Political Parties recognise Andrew’s work

Last Thursday the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and his wife Sarah honoured the Bromley-by-Bow Centre with a visit. It was an unexpected visit that very few staff knew about until the car pulled up outside the health centre gates!

The Prime Minister and his wife were at the Centre for over an hour and met with staff, patients and many of the local people who come to the Centre for classes, advice, and the numerous workshops and activities. There was plenty of time to sit in the café and informally chat to the staff and customers. The Prime Minister was particularly keen to see for himself the progress that the Bromley-by-Bow Centre has made in developing it’s social enterprises and responding to the new opportunities that the 2012 Olympics will bring to the local area, given that the stadium is only a few hundred yards away. He also spoke to our employment advisors about the challenges of tackling long-term unemployment and the barriers to work for local people.

Both the Bromley-by-Bow Centre and the St Paul’s Way Transformational Project have attracted great interest from all the Political Parties. Caroline Spellman, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, recently visited and stressed the importance of empowering local communities.

Other visitors to the Bromley-by-Bow Centre over the next few weeks will include:

Steve Norris – Former Conservative Minister of Transport and current advisor to Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

Sir Bob Kerslake – Homes and Communities Agency

Ruth Mackenzie – Cultural Olympiad Director