Women at the top

Women now lead almost all the political parties in the UK.

There were no women in the Labour leadership election this month. This was won decisively by “bloke’s bloke”, Jeremy Corbyn.

Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn, Labour

To be fair to Labour, they have consistently had around 100 female MPs for since 1997.

women-in-uk-politics

BREXIT Thoughts

This is why I’ve decided to vote Leave.

I’ve always been pro-Europe. However I think the majority in the UK are not, and the half-in, half-out approach we have now is the problem.

As I don’t think the UK would get fully engaged with the EU and stand as an equal to the major players there, I have now come to the view that Britian would be better off out of the EU. This is sad, as we will undoubtedly miss out on future opportunities. The toe-dipping, special exemptions and policy opt-outs mean we will never be taken seriously in the EU decision making process and our influence to bring about change in the way the EU is governed is tiny.

 

I don’t believe the in the long term we’ll be much worse off economically. I believe we’ll be worse off as a society if we close our borders and I hope this will not happen. There’s always the option of rejoining. We’ll still be part of Europe.

Google Photos

I submitted a few photos to Google Maps recently and haven’t thought any more about it.

blue houseI was somewhat suprised then when I got a message saying:

Your photos are a big hit!
Your photos helped people over 50,000 times, a new record for you on Google Maps

So which photos were the popular ones?

Was it my stylish photograph of an boldly painted house in Battersea square?

No, sadly not.

In fact it’s a picture of the Asda car park in Clapham junction!

record breaker

Yes, this is the record breaker. A photo of a carpark.

 

My First Governors Meeting

I was excited to be elected as a Parent governor at Sacred Heart last Autumn. The governing body meets once a term and my first meeting with my new colleagues was this week. It was held at St Mary’s school –  because the two schools are now in Federation, there is one governing body that looks after both schools.

The governing body includes other parent governers, a staff representative, the headteacher, a representive from the Diocese and other expert, hardworking dedicated people who give up a lot of their time over the years to Sacred Heart and St Mary’s.

As I say, the meeting took place at St Mary’s this time and included some time to tour the new school building that is rapidly rising from the rubble of the building site. It’s going to be an amazing space for the children and staff when it partly opens in only a few months time.

St Mary's School, Battersea (new building)
St Mary’s School, Battersea (new hall)

The meeting included progress reports from each school, with a particular focus on how the results are matching up to the targets that were agreed with the governing body. Each school has a mission statement. These form the backbone for a School Development Plan –  this public document (they can found on the school websites) sets out long term strategic priorities and details what the schools will be doing to reach ambitious targets.

As a new governor, I found plenty of resources to help me hit the ground running. Wandsworth council provide comprehensive training for school governors and I’ve been to an evening induction course. This has really helped – the main thing that I learnt was that school governors main role is strategic – not to work on operational issues. We support headteachers, but also ask questions and make sure the headteacher is taking the school in the right direction. Overall a big responsibility.

So whilst I can’t intervene on who took who’s seat on the school trip, I can, and will, work with the school management team to improve our children’s education so that our kids can achieve the very best of their ability.

I can be contacted via the school office if you want to meet with me.

Rex Wickham

 

 

V-Fit Tornado Air Rower Instruction Manual

V-fit Tornado Air Rowing Machine
V-fit Tornado Air Rowing Machine

V-fit Tornado Air Rowing Machine Instructions

These were hard to find on the web, so I put them here for others may find them

Tornado Air Rower Instruction Manual (Assembly & User Manual): V-fit Tornado Air Rower

Control Unit: AIR ROWER EXERCISE MONITOR USER INSTRUCTIONS: V-fit Tornado Air Rower Exercise Monitor Inst

More information on the rower can be found at http://www.benysports.co.uk/v-fit-tornado-air-rowing-machine-160-p.asp

RCQC1 Quadcopter

Described as “Unbranded RCQC1  4-Channel, 6 Axis Gyro White Quadcopter With 2MP HD Camera”, this diminutive gadget actually comes with the name Velleman stuck all over it.

I’m testing it out with a view to using it to jazz up some clients’ websites with aerial photographs. I’d hoped to find some pictures online of the kind of results the “2MP HD Camera” could achieve but found none. Here then, are some test photos from the RCQC1

I am assuming that with practice I can hold the copter steady enough in flight to take a non-blurry picture.

I’ve also published a couple of videos here

This video flying quadcopter is described on it’s box as X5C-1 and is rebranded by various manufacturers.