Jonjo O’Neill Racing
Last Friday’s schedule began with a fascinating visit to Jonjo O’Neill’s racing stables at Jackdaws Castle in Temple Guiting. My tour was conducted by Edward Gillespie, former Chief Executive of Cheltenham Racecourse, and included a detailed tour of the stables and horses with some interesting conversations with the stable lads and lasses.
We then went outside to watch some horses on the gallops which was very poignant for me remembering my old point-to-point days. The purpose of my visit was to demonstrate the absolute necessity for the Government to do a Brexit deal which allows sufficient labour to enter from EU countries to support local industries in the Cotswolds such as racing, farming and tourism. Jonjo has about 140 horses in training and employs 50 staff along with providing indirect employment for a similar number of people in the local economy.
Race Furniture
Then onto Race Furniture Ltd in Bourton-on-the-Water. This followed a chance meeting with the owner, Stuart Finlater and his sons, William and Ian. Race Furniture is a very impressive business that manufactures and sells theatre-style seating for many major institutions in the UK.
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown at Race Furniture
The Cotswold School
I met with Will Morgan, Head Teacher at The Cotswold School, in Bourton to congratulate him on his amazing Ofsted results in which received ‘Outstanding’ in all categories. Will was pleased that my national school funding campaign had yielded an additional £520,000, however, there are still concerns that inflation will still threaten school budgets. I will of course continue to ensure that the Cotswolds’ schools’ budgets are protected with this in mind.
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown with Will Morgan
Whilst at the school I was delighted to see the under-construction new sixth form unit. When completed, this block will be an impressive facility for approximately 240 sixth formers, providing them with a far more environmentally friendly space to quietly pursue their studies with the aid of some of the latest IT equipment.
Acorn’s Children’s Hospice Shop
Following this I was pleased to visit the Acorn’s Children’s Hospice shop in Moreton-in-Marsh. All of our high streets now have numerous competing charity shops but this was especially impressive as it was well run and managed by Nicole Crofts and immaculately clean and well-stocked and organised. I was told that they could always do with more donations of goods to sell or recycle. All of these donations go towards raising money for the excellent cause of the Acorn’s Children’s Hospice.
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown at Acorn’s Children’s Hospice Shop
Upper Rissington Public Meeting
Finally, I chaired a public meeting for approximately 60 people at Upper Rissington accompanied by County Cllr Nigel Moor and District Cllr Mark MacKenzie-Charrington to try to resolve a large range of problems that have not been addressed by the developers – Linden and Bovis Homes.
I was able to announce, subject to funding, the formation of a liaison board with senior officers from the County and District Councils to work with the developers try to rectify all of these issues.
Much praise must go to Nigel and Mark for putting in an enormous amount of time and effort to work through these issues for the residents.
APPG for International Trade & Investment
One of my many jobs in Parliament is to chair the APPG for International Trade & Investment with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) acting as my Secretariat. The group has established 10 Sector Advisory Groups covering the entire economy. These groups are all chaired by extremely well-respected industry people. The purpose of these groups is to provide an instantaneous view of anything that is affecting them and their sectors during the Brexit negotiations and anything else.
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown with Chairs of the Sector Advisory Groups
