contest the seat. Butler was returned to parliament with a majority of more than 19,000 votes. In the 2024 United Kingdom general election she contested the newly formed constituency of Brent East.[67] In the election she was re-elected with a reduced majority.[68] Following the election Butler was a candidate to be chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee.   Dawn was guest speaker at a recent Dagenham and Rainham fundraiser and author of a book “A Purposeful Life: What I’ve Learned About Breaking Barriers and Inspiring Change:.