Armed Forces to be present At Carnival ...hopefully!

Here I am pictured with Captain Baggs of the Army Cadets on "Armed Forces Day" in Valentines Park - last Saturday. National Armed Forces Day celebrated it's inaugural year (The first Armed Forces Day is 27 June 2009, and is an opportunity for the nation to show our support for the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community). Our Local Territorial army (Gordon Road Ilford), G Company 7 rifles, 3 group Cadets -Gordon Road Ilford, St John's ambulance and the Air Cadets (241 Wanstead and Woodford Squadron) displayed their vehicles had information stalls and provided advice and guidance on how to join and what to expect as part of a recruitment drive. They were a little disappointed with this years turnout - a result of reliance on our local council, however I will be sharing ideas on marketing with them for next year and hopefully some of them will be attending our carnival procession and two day event. If you want to contact them for further info ring 020 8472 0140

The event was really fun and I got to use an unloaded gun and learn how to load it. I pictured some of the incumbent councillors (who did not contribute to Carnival again i.e Area 6) to my fore during this demonstration - I am jesting of course.

Anne Chambers head of the Local St Johns Ambulance informed me of a recruitment drive for the local area. She was proud of her cadets attending on this important day and has assured me that we will have a presence at our 2009 Carnival at which she will be recruiting new members. She is to send me a press release to put on our blog so keep watching this space. Anne is not aware of it yet but our committee has voted to make her an honorary president of Redbridge Carnival for her on-going commitment and historic involvement with bot St Johns Ambulance and Redbridge Carnival. Anne is a true legend!

Risk Assessed and Raring to Go!

Today Gaya, Rajeshri and our Chairman Wilson Chowdhry attended a risk assessment review for this years carnival with Paul Lacey of the London Borough of Redbridge. He has proviuded some ammendments that he would like to see and a new template for our risk assessments. We are hoping to complete the new structure within a week and gain his approval. On the 2nd of July we have a meeting with the Redbridge Event Strategy Team and hope that they will approve our overall Event Plans. It's all go from there!

Leon Greenman Appeal

The Ilford Recorder has finally reached its target of £3800 for the Leon Greenman Appeal, which was initiated to remember the life of a true Redbridge Hero who made a vow to ensure people would reflect on the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust through his sharing of his experience - with belief that he could prevent such an atrocity happening again. Leon Greenman showed great strength to survive and to return to the UK after the holocaust where he resided in Redbridge. Learn more here and here.

We are particularly pleased with this result as Redbridge Carnival Association donated £150.00 towards the scheme. The Ilford recorder led campaign will eventually see the monument introduced to the Holcaust Memorial Garden in Valentines Park

Redbridge I

I have posted details of important featured articles on this Chadwell blog on the Redbridge I website, which has resulted in an increase in activity on our Blogsite recently. Redbridge I is our Council's very interactive, award winning website and it has a useful forum. If you would like to learn more follow this link.

Redbridge College Supports Redbridge Carnival

Redbridge College have offered us use of their building premises for the Redbridge Carnival Selection Dance. We are very grateful for their kind donation.


"With outstanding facilities, inspiring teachers and a buzzing social scene, you really can have it all at Redbridge College. Small in size but big on success, Redbridge College is in the top 5% of colleges in the country for providing you with all the support you need to succeed¹.

Located on the border of both east London and west Essex, Redbridge College is well known for the diversity of its staff and students and takes every opportunity to celebrate multiculturalism.
The state–of-the-art facilities are situated across two campuses, and include indoor and outdoor sports facilities, hundreds of computers (including a dedicated Mac Suite), a brand new TV studio, a fine dining restaurant and hair and beauty salons which offer treatments at unbelievably low prices. There is plenty of free parking at the Chadwell Heath site, and both sites are easily reached by public transport.

¹ Top 5% of colleges nationally for the Context Value Added score in the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ annual Achievement and Attainment Tables 2008."

