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By MADE in HESTON WEST On Saturday 13th July 2019 we threw a surprise BBQ party for our outgoing Big Local Representative John Morris at Cranford Community College. Around 150 local people - volunteers, participants and their families attended the function to celebrate John's time with Heston West Big Local.
John was instrumental in helping Heston West Big Local get started around 6 years ago, despite our early challenges and setbacks he has helped our organisation grow, flourish and achieve community success with his fantastic support, guidance and belief. We would like to thank John for all his effort and dedication to HWBL and wish him all the best for the future. We hope you enjoy the video as much as we enjoyed the BBQ! We would like to thank all our amazing volunteers for helping organise and deliver this event, without your wonderful and kind support, dedication and passion we wouldn't have been able to do this, thanks a million. A big shout out to volunteers Sharanjit Kaur for presenting and Arfhan Razak for filming and editing this film. Also thanks to Cranford Community College for letting us borrow the BBQ equipment, our community chef Manju Malhi and all those helped with the BBQ, Popcorn and Candy Floss, your support is very much appreciated.
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By MADE in HESTON WEST MADE in HESTON WEST Episode 2: NCS Does Volunteering
Welcome to our new series focusing on local talent and residents getting involved with the Heston West Big Local. Our second episode focuses on NCS The Challenge volunteering for the Big Local during Summer 2018. This film was created by young people involved with the Big Local Youth Action Team and MADE in HESTON WEST participants. By MADE in HESTON WEST During the 2018 summer holidays, young people (8-15yrs old) from the Heston West Big Local community group worked on developing a new song to help inspire and uplift our community. Together We Are Stars is an original song written and performed by our young people, we hope you enjoy the song, lyrics are below! Please do share and like this video. Thank you for your support.
Together We Are Stars Lyrics Coming together Helping each other That's what we're here for All I know is I'm with you You're my sun and I'm your moonlight Stars in the daytime Still there in the sunlight There's no need to be alone A place to call home Like stars in the daytime We're always there We never walk alone A place to be known In numbers we are strong In numbers we are one Only takes a spark To find who we are Lightness in the dark Together we are stars x 3 We are the future Learning from past times That's what we're here for All I know is I'm with you You're my sun and I'm your moonlight Stars in the daytime Still there in the sunlight There's no need to be alone A place to call home Like stars in the daytime We're always there We never walk alone A place to be known In numbers we are strong In numbers we are one Only takes a spark To find who we are Lightness in the dark Together we are stars x 5 Like stars in the daytime x 2 Still there in the sunlight We're always there Hey Like stars in the daytime x 2 Still there in the sunlight We're always there Hey Like stars in the daytime x 2 Still there in the sunlight We're always there Hey Like stars in the daytime x 2 Still there in the sunlight We're always there Hey Together we are stars Like stars in the daytime x 2 Still there in the sunlight We're always there Hey Together we are stars Original lyrics and music written by Heston West Big Local Youth Music Band (Lovell, Amadeus, Rhys, Maria, Zainab, Haris, Daniyal and Ahmed Hamza) Produced by Luke Joyce and Rory O'Hare. Music video edited by MADE in HESTON WEST film club participants. MADE in HESTON WEST Welcome to our new series focusing on local talent and residents getting involved with the Heston West Big Local.
Our first episode focuses on Big Local Youth Action Volunteer and Film Club member Brooke Jones. This film was created by young people involved with the Big Local Youth Action Team and MADE in HESTON WEST participants in partnership with Make A Difference Entertainment. By Neha Soni  Young people from Heston West Big Local and Hounslow Youth Council attended a Political Summer School. The event was hosted by Seema Malhotra MP, Heston West Big Local and Hounslow Youth Council and kindly supported by New Bharat and Universal Fortune Limited. The project aimed to introduce young people to local and national politics. On the 26th July 2018, participants learnt about the wards and constituencies in Hounslow. This was followed with a Q&A session with 3 councillors; Councillor Shantanu Rajawat, Counillor Rajinder Bath and Councillor Tom Bruce. We learnt about the issues they deal with, their views on Brexit and the their roles as councillors. The participants were split into groups of 6 and each group formed their own political party and started creating their manifestos. Each group researched their potential policy topics and then ended the day with a delicious lunch!
The next day, the participants met early to catch a coach to Parliament. Once they arrived, we headed up to the Grand Committee Room in Westminster Hall. The group continued to work on their manifestos before presenting. The groups had to choose 6 topics they wanted to focus on in their manifestos. The six parties are: Speak Out, Social Liberalist Party, The Crossroads Democratic Party, The Peoples Party, The International Centralist Party and Equitas (Latin for equality). After presenting, the groups learnt about parliamentary style debating and how laws are made.
After an intense debate, everyone headed downstairs for lunch. The chocolate chips cookies proved a popular choice amongst participants!
