Evesham’s MP Nigel Huddleston writes for the Observer…
AS WE enter into late Spring, it is a wonderful time of year to get out and about across the constituency as the blossom and flowers are in full bloom – and as restrictions have eased I have been able to spend more time traveling around and meeting people, visiting businesses and attending events.
I joined hundreds of people at the fantastic medieval market in Evesham recently and while many events have been cancelled or postponed, it has been good to see some events still continuing. I’ve been impressed by the efforts of organisers to ensure they are Covid compliant and safe.
During English Tourism Week I was able to visit Broadway Tower, the Broadway Museum, the Brine heritage of Droitwich, Honeybourne Pottery, and many more sites across the constituency as we open up to tourism again to day-trippers and holidaymakers. We also had two of my ministerial colleagues from DCMS visit the constituency in the last few weeks – Caroline Dinenage the Arts & Culture Minister visited Hartlebury Castle and Oliver Dowden, DCMS Secretary visited the Fleece Inn in Bretforton where I joined him for lunch!
In my capacity as Sports Minister, I’ve continued to oversee parts of the ‘Events Research Programme’ and as part of this was fortunate enough to attend the FA Cup Final – the biggest gathering held in England for over 14 months with over 20,000 people at Wembley Stadium. The event was incredibly well organised and the atmosphere was electric – for Leicester fans at least!
In Westminster, I’ve responded to other debates, one being on grassroots football where we touched on other grassroots sports such as Parkrun which I know is hugely popular locally. I know the Council and Parkrun are working constructively together and I hope we’ll have them start again this month.
The next big milestone in our roadmap is the goal of removal of restrictions from the 21st June. With the spread of the Indian variant, we must take a cautious approach and will be monitoring infection rates carefully – but we continue to make great progress with the vaccination programme – having had my second jab last week – and I remain optimistic