Learn more about the college.

You can contact them using the following details:

Redbridge College, Little Heath, Barley Lane, Romford, Essex, RM6 4XT.

COURSE HOTLINE:020 8548 7431
GENERAL ENQUIRIES:020 8548 7400
MINICOM:020 8548 7111
FAX:020 8599 8224
EMAIL:info@redbridge-college.ac.uk

Area 7 Commit to Funding Carnival!

Here is a picture with Councillors from the Area 7 Committee and some of the Carnival Team. This picture was taken after the Councillors had decided to provide a grant for £1000 for the event and suggested that a budget be set from the Cabinet Budget to ensure the longevity of our event. Last year at this time we received no funds from Area committees so this is a step in the right direction.

Pictured from left Gaya, Cllr Shoaib, Rajeshric Chouhan, Cllr Turner, Cllr Mohammed, Cllr Choudhary.

Adults and children are excited - as we announce we intend to return with Redbridge Carnival from 12:00 - 20:00 on the 5th and 6th September at Valentines Park. We are in the process of finalising use of the Venue and plan to hold a procession that will involve a walking procession from Ilford Town centre starting at 12:00, this will proceed along the High Road to the car park of the former Ilford Swimming Baths, from here we shall re-form into a vehicle and pedestrian procession and will travel along the high Road onto Clements Road, turning right at the top at the newly designed junction. From here we shall travel along Cranbrook Road, onto Coventry road and into Melbourne fields via Valentines and then Melbourne Road. If you would like to participate in any way Please call Wilson Chowdhry on 020 8514 0861.

The Search Continues..........

There are only 6 weeks left to apply to become this years Carnival Queen. We are urging women between the ages of 16 and 30 to submit their response back as soon as possible to make our shortlisting process easier to manage. We have already received a lot more response that we had last year and hope that this event will also be a day to remember for all who take part in the Carnival Queen selection. Contact Rajeshri Chouhan on 07941 083 716 if you are interested in applying.

We will celebrating this years event with more performances form Alexandra School of Performing Arts again this year. Last year they really rocked the stage with their wild, energetic performances, wonderful costumes and great stage presence. Our mascot Hannah Chowdhry daughter of the Chairman Wilson Chowdhry is part of this group so do look out for her.

Here is a picture of one of some of our Carnival Court with the former Redbridge Mayor Lorraine Sladden- Princess Hannah (our Mascot ) and Princess Puneet. in the picture we were supporting one of the Mayors many charitable events -this one in particular a bucket collection at the exchange Mall, Ilford. We were also the only participants that arrived for the disappointing Mayors Float at the London new Years Parade. By cajoling another carnival to join our float we managed to salvage Redbridge's reputation. Our Chairman Wilson Chowdhry even took over control of the float microphone and it is agreed by all that his interaction with the crowd resulted in our surprising 8th place achievement.

Here you can see Wilson Chowdhry and Secretary/Court Manager Rajeshri Chouhan were also present at the Mall Cash Collection events. We did not get any thanks from the Mayor for our contribution in her Annual Year book, however, she did give special mention to Wilson Chowdhry for his overall commitment to her campaign. We hope to support the incoming Mayor Councillor Chan and have written a letter confirming our support of his position. Watch this space............

Deputy Mayor of London to Make Appearance at this years Redbridge Carnival

We have just received an email from the Deputy Mayor of London [Richard Barnes], who has indicated an interest (this has not yet been confirmed) in attending this years Redbridge Carnival. This is potentially very good news and will add a very important dignitary to our already bloated list of local dignitaries. Redbridge Carnival is proud of its tradition of supporting good local community citizenship and believes that this visit will inform local people of how the London Mayoralty works and the good work they are doing to promote and improve London. So close to the Olympics this would be a special appearance and we hope that many of you will come and see the first official visit to Redbridge from this senior political figure -thats if we are selected as a potential attended event for this year, of course ! Learn more about Richard Barnes here.