CLP the fundraiser dinner with Caroline Flint last Thursday

The CLP fundraiser dinner with Caroline Flint was last Thursday the 24th, and you can see my facebook pictures here.  The event was planned to be in the Mallinson Suite restaurant at Waltham Forest College, but as many people will know, the venue had to be changed at the very last minute, because of a picket line of the UCU in support of their dispute with the College. In a message on the event facebook page [full text here] CLP Chair Simon Redfern wrote:
" . . . I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who was able to join us at the Star of India to make a pretty difficult evening into a success. Particularly Caroline Flint who very gamely soldiered on throughout and gave a great speech too. . . . Our brilliant Labour colleague Shah Ahmed managed to fit us in at very very short notice.

. . . . . thank you to all that attended and apologies to those who turned back.  If I wasn't bald already I would probably have lost all my hair over that one!  Here's to the next event running a little more smoothly.

All the best, Simon Redfern [Chair, Walthamstow Labour Party]"

and Stella Creasy MP issued the following statement: 

Three months ago Walthamstow Labour Party decided to hold a fundraising dinner at Waltham Forest College to raise money for campaigning and to highlight that it is a college where two thirds of students receive the education maintenance allowance which is being cut by the Government. When it was confirmed yesterday afternoon on the day of the dinner itself that the UCU strike was taking place at the college and would continue into the evening, and that we could not arrange a meeting with those on strike, we organised an alternative venue for our dinner and so did not enter the college. I urge both the college and the union members to enter into meaningful negotiations as all seek to protect the future of further education. Furthermore I will continue to work with other MPs to press the Government to reinstate EMA or set out an alternative scheme to help ensure our young people in Walthamstow can go onto further and higher education without fear that poverty will make this a choice beyond their means.