Kentwell Hall is a beautiful historic Tudor home in Long Melford, near Sudbury, Suffolk. It’s about 90 minutes away from Stepney and has a moat, wonderful gardens and a rare breed farm.
It also has accommodation for honeymooners and for anyone simply wanting a break from the Big Smoke. Its Hall Barn Lodge and Annexe can sleep up to 14 and a weekend break with a group that size in early May costs £1,150, according to a quote I was given.
The accommodation looks lovely. Here’s the master bedroom, another guest room and the lounge area.
And, thanks to photos posted on Twitter by the Stepney branch of the Salvation Army, these were the guests there this weekend:
That’s the group having dinner on Friday night. On Saturday, they went horse-riding:
They’d also wanted to go quad biking but I’m not sure they did in the end.
Regular readers will have spotted the grinning king of selfies, Tower Hamlets First Cllr Mahbub Alam, in the foreground of the group photo above.
Here is he is holding his stick at the front of this one, too:
#StepneyFathers‘ group and @StepneySA weekend residential, promoting integration @nearneighbours@TowerHamletsNowpic.twitter.com/cnfX3skJbz
— Cllr. Mahbub Alam (@MahbubAlam01) April 17, 2015
I’m told there is one journalist in that group and some who are activists in the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE).
The chap to Mahbub’s right wearing the dark jacket is Ahad Miah. He stood and lost as a Tower Hamlets FIrst candidate for Wapping in last May’s council elections. He’s very close to Mahbub and this was their second trip away together in less than a month. They were also on deputy mayor Oli Rahman’s delegation to Athens three weeks ago.
Oli and Mahbub have strongly denied that that trip was publicly funded.
The weekend away in Suffolk, however, has been funded entirely by the taxpayer…through a fund set up by the man Mahbub and his Tower Hamlets First colleagues love to hate: Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
They were given a grant of £2,000 for their weekend break from the £5million Near Neighbours Fund which was set up by the Department for Communities and Local Government in 2011. The intention was to promote inter-faith dialogue in key areas throughout the UK. East London was of course one such area.
The Near Neighbours grants are administered by the Church Urban Fund, which is a charity arm of the Church of England. Community groups are requested to submit applications and explain the parameters of their proposed projects and explain what how the money will be well used.
There are many in Tower Hamlets who are well-practised of course in sniffing out grants and saying the right things to secure them. Unfortunately, there are also too many who fail to do their due diligence when checking these applications out.
For some time now, the Salvation Army in Stepney – run by Nick Coke – has been working with a group of Bengali Muslim men called Stepney Fathers, which is run by Ishaque Uddin, and the Stifford Centre, a Bengali dominated community centre in Stepney. Nick and Ishaque are both active members of Citizens UK, an umbrella group of community organisations including the IFE.
Stepney Fathers, the Stifford Centre bosses and the Sally Army guys have had lots of meetings together, they play badminton and they socialise generally. These meetings work for them and are no doubt useful to the narrow numbers involved.
So it was perhaps a natural step for a group of friends to suggest a weekend away together; even better if someone else could pay for it.
And so Nick Coke and Ishaque Uddin, supported by Cllr Mahbub Alam, submitted an application form for a grant to the Near Neighbours Fund in February.
They told the Church Urban Fund this would be for a range of activities at an outward bound centre in Devon, where the men (for they are all men) would eat together and take part in “team building” activities. They’d take some media guys along as well and film it so their fun and discussions about faith could be an inspiration to others.
They asked for £2,415, broken down as follows:
Self-catering cottage in Devon – £665
Minibus – £350
Diesel – £200
Food – £200
Activities (quad biking/horse riding) – £700
Media equipment (cameras and sound etc) – £300.
In assessing whether to give the grant, the Church Urban Fund’s local co-ordinator is meant to seek the views of the relevant parish priest – in this case, that was the Rev Trevor Critchlow, the rector of St Dunstan’s in Stepney.
He objected. He advised the Church Urban Fund that should these men want a weekend away, they should jolly well pay for it themselves. In his view it was a jolly. He said there were far better causes the money could be spent on.
