I was delighted to be back at New College Swindon last Thursday for the annual Apprenticeship Awards Ceremony, which celebrates the achievement of apprentices working in private enterprise and the public sector here in Swindon. It was great to see the pride reflected in the families and friends of the recipients receiving the awards. This is all part of the great work carried out by the team at New College and the Institute of Technology as well. Swindon’s capacity to educate and train the skilled workforce of tomorrow is growing, and I was pleased to join in the celebration.
Continuing on the theme of education, it was great to visit staff and pupils at Badbury Park Primary School on Friday, after working with the Government to ensure that we had the funding for the development of this vital facility for families and children in Badbury Park. This is a lovely new facility and much needed, once again underpinning the fact that here in our town, over 90% of parents who are bidding for a Primary school place will get their top three choices. That is a real commitment to schools and education here in Swindon from our Government, and I am delighted to be supporting that.
On Saturday, as we marked Carers Week 2023, it was great to be back at The Hub in Swindon Town Centre for the ‘Walk A Mile in Their Shoes’ Swindon Carers Centre annual event. It’s a mile walk around the town to mark the huge amount of work carried out by carers every day, the unpaid contribution that they make to Swindon, and the huge value they add to our town. I am regularly campaigning in Westminster on carers issues, raising them with the Government, and working closely with our carers organisation, so I was very proud to take part in the event again this year.
I would like to congratulate two individuals and one fantastic team at Great Western Hospital NHS Foundation Trust on winning the NHS Parliamentary Awards.
The Swindon Integrated Care Alliance Coordination Centre has been recognised in the Excellence in Urgent and Emergency Care category, Consultant Nurse Bev Breen has won the regional Nursing and Midwifery Award and recently retired Neonatal Nurse Toni Starr was celebrated in the Lifetime Achievement Award category.
The winners were successful among seven hundred nominees made up from right across the country and will now go on to represent the region at the national awards on the NHS’ 75th anniversary.
I would like to thank all of the wonderful staff at Great Western Hospital for their hard work and dedication, which makes a real difference to the lives of so many in our town, including me and my family.
It has been a pleasure to assist the organising committee with this year's Swindon Armed Forces Day 2023, and I am looking forward to attending this fantastic event, which will take place this coming Saturday 17th June at GWR Park, Faringdon Road, from 11am onwards. The event has something for all of the family including a fun fair, entertainment, food stalls, kids activities and much more and I look forward to seeing you all there.
Finally, my local charity of the week is Tiny But Mighty Swindon. This local charitable cause has been set up to support parents, babies, and staff at our local Neonatal Unit at Great Western Hospital. Tiny But Mighty send out NICU care packages throughout the year directly to our local unit. The packages are put together to encourage positive health and well-being, at what is undoubtedly one of the most stressful times for parents. If you would like to find out more about Tiny But Mighty’s work or support this wonderful local cause, you can find out more on their website here: Tiny But Mighty (Swindon) - Supporting Parents
