The Showmen's Guild Annual Luncheon 2018

Councillors Miles Parkinson, Gareth Molineux, Munsif Dad and Ken Moss recently attended the Annual Showmen's Guild Luncheon at Blackburn Rovers FC.

The Guild is based in Bury and represents the interests of showmen up and down the country. Their annual dinner is usually attended by over 35 Mayors, Members of the House of Lords and Members of Parliament as well as Councillors from across the North West.

Rishton Councillor Ken Moss said, "This was a good opportunity to find out how the Showmen operate and the strict guidelines they expect their members to adhere to. Following the event, I have written to the Guild offering them the chance to put on events in the new Town Square and use the Town Hall for their formal events."

EU Referendum: Hyndburn votes Leave

The borough of Hyndburn voted decisively to leave the European Union on 23rd June 2016 and the results can be broken down as follows:

Total number of voters:  40,168
Leave:  26,598
Remain:  13,569

The count took place at Accrington Town Hall and was attended by Labour Councillors Ken Moss, Bernard Dawson and Munsif Dad, Leader of the Council Miles Parkinson and Graham Jones MP.

31 ballot papers were rejected for the following reasons:

Voted for both:  13
Voter could be identified:  3
Unmarked or uncertain: 15

A full breakdown of the voting in each ward will be available shortly.

Spring Hill 2016: Labour hold

The results of the Spring Hill local election are as follows:

• Munsif Dad (Labour) - 998
• Abdul Qayyum (Conservative) - 271

Church: Bus stop on Blackburn Road approved

The redevelopment of Church Roundabout, Blackburn Rd and Henry street junction, is just part of the new Rapid transport scheme across Lancashire which has also seen a new bus station constructed in Accrington.

Part of the redevelopment saw the loss of a Bus stop along Blackburn Rd Church, West Accrington, in the direction of Blackburn heading from Accrington. Several concerned residents contacted Cllr Loraine Cox and stated that the loss of this bus stop meet that any one traveling from Accrington heading to Church Kirk would have to alight at the junction of Blackburn Rd and Lonsdale street.

Church Councillor Loraine Cox said, "The lack of a bus top close to Church roundabout was highlighted to me earlier this year. This meant anybody traveling to Church Kirk was left with almost a half mile walk. I immediately contacted our local County Councillor Munsif Dad and Clare Pritchard about this issue."

After some negotiation Cabinet member for Highways and Transport, John Fillis, agreed to attend a site meeting to assess the concerns raised. During this meeting earlier this year he meet Cllr Cox who explained the situation and how Church Kirk residents would loose out under this new public trasnsport plan.

On Monday, 25th of January, County Councillor Fillis returned to the location to inform Cllr Cox and CC Dad that Lancashire County council will be reinstating a stop closer to Church Kirk.

Cllr Cox added, "This is fantastic news and a real bonus to the bus service users in this area. The stop has been returned on a temporary basis to assess its usage. I would urge residents to make the most of this and use the stop. Again this shows how working with colleges at county Council has helped us solve residents concerns."

Hyndburn Labour announce candidates for 2016

The Hyndburn Labour group have formally selected candidates for all 12 wards up for election in May 2016.

Group Leader, Cllr Miles Parkinson, said, "I am pleased to announce that we have had a really excellent range of people coming forward wishing to stand, from a long-standing teacher to an experienced member of staff at Calderstones. All are standing on a Labour ticket and no deals have been done with any other political group to engineer a result. We will be fighting this election on the back of years of hard work from our 25 Labour Councillors and we hope the public continue to trust us to look after Hyndburn in 2016."

 St Oswalds - Glen Harrison

 Overton - Stephanie Haworth

 Altham - Steve Button

 Rishton - Jeff Scales

 Spring Hill - Munsif Dad

 Church - Jean Battle

 Barnfield - Jodie Travis

 Peel - Patrick Short

Central - Abdul Khan

 St Andrews - Stewart Eaves

 Baxenden - David Hartley

Netherton - Noordad Aziz

HBC: Council supports White Ribbon campaign

Hyndburn Council is again showing its full support for the White Ribbon Campaign, as White Ribbon Day heralds the start of 16 days of action to stop violence against women and girls.

The Council was proud to achieve the White Ribbon Award earlier this year, supporting the White Ribbon Campaign’s global drive.

Ambassadors gathered in Accrington Town Hall to unveil the White Ribbon plaque, whilst wearing a white ribbon, displaying a personal pledge to never commit, condone, or remain silent about violence against women.

