DROPPED KERB IN ELSTOW

Bunyans Mead is a sheltered complex for elderly residents in Elstow village. There was no dropped kerb at the entrance to Bunyans Mead, creating mobility problems for wheelchair users. Earlier this year it seemed that residents would have a long wait for a dropped pavement due to other highways priorities.

However I met County officers to find a solution and we found some DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) money which could be used. The pavements on both sides of the road have now been dropped, making life much easier for wheelchair users and young parents with babies in pushchairs. Recently I met a father out walking with his baby in the High Street. He is very pleased with the new dropped pavement and is shown in the photo above.

Re my Indian Wedding, I had a nice comment from James Lucas:

"Lynne great to see you were at an Indian wedding the other day. Bedford is a great place to live because of its diversity of different nationalities and races, which gives us the opportunities to attend the kind of event you described.

It's good to see a prominent politician who is so proud of our local diversity in Bedford, but does not patronise your readers in the way some other bloggers do. At least you don't treat us as idiots!!"

Thank you for the compliment James. I must confess that the Indian wedding was in Broxbourne and my Indian friends live in Luton. However like you I am very proud to live in Bedford - the most culturally diverse town in England with residents of 60+ different nationalities. Many of my neighbours are Indian, Italian, Chinese, Polish, German etc. and I really enjoy Bedford's rich cultural heritage.

As the child of a naval family I lived in 3 continents, speak 3 languages and have visited or lived in 80 different countries. I still travel overseas regularly and so far in 2008 I have been to Poland,Greenland, Denmark, Malta, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Madeira, Croatia, France and Ireland - just after their NO referendum in June.

THE SANDWICH GENERATION (1)

THOMAS - A VERY SERIOUS YOUNG MAN


Like many 'Baby Boomers' I have elderly relatives as well as children and grandchildren. So after a busy week sitting on 3 separate Employment Tribunals,
attending Council committees and conducting a Saturday Advice Surgery in Wilstead
I am off to a Jungle Birthday Party in Watford for my smallest grandson Thomas, who is 3 next week and is mad on animals and the film Madagascar.

On Sunday I have to head south to my home town Portsmouth for 2/3 days to finalise the move of my frail 92 year old aunt from a sheltered flat into a nursing home.

In Elstow this week we have had a dropped kerb installed at Bunyans Mead to enable wheelchair bound residents to access the social centre more easily and very soon we should have a lorry ban sign and better road signs installed at the Elstow roundabout to prevent continental lorries straying on to the Abbeyfields Estate.

Wilstead has one of the largest Women's Institute Branches in Bedfordshire, with 40+ members, including me. On Thursday we had a fascinating talk entitled "All About Chocolate" from Jill, a Bedfordshire Librarian, who told us the history of chocolate using 7 chosen books and gave us a taste of 5 different types of chocolate.

Wilstead also has a first class amateur dramatic group, the Wilstead Players, who have won several awards with a one act play "Lear's Daughter". They are giving a charity performance of this play on Wednesday 9 July at 8pm in Wilstead Village Hall.

Have a good weekend