{"id":1489,"date":"2020-08-17T12:08:16","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T11:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/?p=1489"},"modified":"2020-08-17T12:08:16","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T11:08:16","slug":"the-mayor-of-barking-and-dagenham-councillor-peter-chand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/2020\/08\/the-mayor-of-barking-and-dagenham-councillor-peter-chand\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mayor of Barking and Dagenham – Councillor Peter Chand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I am delighted that the Mayor of Barking and Dagenham, The Worshipful Councillor Peter Chand is my guest today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

ES: Mr Mayor, I am most grateful that you have taken the time from your busy schedule to talk to us.  Apart from being the Mayor, what is your connection to Dagenham?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PC: My parents immigrated to the UK from India in 1954 and moved to a<\/p>\n\n\n\n

house in Ballards Road, Dagenham. I was born in 1966 and still live in that<\/p>\n\n\n\n

same very road! I went to local schools and the Adult College where I<\/p>\n\n\n\n

studied Health & Social care, so I would say I have Dagenham running<\/p>\n\n\n\n

through my veins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: How do you think the rest of the country views Dagenham and do you think this view is justified?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PC: When I was growing up, the Community wasn\u2019t as diverse as it is today<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and mine was the first Asian family in Ballards Road at that time. I have<\/p>\n\n\n\n

heard comments in the past that say Dagenham is a racist borough but I<\/p>\n\n\n\n

really didn\u2019t feel like that growing up. I had the odd comment at school but<\/p>\n\n\n\n

on the whole I don\u2019t feel that this view is justified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: What do you love about the place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PC: I love how diverse Barking and Dagenham are and how lots of different<\/p>\n\n\n\n

communities come together to support each other and celebrate our<\/p>\n\n\n\n

differences in a positive way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: Please tell us something about Dagenham you don\u2019t think many people are aware of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PC: I\u2019m sure not many people know that Dagenham was originally a marsh<\/p>\n\n\n\n

land and was liable to flood. Also, in Valence Avenue there was a train line<\/p>\n\n\n\n

running down the middle of the central reservation from Chadwell Heath to <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dagenham Docks. It crossed Green Lane, Becontree Avenue and Wood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lane, each with a level crossing. I also loved the outdoor swimming pool at<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leys as a child, which was one of three outdoor pools in the Borough.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: My Dagenham Saga is called The Banjo (Books One and Two). Did you know that the term Banjo is peculiar to Dagenham? Have you or anyone you know ever lived in one?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PC: My friend lived in a Banjo and the term made me laugh when I was<\/p>\n\n\n\n

younger. I later learnt it was a special name that was used by people who<\/p>\n\n\n\n

lived in a Banjo and that banjos were only called that in Dagenham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everywhere else it was a cul-de-sac, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: What\u2019s your fondest memory of Dagenham?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PC: My fondest memory of Dagenham must be the Dagenham Town Show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I loved going to Old Dagenham Park to see the floats leave and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

make their way to Central Park. So many people from all over came to watch<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the Town Show.  It was wonderful. But although I loved the Town Show but I<\/p>\n\n\n\n

think the Summer Of Festivals Team have moved it onto a much bigger and <\/p>\n\n\n\n

better scale. The range and variety of festivals they organise reaches all parts <\/p>\n\n\n\n

of the Borough and always has a real Community feel to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: Dagenham has undergone huge change in the last 20-30 years.  What do  you miss most about the old Dagenham? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PC: I miss the old shops like Woolworths and the Indoor Dagenham Market<\/p>\n\n\n\n

where I worked as a teenager and have many fond memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: Now here\u2019s a difficult question: What is your favourite, fish and chips or pie and mash?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PC: I love them both, but if I had to choose it would be a nice bit of Fish <\/p>\n\n\n\n

and chips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: And do you consider our town to be Dagenham Essex or Dagenham East London?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PC: Dagenham Essex.  I\u2019m very proud to be an Essex boy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am delighted that the Mayor of Barking and Dagenham, The Worshipful Councillor Peter Chand is my guest today. ES: Mr Mayor, I am most grateful that you have taken the time from your busy schedule to talk to us.  … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[768,902,487],"class_list":["post-1489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dagenham","tag-mayor-of-barking-and-dagenham","tag-the-banjo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1491,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489\/revisions\/1491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}