MapRA newsletter (Some pictures this week!)

Vaccination centre in the news.

Our Mosque; the Central Mosque of Brent was on the TV news on Thursday when Matt Hancock visited. Photo shows him, Dr Riaz of the mosque, Sapna Chadha, MapRA Treasurer and  Dick Geldart who have been organising vaccination volunteers at the mosque.

The volunteers did 216 vaccinations on Friday.

Oliver Sacks; Made in Mapesbury

As part of the Brent Borough of Culture, MapRA is organising a mini festival to celebrate the life of Oliver Sacks, the world famous neurologist and author (1933-2015). He was born at 37 Mapesbury Road and it was his London home for almost sixty years. Described as ‘the poet laureate of medicine', he wrote sixteen books including Awakenings and the Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. He also wrote a memoir of his early life in Mapesbury, Uncle Tungsten, plus other pieces about the area.

The festival will be an exploration of his life and work in September, now moved online to be 'Covid secure'. There will be 3 separate online events at 6.30pm on 20, 23 and 27 September - reserve the dates! This will include the chance to be among the first in the UK to see the highly acclaimed documentary feature film by Ric Burns, made in the months before his death. Tickets will be available from July. More details later.

Mapesbury Mutual Aid (MMA).

The charity relay in Gladstone Park last Sunday raised £2800. Thanks to all who contributed

Local community clean up.

As part of Great British Spring Clean. Plan to do our thing with walk around; picking up rubish, reporting fly-tipped stuff on the app, putting signs on trees where dog poo bags dumped (see below picture of a great sign that Karima’s daughter Bella drew. If you have any pictures that highlight the issue, then Veolia can get them placed at various locations in Mapesbury).

Plan for 1.5 hours starting at WG station and finishing in the Nest café. Not sure which date yet; envisage either of 29, 30 May, 5, 6 June whichever we can get the most people; if you are interested in joining let me know which day preferred.

Mapesbury Mutual Aid (MMA).

The charity relay in Gladstone Park last Sunday raised £2800. Thanks to all who contributed.  

Lia our own mayor.

Our councillor Lia Colcacicco was sworn in as mayor of Brent at a virtual ceremony. Cllr Colacicco's plans for her year as Mayor

Census scam?

A member had a person call saying he was checking the Census return she’d completed. The man had a hi-viz jacket with Census plastered across it together with a lanyard saying the same round his neck. She was worried that it might be a scam so I checked with Harshil Shah, our contact on the Census engagement team. He said that the man might have been from the Census Coverage Survey team. This is a survey done following the census with a few select postcodes to check the accuracy of the results (that no one was missed or counted twice). More info here: https://census.gov.uk/about-the-census/about-the-census-coverage-survey. However, there are potential scams related to this. It's important to note that:

• A census officer will never ask to see your census 2021 form or ask you specific questions about that. 
• Will never ask for money or enter your home to complete the census
• There are currently no field officers in operation (they've all finished), and compliance field officers will start visiting households but not yet
• If from the Census Coverage Survey team, the interview can be carried out over the phone if you're not comfortable doing it face to face (socially distanced).

In doubt call the contact centre (it's a free phone line), to double check that the addresses have been selected: 0800 141 2021

Scam Sharer tool

This has been launched by ‘Which’ magazine, we launched our Scam Sharer tool. May be of interest. More

Knife Disposal.

Several people have asked me about safe disposal of unwanted kitchen knives. There are knife bins at certain police stations but they are only there for a limited time.  The link below shows the current places where knife bins are located: https://www.word4weapons.co.uk/knife-bin-locations/# None terribly close to us unfortunately.

And there is a met-wide operation to tighten up on sale of knives to young people. See link 

Kilburn Cosmos rugby club

There's still time to join Kilburn Cosmos for the upcoming season - all playing abilities and experience welcome.  Men, Women and Juniors to join Brent's Premier Rugby Club.  Training is at Gladstone Park (NW2).  https://kilburncosmos.co.uk/

Current local Planning applications

Other

Virus Support information. Book free covid test. https://www.brent.gov.uk/covidtesting
Guide to tradesmen and services. https://mapra.org.uk/local-traders
Ashford Place https://www.ashfordplace.org.uk/;  
Cricklewood Library update; Including crowd-funder appeal for new cafe 
Latest from Brent Council: One step closer to normality  Local election results
Culture in Brent: Brent Museum reopens at Library
Brent Environment Network: Happy Earth day
London National Park City Network Newsletter.
Gerry Weston:  https://www.mapra.org.uk/