When Westminster met Love Island: messages from the heart of @CRY_UK
With Ruth Cadbury, MP.
CRY’s All-Party Parliamentary Group reception at the House of Commons on Wednesday, November 22, will long stay in the memory.
Firstly, because it is always nice to hear how Tom’s friends are getting on and on this occasion it was a pleasure to catch-up with Brentford and Isleworth MP Ruth Cadbury, whose son, Joe, was a schoolmate at Little Ealing Primary School. We have known Ruth for many years and she is a long-standing supporter of CRY. It is typical of Ruth, who belongs to the all-party group, that she found the time to come to the reception and show her support.
Secondly, because, like buses, great speeches seem to come along in pairs.
CRY supporter Montana Brown with Ellen.
Love Island and CRY, I suspect, share pretty much the same target demographic. The choice of one of the show’s stars, CRY supporter Montana Brown, as a speaker was, therefore, inspired. Ms Brown spoke about the value of CRY’s latest publication, ‘A Friend’s Grief’, telling of how, aged 17, she had lost a close school friend; of her feelings of disbelief; of going into shock; of waking up in the mornings not wanting to go to school and covered from head to toe in a rash. It was raw, it was from the heart, and it was one of the most honest and courageous accounts of sudden loss that I’ve heard.
As if that wasn’t enough, CRY’s chief executive, Steve Cox, concluded by delivering an incredibly powerful speech. He was passionate about what he wanted CRY to achieve and there was more than a hint of anger when he described the manner in which CRY’s research, based as it is on the UK’s largest screening programme for young people, had been ignored by the UK’s National Screening Committee.
These were two fine speeches delivered in the heart of Westminster. It would be nice to think someone was listening.
CRY Patron Andy Scott (third left) and family with CRY founder Alison Cox (centre) and chief executive Steve Cox (far right).