Westminster this week - Countryside Alliance Awards, Flood Re, and meeting Woodland Trust

A busy week of debates on the Police and Crime Bill, and various other matters in both Houses of Parliament. I am meeting the Woodland Trust to discuss the ways in which we try and plant more forests and woodland in Northumberland, attending a Housing in the North meeting, and having a long scheduled meeting with the director of operations on behalf of Flood Re.
If you do not know how this groundbreaking scheme is helping to transform insurance in flood affected areas after years of effort to create a scheme then have a read here: http://www.floodre.co.uk
On Wednesday I will be attending the rural oscars, which are the countryside alliance awards, primarily for outstanding village shops. Bardon Mill village store and Blagdon Butchers have both featured prominently these last few years, and I will be hoping for more success for Bardon mill. I also have a number of constituents coming down to Westminster.

Bardon Mill Village Store: Rural Oscar Nomination confirmed - pop along and support one of our greatest shops

Fantastic news as Bardon Mill village store has been nominated for a ‘Rural Oscar’ for 2015, otherwise known as the Countryside Alliance Awards. The village store has been chosen out of 3,500 nominations - now down to just a handful. Jill Grieve the director of Countryside Alliance Awards I think best sums up what this news means, and what a credit it is for Bardon Mill village store.

“These finalists are all exceptional – we have been overwhelmed by nominations this year so for them to get this far is a huge achievement. The secret to the Rural Oscars’ popularity is that they honour the people involved in these businesses and not just their produce or services. They exist to sing the praises of those who work hard to keep our communities and rural economy ticking, but don’t seek the spotlight. We are delighted to offer this platform to enable people to say “thank you” to them for all they contribute". 

Good luck in the final! To see all the other nominations please see the link below:
http://countryside-alliance.org/10158/?ct=t(141023_e_newsletter10_23_2014)&mc_cid=a9d9499207&mc_eid=b252165952