Boris welcomes Waddon's new leisure centre

Boris testing out the shoulder press

Yesterday morning the Waddon team were very proud to welcome the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson to test out what was on offer at the new leisure centre on the Purley Way in Waddon.

In January, the leisure centre was officially opened by Paralympian David Weir CBE, where local residents and school children came together to celebrate this wonderful occasion. 

Boris was delighted with the facilities on offer and tested out the shoulder press machine in the gym and also managed to play table tennis or as he calls it 'whiff-whaff'!

He said that he was very proud that the Conservative-run Council delivered on its promise to residents. 

Boris with the Waddon team outside the leisure centre

David Weir opens Waddon Leisure Centre

David Weir & school children posing with his medals

Last night, the Paralympian David Weir CBE came to Waddon to officially open Waddon Leisure Centre. It was amazing to meet him after his incredible achievement at the recent London 2012 Paralympic Games of winning four gold medals. School children were inspired by him and proudly showed off his medals to us all.

The Mayor of Croydon, Councillor Eddy Arram and the Leader of the Council, Councillor Mike Fisher also attended to officially open the Centre. Those present were proud and delighted that this day had finally arrived and cannot wait to use the facilities.  

Sitting at the very heart of the community it will transform Waddon and is a project that as a Council we are all tremendously proud of delivering after an election pledge in 2006. It is a fitting tribute that three rooms were named after three local community activists; the late Frank Fadden, whose wife Grace was present and very proud; the late Councillor Jonathan Driver and Peter Collier, who attended and brought along his delighted family. The rooms are called- the Frank Fadden Community Room, the Peter Collier Fitness Studio and the Jonathan Driver Swimming Pool.

What’s really special about Waddon Leisure Centre is that it is equipped for people with disabilities and David Weir was very pleased to see that disabled people were able to access the swimming pool via a wheelchair pit and promised to use it himself.

I hope you will get involved and use the leisure centre and remember to tell your friends and family all about it!

Can Women Shatter the Glass Celling?

Last Friday Conservative Future Women hosted a joint debate with the Conservative Future Policy Forum on the challenges of seeing more women in senior leadership positions in business. We were lucky to have a distinguished panel of top females including:


- Claire Noyce (CEO of Hybridan)
- Marina Yannakoudakis (London MEP)
- Susan Greenwood (Destiny CIC)
- Natalie Campbell (CEO of A Very Good Company)


The debate was chaired by Conservative Future Women's Policy Director Elizabeth Anderson and all of the panel agreed that aspiration and education were key to empowering women to achieve. After a lively debate between the panel and the floor of approximately 50 people Elizabeth concluded by asking the panel what practical methods women can 'shatter the glass celling' including:


- Change your own view of success
- Don't wait for others to make it happen
- Look out for opportunities to join boards of even local and social enterprises
- Be confident when pitching for investment for business ventures
- Make sure that you have the skills that are needed- not technical or hard but soft skills such as communication and inter-personal skills


Well done to our panelists for their expertise, Elizabeth for chairing so efficiently and our audience for participating so enthusiastically!


To read more click here


Conservative Future Women's next event will be a networking skills event in September 2012. Look here for more details.

Conservative Future at Downing Street

Last Monday, 120 Conservative Future activists were invited to Downing Street so that the Prime Minister could thank them for their campaigning efforts before and since the 2010 general election.

This event was a culmination of lobbying over the last few years by Ben Howlett and myself. When we were elected to National Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Conservative Future in September 2010 our organisation was described as the 'black sheep' of the Conservative Party. Since then Conservative Future has undergone substantial changes, resulting in Conservative Future being a more professional, efficient and respected movement. 

A big thank you to Party Co-Chairman Sayeeda Warsi and Vice-Chairman of CF Andrew Stephenson MP for believing in us and to Ben Howlett who has worked closely with them throughout his Chairmanship, culminating in this reception.

Lastly a HUGE congrats to all of the Conservative Future activists who have campaigned in the rain, wind or snow enabling David Cameron to be in No. 10. We may have a Coalition Government but at least it's Conservative-led!

Waddon Gets a Spring Clean

This afternoon, Waddon residents came together for a special Love Waddon action day. Having grown up in and been to school in the area, I know the people and hardworking spirit that runs through the community very well. As always with Waddon events, there was huge turnout as many house proud neighbours came out in force to give the area a tidy up and help out their fellow residents.

When I arrived things were starting to get underway. We had face painting sessions for the children, skips for waste and many volunteers helping out residents who are elderly and disabled.

Helping out - residents working together

What struck me most about this event is just how happy Waddon residents are to help out their neighbours and work together to improve their local area. You really have to see it on the ground to understand what a thriving place the ward really is. Having grown up, gone to school and got married in the Hilton in Waddon, it’s always been a special place to represent and a flagship area for our town.

But Waddon has much more to look forward to over the coming months, as it won’t be long before the leisure centre with swimming pool, gym and other state of the art features is up and running.

Working together with an unbreakable community spirit, our ward will continue to be an extra special place to live and work in.

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Say No to TFL's proposed removal of Purley Way crossing

Last week I was contacted by a local resident in Court Drive telling me that they had received a letter off TFL stating that they were proposing to remove the pelican crossing at the end of Waddon Park Avenue across the Purley Way.

After a few phone calls this turned out to be true- despite neither the Council nor my ward colleagues or myself being notified.

We disagree with TFL that this crossing should be removed as a lot of residents who live in neighbouring roads namely The Ridgeway, Court Drive, Waddon Court Road, Alton Road and Waddon Park Avenue use it a lot to cross the busy and sometimes dangerous Purley Way.

TFl’s justification for removing the crossing is “The pedestrian demand at this site reaches a maximum of 44% during the weekday AM peak which is low compared to the London average.” It would be useful to see the locations of the other pelican crossings that TFL have got data on as if they are in Central London ie. outside Victoria/London Bridge train station the  you would assume that they would have a larger pedestrain footfall than that of this crossing.

On Saturday we are knocking on doors in The Ridgeway, Court Drive, Waddon Court Road, Alton Road and Waddon Park Avenue to see what other residents views are and collecting signatures for our petition against this crossing.

Photo of proposed crossing that TFL are planning to remove

Please contact me at clare.george-hilley@croydon.gov.uk for more information and help us to save this crossing!

My Commitment to You

This weekend has been a busy one! It’s been great speaking to CF members across the country and thank you to you all for voting for me already.

Today I launched my campaign video so please give this to your friends who have still yet to vote and keep reminding them that we all need to work together to keep CF moving forward.

If you haven’t done so already then please click here to join my campaign page: Hilley 4 DC

We’ve got a lot more endorsements coming out this week so it’s going to be another busy one!

Why you should vote for me on CF website

Conservative Future have put up my statement on why I'm standing. Read it in full here: http://www.conservativefuture.com/events/cf-elections-2010/clare-hilley/

I just want to thank everyone so far for all of their messages of support- I really appreciate it. Thank you also to those for encouraging me to stand- you know who you are!