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30 safe spaces, especially for women

The city has set up 30 “safe havens”, spaces that offer protection to people who feel threatened at the moment. These can be women who feel that someone is following them. Or women or men who feel threatened in their homes. In these shelters there are helpers who, for example, inform friends or relatives, there is information about buses and trains or the police can also be informed.

Fit through social commitment

Emdad Rahman has two passions: he likes cycling and he reads a lot. He combined both for his company “Bookbike”, which brings reading to people by bike. In the meantime, the 13,000th book has been delivered. The action started at the Barking Learning centre with a book from his father and a friend’s borrowed bike.

£30 million for hospitals

Two hospitals in East London, Barking Community Hospital and Mile End Hospital, are being given £30 million by the National Health Service to build modern diagnostic centres. Waiting times for tests will be reduced and patients will be able to access treatment more quickly. Both hospitals are already well-equipped, according to information from the health service. The aim is to find and treat the causes of diseases more quickly.

Gathering place for artists

Barking and Dagenham has been chosen to provide housing and work opportunities for artists who have been displaced by rapidly rising rents in other areas of London. A centre with studios has already been built at the old harbour in Barking, and a new building is now being constructed in the centre of town, Linton road, at a cost of around £3.5 million, with studios, exhibition spaces and flats for a further twelve artists.

Award for Valence House

Barking and Dagenham’s only surviving Manor House has won an award for the best presentation of local history. The National Tourism Organisation praised the creative way in which it tells the story of what has shaped people’s lives since the house was built in the 13th century.

Food Saviours

Two students from Barking and Dagenham have won an award with their business idea to save unsaleable food. It is mainly about apples that have grown crookedly or whose size does not fit the trade. The two buy them and make chips out of them with the help of air dryers. With the addition of chocolate or salted caramel, the taste is enhanced.

Overground for Riverside

The Overground line from Barking Riverside to Barking is due to start running this summer. An exact date for the first scheduled trains has not yet been set. Trains are currently running on a trial basis and training drivers for the new route.

51 times Labour

As in the 2018 local elections, Labour again won all 51 seats for Barking and Dagenham Council on 5 May. Since the amalgamation of Dagenham and Barking in 1960, Labour has always had the majority. However, the turnout was only 24.49%, another 5% lower than last time.

Boxing against depression

Volunteers have started to plant a “Forest of Gratitude” in Barking and Dagenham. He In Barking and Dagenham he is still popular today, the former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion (WBC) Frank Bruno, who comes from our twin town. As a professional he was in the ring for 48 fights, including twice against Mike Tyson, and won 40 times. In 1995, he managed to win the world title on his fourth attempt against Oliver McCall.

A very different forest

Volunteers have begun planting a “Forest of Gratitude” in Barking and Dagenham. It is meant to commemorate the great efforts of the National Health Service staff during the pandemic. But it will be a very different forest from the one we know.