Not all going swimmingly in Bristol - and we need your help

I was one of those who spent most of their teenage years, and those before, ploughing up and down a swimming pool in my bid to become an Olympic Champion. It never happened. The most I ever achieved was a couple of age group National Finals in 200m and 100m backstroke. ( my feet were always too small, was my excuse).
But I spent many hours at Easton swimming pool at silly o' clock in the morning ( breakfast in the car, drying my hair on the car heater-fan, and I kept a sleeping bag in the corner of my classroom where I'd grab a crafty few minutes of kip if I got into school early enough...) and many evenings at the old red brick Barton Hill Pool ( badly run and managed, and filthy towards latter years - with an array of nasty things spotted drifting along the bottom of the pool where Olympians were training. )
I swum first for Thornbury Swimming Club, then Southwold in Yate, then City of Bristol, with a truly brilliant swimming coach, Eric Henderson (who was APPALLINGLY treated by Bristol City Council in the mid-90s as an archive newspaper search will reveal.)

I have always said that my club swimming experience is one of the things that formed my identity as I was growing up, and has contributed so much to my life,taught me so much and given me so many lasting friends.

That is why I am so outraged and concerned that Bristol City Council is currently forcing clubs who are providing excellent beginners swimming lessons to give them up, in order that the council's private provider, SLM, can have a monopoly over beginners swimming.

I am campaigning with Portway Swimming Club to end this disastrous policy - which is bad for children, communities -and ultimately our Olympic Legacy.

Please sign our national petition
www.keepclubswimming.bristolpetitions.com
and please make sure you also sign the link to Portway's own petition, which is linked-to on the site.

And yes, I couldn't resist getting back in the water with Portway's wonderful young swimmers! Please keep their swimming lessons in-club, for them!

Kingsweston House - Jewel in Bristol's crown!

One of those constituency visits that really makes you realise how lucky we are to live in Bristol. Every time I go to Kings Weston House I am amazed that, unobtrusively majestic in Bristol's suburbs, is a house of real historic significance. The House and Grounds have thankfully been the focus of Kings Weston Action Group

Now, under new ownership , there is an exciting regeneration and restoration programme planned for one of Bristol's most beautiful buildings. And for anyone looking to escape the hustle and bustle of daily life, or looking for a new place to walk the dog, Kings Weston House grounds are a real escape, with a lovely tea-room / cafe to replenish energies at the end of a good walk!

For more information on how to get involved, contact Kings Weston Action Group, or find them on Facebook.

Back to the Future for Henbury Rail

There have been a few (not many) doubters about the Henbury Loop Line. But although in so many ways we have progressed in recent decades, in some ways, we've gone backwards. So I'm looking on going on a journey to the past to show that the Henbury Loop Line can indeed exist. Why? Because it has before!

There was a time when Henbury Station was alive, buzzing and steaming and taking people from Henbury over to the Severn Beach
Line and beyond.

We're looking for your recollections, old photos, memories (which we can record) about your (or your parents' or grandparents') recollections of the Henbury Loop.

If you have memories or memorabilia to share, or know anyone who does, drop us a line at henburyloop@charlotteleslie.com or write to us at:

Henbury Loop Campaign
184 Henleaze Road
Bristol BS9 4NE

And let's go back to the future! ( ... Can't promise hover boards.)

Merry Christmas and here's to a drier 2013

It's been an amazing, if wet, run up to Christmas. I never tire of eating mince-pies and celebrating across the constituency. To all those Santas whose knees I kindly didn't sit on, and everyone who put together events for the festive season, thank you - and may the New Year bring health and happiness to all.

MPs get real in the boxing gym

Sky Ringside's  Johnny Nelson, former WBO Cruiserweight champion, put me through my paces, watched by boxing commentator legend, Adam Smith

Ok, ok, so it's been ages since I've blogged. Yes, yes, I've been busy, and 'doing' got in the way of blogging about it. But anyone who's suffered a minor blog-lapse will know that once you know you've let things lapse, it becomes an awful lot harder to face things and get back into it again! What's prompted this? A similar experience in the gym this morning. Pushing pens around in parliament and even running around the constituency is no substitute for proper regular exercise and, like updating my blog, I'd, er, let things slip a bit. But I was forced back into the gym to face the extent of the rot this morning, thanks to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Boxing 'MP's Taster Session' I'd organised.

The session at Fitzroy Lodge Boxing Club was designed to help highlight the social impact of boxing to decision-makers, show MPs who had perhaps never ventured into an amateur gym what it is all about , provide us with somewhere to keep fit, as well as support the club and link the young boxers there up with politics.

Fitzroy Lodge Boxing Club has produced fighters like David Haye, and is just minutes away from Parliament. But it is a different world. It's vital that us MPs can escape the Westminster Bubble, and few places are more gritty and real than an amateur boxing gym - so, in a way, this is also about building a bridge between the Westminster bubble, and the real world outside that it is supposed to serve. If politics was a bit more connected with reality, perhaps a few more people would feel like voting, and getting involved.

We all had a great, if gruelling work out, and special thanks must go to the fantastic Kate Hoey MP, in whose constituency the gym lies, and who has been such a long-term advocate for boxing and sport in general. We are hoping that this is is only the beginning and the start of a 'twinning' relationship between Fitzroy Lodge and Parliament, helping politics, in its own small way, to keep it real while we're in Westminster.  

You can follow the All Party Parliamentary Group on Boxing at @appgboxing

Thanks Johnny Nelson, and Mark for expert tuition!