Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Rajay Naik: Good morning everyone. I’ve never had to climb such a huge, you know cavernous
mountain to ever make a speech before but being as big a kid as I am it’s not too
much of a problem. Dave thanks very much indeed, it’s a real pleasure to be here just a few
months after I came here to announce that the reward of the money to the Gosford Park
Residents Association it’s a wonderful tribute to all the work the local people have done,
to the GPRA, to the council, the great guys at Wigstead who’ve done all its work to
get us to this morning and it’s a real testament to tenacity, the bravery, the courage, the
effort, the selflessness of all of those people, so fantastic tribute to all of those people.
I just want to say two things this morning; the first is that we’ve allocated about
four point five billion pounds to people and communities most in need since about 2007.
All of your fantastic lottery money has gone to good causes like this. But today, I’m
most proud out of all of those billions that we’ve spent, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff,
the Eden Project in Cornwall, peace keeping projects in Northern Ireland and out of all
of those parks, all of those associations, all of those groups we’ve funded, this is
the one that I am most proud of, and there’s two reasons for that. The first is that for
the last 50 years, my family has lived within a square mile of this park. I was born and
brought up on Stoke Road and now I live just across the road over there so being the big
kid I am, I’m really looking forward to coming back here every weekend with my little
nephew Aaron and pretending that I’m coming here for him but really it’s for me. And
the second is that I’m really proud of the fact that a time when we’re all told about
how difficult life is and about how difficult communities are and about how things are so
terrible, this community and this park, and this small area represent what’s so fantastic
about Coventry, the spirit that underlines our city, and I think that Austin who’s
about to open the park, I think that Dave has put so much effort into this, I think
that Joseph Levi who teaches us all or a lesson or two. This park represents that tenacity
and that spirit, and that can give us all really great heart for the future. So enjoy
the park and let’s all remember what it stands for as well. Thanks to all the people
who have made it happen. Thanks to all my former friends at Bluecoat School for their
music this morning. And have a great day, thanks very much in deed.