Caroline's news

In an Evening Standard article on the reopening of the East London Line, Caroline Pidgeon points out that the future of South London Line services has still not been guaranteed:

Phase two is wonderful but ultimately the problem is people were promised it in addition to the South London line, not instead.

It will give great connections out to Clapham Junction but people want that as well as routes into Victoria and London Bridge.

Caroline Pidgeon joined Simon Hughes at the site of the old Maddock Way Post Office to launch a campaign to have it reopened.

Since the closure of Maddock Way, the office on Camberwell New Road has also been closed. Queues at the main office on Walworth Road have increased further and a survey of customers carried out by Simon has highlighted great dissatisfaction with the service. Simon has been working with Victoria Onayemi, the former manager of the Maddock Way Post Office, and with local residents, to campaign for it to be reopened.

In Vauxhall, the Oval Farmers' Market has a new way of polling – through leaders’ cup cakes made by Lara, who runs a stall in the market each week (lara@cakeholelondon.com). Blueberry Dave, Raspberry Gordon and Passion Fruit Nick are the choices for cake buyers.

Both weeks, so far the Nick Clegg cakes have sold out before the other two leaders and have been the talk of the market.

On Saturday, Oval Lib Dem Team Claudette Hewitt, Vauxhall Parliamentary Candidate Caroline Pidgeon, Cllr Andrew Sawdon and Ishbel Brown (left to right) went to meet customers in the market and try some of the Passion Fruit Nick cakes themselves!

Mental health charity, Rethink, invited Vauxhall residents and fellow SE1 workers into its offices to partake in tea time treats on Wednesday 14th April.

Tea and cake is a soothing British tradition and scores top marks for boosting your mental wellbeing. The charity’s workers donated homemade and bought cakes for a cake sale to raise funds and took the opportunity to chat about Rethink’s general election petition to tempted punters.

At the event Rethink collected an extra 134 signatures to a petition which urges the next government to “care about mental health” bringing the total, so far, to more than 6,500.

Caroline Pidgeon, Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate for Vauxhall, attended the cake sale and signed the petition.

Caroline Pidgeon said: “I am really pleased to have offered my support for the Rethink Election campaign today, and take the candidate pledge. Mental illness affects so many people across the country, yet it is rarely given the same support as physical conditions like heart disease or cancer. Candidates from all parties need to challenge the stigma attached to mental health and speak up for frontline services as I will continue to do.”

Commenting on the Conservative Shadow Minister for London's revelation that a government led by David Cameron could scrap the Crossrail project, Caroline Pidgeon commented:

The Conservatives are all over the place when it comes to Crossrail.

The Conservative Mayor of London never tires of boasting about his support for the project and Conservative run Kensington and Chelsea Council are even demanding a further new station which will add to the cost of the project.

Yet at the same time a London Conservative MP, speaking on behalf of the national party, is simply unable to provide a clear assurance that this much needed project will be completed.

You can read more about the story at Adam Bienkov and Chris Underwood's blogs.