Cllr Munsif Dad, Cabinet Member for Health and Communities, said; “We are proud to achieve the White Ribbon Award, as White Ribbon Towns aims to rally entire communities to end violence against women. We have a long history of raising awareness and supporting services aimed at reducing and supporting victims of domestic violence and we’re pleased to back the campaign again this year.”

Cllr Miles Parkinson, Council Leader, added; “Getting the White Ribbon Award shows our resolve to do all we can to raise awareness about domestic abuse, whilst supporting services to help victims.”

To sign up to the White Ribbon Campaign visit www.whiteribboncampaign.co.uk

HBC: Van donation to help vulnerable people

The Council is helping a local social enterprise charity, Community Solutions, to support more local vulnerable people, by supplying a van to help with many of their services.

Community Solutions North West is a social enterprise working in the North West, supporting more than 1500 people every month. Their services include befriending, food bank, allotments, training, sporting projects, family solutions and community repaint projects.

Cllr Munsif Dad, Cabinet Member for Health and Communities said; “Community Solutions carry out excellent work, supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our community and so we are glad to be able to help with the van donation, to help them support more people in need. “

Cllr Dad added; “The van will help Community Solutions in lots of ways. It will enhance their food bank operation, as although food parcels are all home delivered by volunteers, the van will allow the charity to collect more food from the local individuals, companies and schools who regularly support them. They will now be able to take advantage of some of the offers of food donations from Hyndburn based manufacturers and be in a position to offer to deliver some of the surplus food to other local organisations who are tackling food poverty.”

Mark Hirst, accepting the van on behalf of Community Solutions said; “Having this vehicle will be a massive help to many of our services as we continue to develop ways to help local people. It will be a huge boost to many of our operations including the Food Bank and will also help with our Community RePaint initiative as we can now collect more of the paint that local suppliers wish to donate and of course distribute the paint into Hyndburn from our RePaint Shop in Burnley.”

Mark added; "The van will also really help us to distribute the food from our allotments. Our polytunnels are based in Hyndburn and having a van will help us move the equipment needed between our allotment sites and to distribute the produce we are growing. Making sure we can get even more fresh, local and healthy produce into our food parcels.”

Viewpoint - Munsif Dad - August 2015

Defibrillators save lives and so it’s great news that more of these devices are set to be installed across the Borough. Five defibrillators are currently being installed in Accrington and Huncoat and we are now looking into the possibility of installing another four in the Central and Spring Hill areas of Accrington in the future.

Defibrillators, famously used to help Premiership Footballer, Fabrice Muamba, who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest during a football game, deliver an electric shock to the heart after it stops pumping blood around the body. Statistics show that over 75,000 lives could be saved each year in the UK by having defibrillators immediately available, so it’s fantastic that funding has been approved from Central and Spring Hill Area Councils to install four more and we are now looking into this.

As Cabinet Member for Health and Communities I was really pleased to be able to donate a van on behalf of the Council to a local social enterprise charity, Community Solutions recently.

Community Solutions North West is a social enterprise working in the North West, supporting more than 1500 people every month. Their services include befriending, food bank, allotments, training, sporting projects, family solutions and community repaint projects and the van will help with many of their services to support more vulnerable local people.

The van will help Community Solutions in lots of ways. It will enhance their food bank operation, as although food parcels are all home delivered by volunteers, the van will allow the charity to collect more and more food from local individuals, companies and schools who regularly support them. They will now be able to take advantage of some of the offers of food donations from Hyndburn based manufacturers and be in a position to offer to deliver some of the surplus food to other local organisations who are tackling food poverty.

The van will also help them to distribute the food from Community Solutions allotments. The charity’s polytunnels are based in Hyndburn and the van will help them to move the equipment needed between their allotment sites and to distribute the produce they grow. Making sure they get even more fresh, local and healthy produce into their food parcels.

And finally, I just wanted to update you on the Mayoral Charities which will benefit from funds raised during my term of office last year. I’ve already sent cheques for £2,500 each to the four main beneficiaries which are Accrington & District Blind Society, East Lancashire Hospice, Macmillan Cancer Support and North West Air Ambulance.

Other charities including the Hyndburn Disability Forum, AAWAZ, Hyndburn Arthritis Care, Accrington Sea Cadets, Rishton Old Folks Welfare Association and Saheli Connection will also receive £200 each. Many thanks to everyone who helped us raise so much money to help these local worthy causes and I know the current Mayor, Cllr Marlene Haworth, is also busy raising lots of funds for her chosen Mayoral Charities.

