CHRISTMAS CONCERT AT ELSTOW ABBEY

On Monday 30 November the Friends of Elstow Abbey are organising a Christmas Concert. Our main performers will be the famous Luton Male Voice Choir, who sang so beautifully in Elstow Abbey earlier this year.

To launch the concert we have a joint Choir of 50 children from Elstow Lower School and Abbey Middle School singing for 30 minutes. Everyone is welcome and tickets are only £7.50 (£5 for pensioners) and children are free. Come along and enjoy some splendid music and start the Christmas celebrations early.

I am Chairman of the Friends of Elstow Abbey and we have raised £42,000 in 14 years to refurbish and restore our lovely Abbey Church, founded as a Benedictine Nunnery in 1078 by Countess Judith, neice of William the Conqueror. Last year we paid for the organ to be repaired - costing over £2,000.

BACK IN THE BLOGOSPHERE!

Parvez Akhtar and Nicky Attenborough

Hi folks I am back after a few weeks away. I have been repairing my damaged leg with physiotherapy, hydrotherapy and sports therapy. I still limp but am much more mobile than I was a few weeks ago, wearing the big black boot.

Now that I am not a Councillor, I thougt I would not be missed, but I was wrong and have received some reader comments. Sadly, the Conservatives lost the Bedford Mayoral election, due to the disloyalty of Nicky Attenborough, who briefed the press against Parvez Akhtar after he won the Open Primary. Liberal Democrats gleefully used all her comments in their election literature, and the result is that we now have a rather dull Liberal Democrat Mayor in charge of Bedford.

The photos say it all - old Conservative v. new Conservative. Parvez Akhtar is an exceptional young man - a well educated, charming senior design engineer at the Ford Motor Company. He grew up in Bedford and his 5 children attend Bedford schools. We did not have enough time to introduce Parvez to all our rural supporters and Nicky Attenborough sabotaged him, because she refused to accept her defeat gracefully.

Nicky deserved to be suspended by the Conservative Party and was lucky not to be expelled. She was a poor Conservative Group Leader who drove several Conservatives out of the Group. She slavishly followed Frank Branston's Independent agenda, instead of a Conservative agenda for years, especially as Deputy Mayor.

Thank you to Tony Williamson of Texas, USA, for his kind comments about Bedford. It is a lovely town, especially along the Embankment, and I am especially proud of Elstow village, where I live.