“The Prince’s Countryside Fund is now open for grant applications of up to £50,000, available to support community led projects that improve the quality of life in rural areas and that help to support farming families. The Fund is committed to supporting projects which will reinvigorate and sustain community networks by providing services and amenities. It is open for applications until June 14th. You can apply at princescountrysidefund.org.uk/grants.
RWE Generation, the operators of Didcot B power station, are looking for apprentices to work in the gas-fired power station. They are looking for enthusiastic science, maths or engineering students to take up positions as engineering apprentices, including working on non-destructive testing. You can find out more here rweukjobs.com/entry-level-schemes/engineering.
Congratulations to Didcot Railway Centre, which has been given a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services. The award is equivalent to an MBE for voluntary groups and only 30 organisations have received it since it was created 15 years ago. Very well done!
Similar congratulations to Williams Advanced Engineering in Grove for a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation. The award is for the Company’s innovation in successfully transferring technology into commercial applications from designing, developing and delivering the batteries for all the cars racing in the Formula E championship. Excellent work.
This month I attended a meeting of Didcot First, an organisation that promotes Dicot positively and ensures it is a good place to work and live. You can find out more about their work at didcotfirst.org.uk. I also met with GARD, the Group Against Reservoir Development about the proposed new Upper Thames Reservoir and took part in a BBC Oxford discussion on Didcot.
In April I received 623 items of correspondence (emails and letters) from constituents. Subjects raised with me include local rail, infrastructure and Brexit.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any pressing issues that you would like help with. You can contact me on any matter at the House of Commons, SW1A 0AA, dicksonce@parliament.uk or 01235 768 888. Email is the quickest and most reliable way to get in touch, as I keep a very close eye on my emails and can reply very quickly. Details of my activities in Parliament can be read on my website, https://www.vaizey.com. I also send out occasional general interest emails about developments in the Wantage and Didcot Constituency. You can sign up here: http://bit.ly/EdVaizeyMP.”