Viewpoint - Mayor Munsif Dad - March 2015

I was honoured to be invited to events marking International Women’s Week last month.  One was the annual Aawaz Women of Achievement event, where I presented awards and certificates to a group of young people. Aawaz is a charity which raises awareness about the importance of women and their contribution in voluntary work. I’ve seen how from a small start as a tiny community group Aawaz has grown and become a well-respected and credible organisation with a proven track record of delivering tangible results.

I also attended the Women’s World Day of Prayer event at Trinity Community Church in Accrington. It was an event for both men and women to join together all over the world on that day to reach out and pray and take a moment in our busy lives to come together and pray together.
The diversity of Hyndburn has changed since the First World War with the migration of many from the Indian Subcontinent to work in the mills of Accrington and surrounding towns.  I recently supported a shared histories event which highlighted the stories of how this community’s elders contribution is intertwined with the history of the Accrington Pals, at a special event at Accrington Town Hall.

Many of the soldiers of the Commonwealth hailed from the same areas as the Asian Community of Hyndburn and I was delighted that so many teachers and pupils from local schools attended the shared histories event. It featured an interactive talk with real memorabilia related to the contribution of the soldiers of the Commonwealth in the First World War and was a wonderful way of bringing the communities together and learning about the contribution that all the communities from across the world made in the First World War and how they have a link to Accrington. Many thanks to all those who came along.

I’ve had the pleasure of attending Rossendale Mayor’s Ball this month and Ribble Valley’s Mayor’s Ball last month. Both were enjoyable fundraising events and I’m very much looking forward to my own Mayor’s Ball coming up later this month.

It’s the biggest fundraising event of the year and will take place at Accrington Town Hall on Saturday, 25th April. Tickets are still available at £30 and the evening is all about raising money for my Mayoral Charities: Accrington Deaf & Blind Society, East Lancashire Hospice, East Lancashire Air Ambulance and Macmillan Cancer Research, so please support us by coming along and raising lots of funds for these worthy causes.
We’re still looking for sponsors for the ball and are holding a raffle so we’d love to hear from anyone who’d like to provide sponsorship or donate vouchers or raffle prizes.

The Mayoral Ball starts at 6.30pm on Saturday, 25th April and features a delicious three course meal and cabaret entertainment. For more information about the Ball, sponsorship or donation of vouchers or raffle prizes, please call Monica Bell at the Council on 01254  380114 or email monica.bell@hyndburnbc.gov.uk

Central: Mayoral Charity donation from community

Cllr Abdul Khan, Cllr Mohammad Ayub and Community Member Mohammed Siddique presented the Mayor, Cllr Munsif Dad, with a cheque for £1650 yesterday for the Mayoral Charity Fund.

They had raised the money by holding a charity event held on 11th January 2015 at Accrington Town hall attended by around 160 people.

HBC: Lancashire Day 2014 with Hollands Pies

Lancashire Day took place across the county on Thursday 27th November 2014.

The Town Crier, Rawden Kerr, read the Lancashire Day Proclamation outside Accrington Town Hall at 10.30 am along with the Worshipful the Mayor of Hyndburn, Councillor Munsif Dad, followed by the raising of the Lancashire Flag.

Many people enjoyed the free traditional Lancashire fayre on offer, kindly supplied by Baxenden-based Holland’s Pies.

The Town Crier also read the Lancashire Day Proclamation in Great Harwood at 12 noon by Churchfield House.

The Mayor, Cllr Munsif Dad, said; “As a proud Lancastrian and this year as Mayor of Hyndburn I was honoured to celebrate Lancashire Day on 27th November. Please come along to either of the proclamations if you can, everyone is more than welcome to help us celebrate.”

Council Leader, Cllr Miles Parkinson added; “Many thanks to everyone who came along to help us celebrate Lancashire Day and to Holland’s Pies for their support of the event.”

For more details about Lancashire Day, visit The Friends of Real Lancashire website at www.forl.co.uk.

Blessing of the Crib - 4th December 2014

The Mayor, Cllr Munsif Dad, would like to invite members of the public to attend the annual Blessing of the Crib service taking place at 2.00 p.m. on Thursday 4th December, outside the front of Accrington Town Hall.

Father Lawrence Carson-Featham and Revd Ian Enticott from St James Parish Church in Accrington will be leading the service and Blessing the Crib with children from St Mary Magdalen’s Primary School choir performing carols at the event.

