Delighted to learn of three local Hornsey & Wood Green athletes who have been selected for the Olympics and Paralympics. Congratulations and good luck.

They are:

Sitting volleyball player Rob Richardson who lives in Wood Green and will be competing at his first Paralympics. Indeed London 2012 will be the first time ever that Great Britain will have Sitting Volleyball teams represented at the Games.

Basketball player Azania Stewart who also lives in Wood Green and will be competing at her first Olympics. As with sitting volleyball, London 2012 will be the first time ever that Great Britain will have a women’s basketball team represented at the Games.

Track and field athlete Steve Lewis who lives in Muswell Hill, will be competing at his second successive Olympics in the Pole Vault, having made his debut in Beijing four years ago.

It’s official. Labour-run Haringey Council has given us the worst roads in the whole country!

Figures released this month show that Haringey has a higher proportion of damaged roads than any other council area in England. One in five of the roads in the borough needed attention last year.

Liberal Democrats on Haringey Council are pressing the ruling Labour group to tackle the long list of road repairs to help get the borough moving again. I want your help to get the message across to the council and to make sure they are dealing with the right priorities.

Please click on this link and fill out the brief survey. Give us your nomination for the worst road and the worst pothole in Haringey.

I was delighted when the local Mental Health Trust decided not to close down St Ann’s Hospital. The Trust is now working to redevelop the site as a modern health facility providing not just mental health care but also other specialist health services too. Part of the site will also be used to build new homes under the re-development plans.

The Trust is consulting with local people about the plans. It is putting its plans on display at Mayfield House, St Ann’s Hospital, St Ann’s Road until 3rd August. The display will also visit Hornsey library on 3rd July from 2pm to 8pm.

I have been sent a booklet that outlines the plans. If you would like to have a copy of the booklet please contact me on lynne@lynnefeatherstone.org and I will send you a copy.

Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has announced that Hornsey Town Hall has been given initial support for a £3.7 million bid including £482,600 of development funding.

An impressive example of 1930s British Modernism, Hornsey Town Hall which has been out of regular use for the last nine years. The green light from HLF will mean plans to conserve the hall can be progressed. Once restored, the hall will be used as an arts, performance and cultural heritage centre for Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and the wider community.

Here is a link to their website for more information about this scheme and story.

The London Wildlife Trust are promoting their ‘stag beetle survey’ – so thought I would lend a hand. They want people to let them know if they see a stag beetle:

“this June we will be launching the survey’s second year, supported by BBC Wildlife Fund. The stag beetle is a globally threatened species with incredible significance for biodiversity. Submit your sightings via our website 

My Ham & High Column this week

In the Summertime, when the weather is hot… is how the song goes – but as I put on heavy stockings and boots to go to a community picnic on the day I am writing this column, with the wind howling and rain predicted for the next several days yet again, summer and hot do not seem to go together!

So I am crossing everything I have that this coming Saturday the sun will shine. But even if it doesn’t we all still have to go to The Fair in the Square (Pond Square) in Highgate. It is just a lovely event – with lots for anyone of any age to get involved in, see friends, play games, listen to music and eat, drink and be merry.

I also get to do one of my favourite tasks of the year at this event as one of the judges at the dog show.

I have a dog myself – Purdy. No, she is not named after Joanna Lumley’s character in the Avengers but named by my children after a drink they liked. Sadly, they had never even heard of the Avengers when they named her. They have heard of Joanna Lumley – but only because of Ab Fab!

Purdy is a beautifully natured black and tan mutt who cannot be taken to dog shows on account of occasionally less than charming behaviour towards other dogs despite years of efforts to train her. Inside the house – away from other dogs – however, she is without doubt the nicest and cleverest dog in the world. Eat your heart out Pudsey!

The categories are things like ‘best trick’, best child and dog in fancy dress, best small, best medium and best large dog, and the dog with the most appealing eyes. Love it!

Great efforts are made by the participants’ owners (and the dogs of course) and great fun is had by all. That is not to say, however, that we (the three judges) do not take our role seriously – we do. A competition is a competition – and we score, rate, discuss and come to an agreed verdict! I’m afraid that registration has now closed and you can’t enter your pooch on the day, but do come and watch.

So rain or shine – I will be there, as I have been for several years now. In fact – I have been at many recent street parties – many of which were in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee. Each one has been a huge success and a tribute to the great sense of community that we are so fortunate to have in my Hornsey & Wood Green constituency.

At each one neighbours have come together to organize the party – with food, music and games and general amiable talk with those they live next to but don’t always know. I remember the first street party I ever went to as an MP in Hillfield Park – where each householder sported their house number. And you could hear ‘oh you’re number 9 with the beautiful roses!’ and so on. It is a wonderful way to get to know your neighbours.

A brilliant side benefit of knowing your neighbours is that stronger community ties improve communities and families – with better health and lower crime rates. For example, the crime falls in correlation to the number of people you know to talk to within a fifteen minute circumference of your home.

