£25,000 initiative to raise awareness of Autism

An £25,000 project will see 50 York people become Autism Awareness Champions in York.

will Department of Health funding to help raise public awareness of what life is like in York for people with autism. The initiative will see the council and Living Autism train professionals and members of the public to become Autism Awareness Champions, as well as enabling 150 people to attend a free two-hour Autism Awareness Course.

It’s hoped the Champions will deliver further awareness training to community groups, schools and professionals in the future, ensuring that understanding and awareness of the condition spreads across the city.

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Nominations for York Adult Learner Awards close soon

York’s Community Learning Partnership is reminding residents that there’s still time to put names forward for the annual Adult Learner Awards 2015.

The closing date is Monday 27 April and shortlisted candidates, together with those who have nominated them, will be invited to a prestigious evening ceremony on Thursday 18 June.

The Awards are an annual and uplifting celebration of the achievements of learners in the city. In previous years they have been presented to individuals and groups from the widest of learning settings, including learning for pleasure or work, learning through informal and self organised groups and those undertaking including formal and academic study.
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All welcome at the Lidgett Grove Community Café

York residents of all ages and interests are welcome to spend time at one of York’s most lively community hubs.

The Community Café at Lidgett Grove Methodist Church is open every Wednesday morning from 9.30am to 11.30am. It’s a friendly, welcoming and inclusive environment, which typically attracts up to 80 people per week.

Church administrator Anna Harrison, who is usually busy serving teas, coffees and tempting homemade cakes, explained: “I used to go to another group with my own children when they were smaller and I noticed that the older people in the room next door used to look through to see what was going on.
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So who is pulling the Councils strings in York?

The national media has revealed that half the candidates fighting winnable parliamentary seats for Labour are UNITE sponsored militants.

PuppetMaster

They include the York Central candidate Rachel Maskell.

However the level of manipulation and control at Council election level is much less clear. The Electoral Commission statistics are currently only quoting quarter 4 donations (£800 from the GMB to York Labour Party)

Trades Unions don’t sponsor candidates without expecting something in return.

 In 2011, UNISON’s £5000 gift to the York Labour party bought them job security for their members – or so they thought. In the end, the new Labour administration cut deeper and privatised more jobs than had its LibDem led predecessor.

Relationships between a bullish and inexperienced Labour Council leadership and many employees were strained to say the least.

Electors though can get only a glimpse of who the puppet-masters are at this stage.

The sponsorship of existing Councillors is declared on the register of interests. Over 50% of Labour Councillors admit Trades Union links.

The amount of financial sponsorship has to be declared on election expenses returns. But these will only be published later in the summer – long after votes have been cast.

A more sinister development is that some candidates have removed any mention of trades union affiliations from their biographies and twitter accounts.

All parties should publish a list of their major local sponsors before the elections take place.  Voters will have to draw their own conclusions about what any sponsorship is intended to buy.

The drift into “behind closed doors” decision making may be one consequence of the influence that sectional interest groups now have on Labour in York

NB. The Council’s interests register entries should be treated with some caution. Cllr Helen Douglas who is standing for election as a Conservative candidate in Strensall declares her membership of “The Labour Party” in her entry in the register!!