But he heard nothing back, other than to learn that the grant had been awarded, albeit at a reduced rate of £2,000. It seems there was an objection to the £300 for buying camera equipment.
Well, Devon and quad bikes didn’t happen in the end. It seems (judging by the nice 4×4 in Mahbub’s picture) that they instead decided to spend their minibus and diesel cash on upgraded accommodation closer by.
There were no Jewish people invited on this weekend away together “promoting integration” and interfaith dialogue. Which is a shame because I wonder whether they’d have discussed this:
This was posted by Ahad Miah on his Facebook page during the Gaza crisis last summer. You can see that a friend of his has written “miss him” underneath.
So a man who “salutes” Hitler for exterminating Jews has been the recipient of DCLG money that was earmarked for promoting interfaith dialogue and integration. I wonder how many others share his views. What checks did the Church Urban Fund carry out on the people going on this trip?
This, posted by Ishaque Uddin on his Facebook page, is not quite in the same league, but the imagery is similar.
I suspect that neither Pickles, nor the trustees of the Church Urban Fund will be very impressed.
The Rev Critchlow made his views clear in a Tweet last night:
Outrageous use of public funds …… pic.twitter.com/qNBxFdsagT
— Trevor Critchlow (@trevor1340) April 18, 2015
Note his comments on the Facebook page where the weekenders have posted their pictures:
It’s an absolute disgrace that this is being paid for by the tax payer through Near Neighbours. If you want weekend away fine, but pay for it yourself.
And he said this to me when I asked him about it this evening:
We don’t need to throw money around to make connections with people. Just having a cup of tea with someone does that. That’s what decent human beings do naturally anyway.
Well said.
Trial by Jeory 
Mr Critchlow is spot on.
Hitler was plain evil. Anyone mistakenly admiring him requires secure accommodation in the nearest mental health facility.
I find it difficult to believe all this is actually happening in the centre of London in 2015 and funded with tax payers’ cash.
People in other European countries will be unable to comprehend this latest manifestation of public parasites with their snouts jammed firmly in the tax payers’ trough.
Think someone should complain bitterly to the Archbishop of Canterbury (currently in Egypt) and whoever becomes the next Chief Minister of English Local Government (i.e. Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government).
Well done Trevor Critchlow. I’ll vote for Trevor Critchlow to be the next Mayor of TH.
——————————————————-
Church Urban Fund’s central office
020 7898 1647
enquiries@cuf.org.uk
Church Urban Fund
Church House
27 Great Smith Street
LONDON SW1P 3AZ
Charity Number: 297483
We are Christians tackling poverty together in England.
We are passionate about bringing God’s love, hope and justice to the poorest and most marginalised people in England, empowering them to transform their lives.
That’s why, as the Church of England’s response to poverty, we’ve set up our Together Network to enhance the work of local churches, providing support so they can reach even further and change things for the better.
We have also supported local churches through grants, having provided more than £70 million in funding over our history, directing funding to where it is needed most and where it will make the biggest difference.
We work at a national and local level, bringing churches and Christians together to tackle poverty where we are, right now.
———————————————-
Near Neighbours
http://www.cuf.org.uk/how-we-help/near-neighbours
BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER
The idea is to bring people together who are near neighbours in communities that are religiously and ethnically diverse, so that they can get to know each other better, build relationships of trust and collaborate together on initiatives that improve the local community they live in.
I will complain to the Church Urban Fund and suggested they return all the money to the government because they are unfit to handle public funds.
Disgusting !
Curious Cat.
But many islamofascists admire Hitler for killing the Jews. Hitler even conspired with the Mufti of Jerusalem to finish them off in 1941. The truth is there are millions of islamofascists around the world who are intensely racist and anti-semitic. So admiring Hitler is a no-brainer. After all, Hitler established an empire where notions of “purity” were the overriding aim. There are many other similarities; his special forces wore black and exulted in misery and death; he hoped to completely destroy the past and create a new empire that would last forever; he hoped to eradicate the Jews and any other minorities which polluted the Ummah. Nazism and Islamo-fascism of the type based in Raqqa and which we keep seeing around the world go hand in hand. The IFE are a dangerous group of fascist extremists (in NewSpeak terms that means “progressive”) which is ironic because they control “United Against Fascism” – how strange.