Once everyone had eaten, we headed back upstairs for a Q&A with the Member of Parliament for Feltham and Heston, Seema Malhotra. Participants found out more about Seema's views on Brexit, the busy life of an MP and how they can get their MP to represent their voice in Parliament. As the day came to an end, a Political Summer School General Election was held. Congratulations to Equitas, who won with a majority vote. Information on each group’s manifestos can be found below* All participants were presented with a certificate, to honor their completion of the Political Summer School. All participants agreed that their knowledge of local and national politics had improved. I hope the participants use the Political Summer School to ensure their voice is heard locally and nationally! Special thanks to New Bharat for allowing the attendees to travel to parliament via coach and to Universal Fortune Limited for making this project possible. By Amadeus  Amadeus (right) with MADE's CEO Blaise Singh during our community youth film-making session
Amadeus was first involved with our Saturday Multi-Sports sessions as a participant but has since progressed and has been supporting our MADE in HESTON WEST film club and has become an integral figure for our Big Local Youth Action Team. Amadeus is a multi-talented and extremely motivated young person – he can solve the Rubik's Cube in just under 2 minutes and has performed at the Royal Opera House! There is no stopping him, we are immensely proud to have him involved with the Heston West Big Local. Read his story below. Why I Volunteer? I volunteer because (after all my homework is finished) I don’t like just sitting around doing nothing. I am a very active person. Heston West Big Local is a very fun organisation which gives you lots of opportunities. I attend this to make sure there is no time for me to mess around at home or do nothing all day, and I really enjoy attending and helping the community!  Amadeus (above) with the Heston West Big Local Youth Action crew What have been my experiences? I have been volunteering for a year now, and I have been involved with many activities. Some things I have been involved with are MADE in Heston West’s Filmmaking Club run by Blaise Singh, the Big Local Youth Social Action Team run by Taz Virdee, and many events run by Taz that help the community. Some of these include the community clean up day, where we went around the local area and picked up the litter and the community mural where we painted the Brabazon Community Centre. I have also been involved with the Political Summer school where we went on a trip to Parliament! Thanks to Taz, I have also spoken a speech in Parliament along with a few others.  Amadeus (right) working on our MADE in HESTON WEST knife crime awareness film in 2018. What do I get out of volunteering? From volunteering, I would say that I have been able to go through many new experiences, and without Taz, I wouldn’t be the person I am today! I think that the slogan “Bringing It All Together” is really true, as I have made many new friends and it has helped bring the whole community together! Many new skills have also come to me, as I remember coming into my first film-making session not knowing anything about cameras or editing, but thankfully Blaise and Taz have changed that now!
By Callum Wills  Callum Wills (above) receiving the Big Local Young Leadership Volunteer Community Award in November 2017 with Hounslow's Deputy Mayor Mukesh Malhotra.
Now 14 years old, his non-stop energy, passion for the community, charming and funny personality makes Callum, Callum! Recently he was involved with our T.I.E. project and played Tybalt in our Shakespeare's adaption of 'Romeo and Juliet' on the Redwood Estate (above left). We are proud to have this young man involved with the Big Local and look forward to seeing him continue his youth leadership development with us. A great inspiration and positive role model to other young people in our community. Read his story below. Why I volunteer I like to talk and engage with people and volunteering for the Big Local allows me to get out of the house. I also enjoy making new friends, helping people in the community who needs things done, such as gardening and cleaning up. I am really helpful and I’ve been told I am really funny, however I can be serious and I can be a bit silly sometimes.  Callum Wills (send from left) with the MADE in HESTON WEST crew and DL Maria Pedro What have been my experiences
What do I get out of volunteering?
Callum involved with planning our summer youth campaign and helping out at the cooking club. What you get out of volunteering is that you get to meet new people, have a laugh and work with different types of people from various cultures, backgrounds and ages. I have made so many friends in the local area and I feel more connected to everyone and happy to be involved with Heston West Big Local.
By Taz Virdee On Sunday 15th July 2018 – For one afternoon the Redwood Estate became Shakespeare’s Globe for our outdoor performance of Romeo & Juliet. The play was directed by young Heston West Big Local volunteers Juhi Kumra and Huzayma Khamis. We had Emaan Saleem at the delicate but strong-minded Juliet, Hana Sharif as the cool and charismatic Romeo, Callum Wills as the determined and dedicated Tybalt and Layba Nisar as the powerful and persistent Lady Capulet. We were also joined by Iman Jaura as the masterful Mercutio, Brooke Smith as the legendary Lord Montague, Anjali Parmar as the supportive Nurse, Haris Sethi as charming Paris and Mario Zapata as the mischievous Apothecary.
Romeo & Juliet was a production from Heston West Big Local’s Theatre in Education project in partnership with ZeroPlus Theatre. The project gave the opportunity for young people to take ownership, be creative and to enhance their leadership and communication skills. Taz Virdee, Project Manager at HWBL said: “The young people have worked incredibly hard over the past 6 months to put together this amazing performance. It’s not easy coming in every Sunday, although we had our challenges, I am proud of everyone’s effort. It was brilliant seeing the young people perform on the Redwood Estate and hopefully we will see more of these performance in the future. I also would like to thank ZeroPlus Theatre for their support during the programme, it was great to have experienced practitioners from the industry inspire our young people.”
Big thanks to the Arts Council England, Cranford Community College, Local Trust and Make A Difference Entertainment. Photos credit: Haroon Lukka.
In the last 8 months, Heston West Big Local have been working alongside ZeroPlus Theatre to deliver engaging theatre in education sessions to inspire young people to develop their confidence, skills and abilities. Our Big Local youngsters wanted to do a modern take on Shakespeare's tragedy 'Romeo & Juliet', so instead of the families coming from Verona, Italy they will be based in our very own Heston West!
The play directed by Youth Action members Juhi Kumra and Huzayma Khamis, will take place on Sunday 15th July 2018 from 12.30-1.30pm on the Redwood Estate followed by lunch. Check out our behind the scenes footage of the young crew preparing for the performance. Enjoy
By Taz Virdee It's Mental Health Awareness Week (14-20th May) and this year is the focus is stress. Last year we worked on Self-Esteem with members from our Youth Action Team and Film Club, our first film was called 'It's OK not to be OK' (above) which was written by Juhi Kumra and Abbie McFerran. The film raises awareness of body image and the effects it has on young people.
For more information about Mental Health Awareness Week please click here (external link).
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