During the half-term holidays, aspiring actors and performers from Batley and Spen were given an incredible opportunity to audition for the British Youth Music Theatre, when the organisation brought its team of West End experts to Batley Girls for a day-long workshop.
A group of talent young people worked with Luke Sheppard, director of award-winning musical & Juliet, choreographer Charlie Brittain, musician Michael Bradley and production designer Chris de Wilde, honing their acting, dance and singing skills before auditioning for one of British Youth Music Theatre's summer shows.
The day was a huge success, with two young people from the area being offered places to take part in BYMT's upcoming summer shows, and a further four placed on the reserve list. More than 1,000 young people auditioned for the shows across the country, so to have two people from Batley and Spen be offered places is a great outcome and shows that there is a pool of talent here, it just needs to be given the opportunity to shine.
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While compared to the likes of Mytholmroyd and York our area avoided the worst of the flooding caused by Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis, families and businesses were still left devastated by the deluge last month.
I visited Mick Wilkinson at his home in Liversedge to see the damage the River Spen bursting its banks caused to his home, leaving the bottom floor underwater and causing thousands of pounds worth of damage. I also visited Hub 26 in Cleckheaton, which was left with its state-of-the-art gym severely damaged after a water pipe under its car park burst and flooded the building. This was a story however of the brilliant community spirit in Cleckheaton as so many residents went down to offer a helping hand to clear up the business centre and help it get back on its feet.
After these visits I wrote to Kirklees Council and the Government to ask what is being done to support people in our area affected by flooding, and what steps are being taken to stop people being devastated again by flooding in the future.
The Government has committed £5.2 billion to be spent on flood defences over the next six years, £120m in emergency relief for communities affected by this winter's flooding and £200m for flood resilience. Yorkshire and the North cannot miss out on this money to protect our community from further flooding in the future, and I will be paying close attention to where this money is spent to ensure we get our fair share.
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Last month I was invited to Gomersal St Mary's Primary School to meet their Year 4 class who have been doing a project on politics, British values and the rule of law. I was greeted by a musical performance from the class, before being grilled during a brilliant question and answer session.Some fantastic questions were asked, including about my role as an MP, how we tackle the homelessness crisis, the local bus services and access to Dewsbury Hospital, school improvements and trolling on the internet. We also had a great debate about whether the voting age should be changed to 16. It was brilliant seeing young people so engaged in politics and democracy, talking about serious issues and developing their own points of view. The work being done by teacher Kirsty Hemingway and her team is fantastic, and we need more projects like this in our schools to get young people engaged in politics.
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Second fatal crash in Heckmondwike this year
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There was some sad news last month when 69-year-old Jean Hepworth, from Liversedge, was tragically killed in a road traffic collision at the junction of Market Street and Westgate in Heckmondwike.
This was the second pedestrian death at this junction in Heckmondwike so far this year, after the sad death of Valentine Hannan, 81, at the start of January.
Both people were in collisions with trucks at the same junction. There is clearly something going wrong at this junction and I will be working with Councillors to try and find a solution to stop more tragic deaths from taking place in that area of the town.
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