Stop them before its too late.
Pray Miliband doesn’t win.
Any joy with your FOI? I’d love those lovely anti-fascists in Greece to see what charmers they were entertaining some weeks ago!
This is outragious! I have wondered why Ahad Miah kept appearing in some sort of ‘official’ capacity beside the Selfie King, as he was kicked to the curb by the residents of Wapping, When you meet the man in person, he seems rather simple, but the evil bile that runs through his brain cells are clear for all to see.
What a bunch of freeloading tossers, especially the councillors, and wannabes.
Ahad, Ahad, we already knew that you are their idiotic puppet, but you have now sunk to new depths of stupidity. I’ve seen your rotten Facebook profile before, and just put the postings down to your sheep mentality peppered with naivety and a few drops on the head when a baby. I wonder if you will be sharing your filthy beliefs when you attempt your next inarticulate moronic stab at politics? As they say, the truth always comes out in the end….. Inshallah!
Thanks again for your vigilance Ted.
In case they are not on your distribution list I will forward this to the Church Times, the Church of England Newspaper, and the Church Urban Fund.
Richard Kirker
Richard,
While you’re at it, why not send it to the venerable Rachel Treweek of the Stepney Diocese and think about sending it to Lambeth House too?
http://www.london.anglican.org/profiles/archdeacon-of-hackney/
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/pages/contact.html
Tim.
Yes, good idea. Thanks Richard.
Despicable behaviour from the people who asked for the grant.
Bravo to Revd. Critchlow for objecting to it. Why was his objection not taken notice of? That the likes of this lot go looking for money that is not due to them is not a surprise – they are thieves, and racist ones at that. The questions that need to be asked should be directed to those in the Church Urban Fund who ignored Revd. Crichlow’s comments.
Tim.
The previous “guest” post about the trip to Greece mentions that they went as a protest against austerity. Do they know what austerity means? Absolute hypocrites..
I wonder if this is another protest against austerity – let’s spend public money like it is going out of fashion and fly in the face of austerity!
And anti racism!
Perhaps this blog should be sent the those in Greece who had the pleasure of Mr Miah’s company? I’m sure they’d be glad to know his true beliefs!
The Reverend Critchlow is spot on in his comments
Tower Hamlets has been plagued by freeloaders scamming grant monies for a very long time. It’s about time that those who are supposed to protect taxpayers’ money from waste and extract value from scare resources were made to account for their lack of any concept of scrutiny or vigilance. They appear to me to be completely clueless!
I’d also note that yet again women are not allowed to be members of any community. What does that say about so-called integration?
All this money being dished around to special interests…. meanwhile genuine community centres (e.g. pubs) are closing every day and they get no support from the council at all.
See, if a Lufter sympathiser swears, you’ll be like… “I don’t tollerate bla bla bla”. But for someone to call an elected councillor and his friends ‘bunch of…tossers’ in public is tollerable.
The great desperate lengths you lot go through to find dirt on people…the Qur’an warns Muslims about people like you.
BTW, Lufter’s verdict out this week. Can’t wait to see it wipe that smirk off all of you ‘……..’. (I’m thinking of a word that’s really bad).
Oh btw, we know who you are The Grim Reaper.
So who is The Grim Reaper?
Well, I like needlework, puppies and floral displays. I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.
Oh, and I’m a longstanding resident of Tower Hamlets who’s sick of these fools and the shame that they’ve brought to us, local politics and humankind in general.
Thanks for asking.
Sounds like I’ve hit a nerve there? Do I detect a hint of a guilty conscience? Unlikely…..
Tossers is hardly a swear word, and I thought extremely mild when describing some of the antics I’ve been witnessing – dished up by the perpetrators in such a bizarre publicity seeking manner….
Is your claiming to know my identity supposed to act as a warning to me and others to keep our lips buttoned, and know our places? Maybe I should scour my Facebook page for comments sympathising with evil dictators or ant of similar bad taste? I bet others were wishing they’d done this?