The Mayor, Cllr Munsif Dad, said, “The Blessing of the Crib is a wonderful way to start the Christmas Celebrations in Hyndburn, so please come along and join us.”

Following the service, free refreshments will be available in the Town Hall.

Mayor presented with Duke of Lancaster Regiment photograph

The Mayor of Hyndburn, Cllr Munsif Dad, was presented with a framed photograph of himself with the Duke of Lancaster Regiment when they were awarded the Freedom of the Borough earlier this year.

Cllr Dad said, "I had the pleasure of meeting the Duke of Lancaster Regiment again on Remembrance Day in Manchester. The Brigadier General remarked that the battalion always get such a warm welcome in Hyndburn whenever they visit. I am proud to have been Mayor in the year when they were given the Freedom award."

Mayor attends Accrington Martial Arts fundraiser

Martial Arts for All Club of Accrington held a charity fundraising tournament on 27th September 2014 at the Poplar Club and raised £1105 for Mayoral Charities. Organisers Jaff Ali and Billy Battrick are pictured here with the Mayor and club members.

(Back row) Jaff Ali, Daniel Ali, Ashley Ali, the Mayor Cllr Munsif Dad, Tracy Battrick and Billy Battrick

(Front row) Lucas Stirzaker, Tamara Robinson, Connor Armstrong, Kaley Catterall and Keely Battrick.

Accrington Lions give £100 to Mayor's charity

Tracy Simmonds presented Mayor Munsif Dad with a cheque from the Accrington Lions for £100 on Wednesday 17th September to go towards the Mayoral charity fund.

Councillor Dad has chosen 4 local charities to support during his year as Mayor of Hyndburn: North West Air Ambulance, Hyndburn Macmillan Cancer Support, Accrington Blind Society and East Lancs Hospice.

HBC: Julie Hesmondhalgh voted to win Freedom of the Borough

Accrington actress Julie Hesmondhalgh was unanimously voted to be awarded the Freedom of the Borough at the Full Council meeting on Thursday 11th September 2014. The report presented to Council can be viewed here:

Item 7 - Nomination for Freedom of the Borough

Cabinet Member for Education, Leisure and The Arts, Cllr Ken Moss, moved the report and said, "Julie has found fame up and down the country by playing the much-loved Hayley Cropper and has brought discussions about euthanasia back to the fore. Her portrayal is largely responsible for that and the fact that she won two awards for it this year speaks volumes."

Cllr Harry Grayson said, "During my time working at the East Lancashire Hospice she had been involved in fundraising for us and was a great boost to everyone. She helped raise quite a bit of money because of her stardom but was very down to Earth. A lovely woman, she fully deserves this award."

Cllr Munsif Dad met her recently as the current Mayor of Hyndburn and said, "I was at a function not long ago and Julie was there. We got chatting and once she realised I was from Accrington she talked about it for another ten minutes. She came across as being very proud of her hometown and certainly hasn't forgotten her roots."

The award will be given at a special presentation some time in the autumn.

Springhill: Community Clean Up

Springhill Councillors Pam Barton and Munsif Dad took part in a Community Clean Up on Friday 11th October. The event took place in Ferngpre with students of Mount Carmel School, HBC officers and Hyndburn Homes staff.  It was widely regarded as a success as it immediately improved the look of the area.

This is not the first time such an event has been organised and several are intended in the future in other wards in Hyndburn by the Labour Councillors.

Church: Environmental Visual Audit

Thursday 10th October saw an Environment Visual Audit in Church Kirk to oversee the state of the amenities. Environmental health officers were joined by local residents, HBC cleansing staff, and both the County and District Councillors.

Springhill: Councillors on walkabout addressing issues in the area

Springhill Councillors Munsif Dad and Pam Barton have recently conducted another of their walkabouts, logging problems and listening to residents who have issues in the area.

If anyone would like to talk to their local Labour representative then all contact details are under the Your Councillors tab on the homepage of this blog.

Springhill: Pam Barton election campaign underway

Cllr Pam Barton's election campaign to be re-elected as member for Springhill has begun in earnest and leafleting to show what she has done in the ward started recently (ably assisted by Deputy Mayor, Cllr Munsif Dad, pictured here).

Pam is a well-respected member of the community and is also Cabinet member for Health and Communities, one of the six most senior Councillors at HBC.  Anyone wishing to get in touch with her can do so by ringing 01254 385824 or 07792298545.