Summer also means horticultural shows. We are blessed in the area with great horticultural groups who put on the shows each year. It is another favourite of mine – as what local people grow is amazing. I get to give out the prizes – and over the years of these events have also had the opportunity to visit some private gardens and our wonderful local allotments. And then, of course, there are the fun runs and the strawberry teas.

So come on weather! Do your bit for this lovely community season! Whilst stoicism in the face of weather is part of the British DNA (witness the Jubilee pageant and many a year at the Kenwood Concerts), we wouldn’t half welcome a bit more sunshine!

William Hague announced a new initiative last night  –  a UK task force of experts is to be created to go into conflict zones to get the evidence to enable prosecutions against those who perpetrate sexual violence and rape as a weapon of war.

As Minister for tackling Violence against women and girls overseas I am proud of this commitment by us as a government to tackle this most horrendous of crimes. It is hugely important in substance, because experts will now collect evidence in conflict zones to enable prosecutions to be successfully brought to end the dreadful impunity that has protected war criminals from facing the consequences of their actions.

The Government will also use the UK presidency of the G8 next year to promote practical ways of tackling sexual violence in war zones.

Sexual violence and rape as a weapon of war are of such a scale as to be virtually unbelievable. United Nations statistics show that worldwide one in five women will become a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime.

Angelina Jolie’s film ‘In the land of blood and honey’ tells the story of the indiscriminate rape of Croats and Muslims during the Bosnia War in the most powerful way.  The film was screened at the Foreign Office with an invited audience of those who work in this field – and Angelina herself was there to introduce and talk about her work.

I was able to meet Ms Jolie together with the Foreign Secretary, the Defence Secretary, Alan Duncan and Jeremy Browne for a discussion on our new initiative and her work in tackling sexual violence.

She is an extremely intelligent and articulate woman – and has thankfully shone a brilliant light into a very very dark corner. I hope many many people go and see her hugely powerful film.

This is my latest column published in the Ham & High Thursday 24th May.

On 25 July the Olympic Torch will go right past my constituency office which is in the Three Compasses Pub in Hornsey High Street. Well it’s not actually in the pub. It is upstairs.

I know it’s still a long way away but I am definitely getting Olympic and Paralympic fever.

I had hoped that Andrew Thornton would be one of the torch bearers. Andrew owns Budgens Crouch End (and Belsize Park) and has done so much for Crouch End and the local community – and that’s in an area blessed with many, many community minded souls.

I had nominated Andrew to be a torch bearer around this time last year when there was an open call for nominations. In fact, I was reminded of this last Sunday morning when I went to Priory Park for the annual YMCA Fun Run and Festival to give out the awards to the winners. The YMCA do a brilliant job every year and yet again Budgens sponsored the event.

The aforesaid Andrew Thornton, it would be true to say, is always a winner of at least one of the categories that I present a prize to at the fun run. In fact it was having presented him with his medal last year that made me think of nominating him in the first place to be a torch bearer.

Having made the application, there were a number of hoops to jump through and stages to get through – which he did right down to the final selection – but he (we) fell at the last hurdle. No idea what criteria were used but I guess there would have been a mega number of nominations.

So the torch is being born by many worthy others and will wend its way around the United Kingdom over the coming weeks. As I say – it will be coming down Hornsey High Street on its way to Alexandra Palace on the 25th and going through various highways and byways in Camden the following day.

But Andrew was not at the YMCA fun run last Sunday. No – he had decided to go one further. He was running in the pitch dark in USA at exactly the same time as the race was being run here in Priory Park. That shows commitment!

This year the Event was one of a number of Community Games across the country, inspired by London 2012 bringing the spirit of the Games into the community. The YMCA event was chosen because it reflects the values of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in being inclusive, cross-generational and inspirational to the local community.

As ever it was a great event with lots of adults and children taking part – and Michelle Collins running around with an Olympic Torch (a replica) to get us all into the Olympic spirit. The Olympic spirit was further enhanced by the prize winners this year getting an ‘Olympic’ medal which I presented by putting it over their heads to hang around their necks. I did catch several winners’ ears. Have to say I had never before considered the art of putting a medal over someone’s head – but it is clearly not as simple as it looks.

This is one of the largest community events in North London with literally thousands of adults and children taking part in the activities and over 150 volunteers making sure it happens well and safely – and all for charity.

So a huge salute to the YMCA, Budgens and all those who worked so hard to make this year’s event so successful.

What a really nice thing to happen! Ben and Jerry sent an ice cream tub to my constituency (in matching box with a personal message) with my photo on it – and the flavour named as ‘Lynne Honeycomb’. You can see it here. I hasten to add – no actual ice cream was in the tub – which as it came through the post is a very good thing.

The government consultation on equal marriage will close on June 14 – so do visit the Home Office website where you can access the consultation to make sure you get your view on the record.

In the aftermath of a tough set of election results for both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats – I couldn’t help but notice a few naysayers popping up in the media and uttering dire warnings about a government that needs to concentrate on core issues rather than same sex civil marriage.

For goodness sake – it’s not either / or.

The economy is clearly the No 1 priority – but the Coalition can multi-task!

There will be no u-turn on equal marriage – we are committed as a government to legislate by 2015