As per my previous post, don’t forget, the truth has a way of finding the surface. I wonder how many of the rumours and worst kep secrets I’ve heard are true? By the tone of your email, I’m guessing that you either have a dirty little secret(s) or are aware of your colleagues…..
It’s easy to make veiled threats when hiding behind soudonyms?
Care to state anything more concrete and declare your own identity London’s Burning? Or afraid to be booted off the council?
Not sure to whom this comment is directed. But exactly what does the Quran warn and about whom? Enlighten us. Quotes and references please.
If you seriously think that the Court case will be the end of the investigations into the activities of the extremist linked Mayor of Tower Hamlets you’re mistaken.
You’re right Jay. Let’s hope that the authorities have the balls to push for the maximum investigations and penalties when they are finally banged to rights!
“The great desperate lengths you lot go through to find dirt on people…”
They’ve openly boasted about it on Twitter and Facebook, seemingly under the impression that most people will applaud their disgraceful squandering of public money that could have been much better used to benefit many more people, including women and children. Perhaps you would like to try and explain why this expenditure was necessary?
So what can we take from the pseudonym you’ve chosen?
Are you working for the London Fire Brigade or is that a threat?
Nobody has to look too far in Tower Hamlets for the ludicrous examples of what happens when the scrutineers and the auditors and the regulators take their eye off the ball.
There are just too many fraudsters and scammers and politicians with a self-interest agenda who think:
1) the rules don’t apply to them and
2) that ‘something for nothing’ is the way the world should work for them.
Exposing them to the light of day on this blog is a significant public service for which this member of the public is very grateful!
I’ve been wracking my brains when I heard about disgraced public grants regarding LBTH, Silly me! Just remembered, in the current court case. They really are gilding the lily, or should I say rusting the bucket of swill!
And parading it around, then dumbfounded at the criticism!
I wonder if this money could’ve gone to a more needy cause than horse riding, quad biking and buying photographic equipment?
I wonder if this group will be running the London Marathon to raise money for GOOD causes, Lay yer bets now folks!
It could help pay to take them to the Broadway production of ‘The Producers’? No doubt wannabee Council bigwig Miah already has the soundtrack!
They could goose-step for austerity, arms linked. Go girls!
Mahbub is desperate for money, amongst other things, now his businesses aren’t doing so well. One of them is about to be struck off at Companies House.
When this borough is classed as one of the poorest in the country and food banks have been set up for the needy, this really is a vile waste of money. Some children in this borough have never had a holiday, let alone a trip to the countryside. There are much better uses for this money than a ‘brotherly love’ weekend.
London’s Burning is offended because council officials were called ‘tossers’. I am more offended that their is a blatant misuse of much needed public money, that is then waved in our faces on social media. That, in my opinion, is calling us mere mortals ‘tossers’ and taking us for fools.
It also appears that it is okay to be anti-semitic, because of course, all Jews are bad, but dare to say that all Muslims are bad in the wake of terrorist attacks, and that is wrong, oh so wrong. One rule for one and one for the other. That is of course the mantra of Tower Hamlets First – don’t do as I do, do as I say – TOSSERS!
Please can you tone down your harsh words C of S! I’d hate for these freeloading hypocrites to get upset and start applying for grant funded de-stressing weekends at Champneys!
Though I hear that the colonics are most thorough and quite invigorating, and can flush out even the most stubborn ingrained bile.
I’d happily treat the boys to a group colon cleansing and bonding session out of my own pocket, as way of making amends for the mortally wounding cut of my jib. Any takers? No pun intended!
I doubt if they could clear your consciences, the tubes have limited reach.
I quite fancy making friends and sharing religious views with a few Mauritians, I hear they are lovely people…..now, how do I apply for a grant? Can you fill the forms in for me Cllr Alam?
The great Russian mass murderer Lenin once described foreign leftists who propagandised for the Soviet Union as ” Useful idiots” and I am sure that Rahman and co view the people who financed this trip in the same way.
There are many of them although the more prominent ones have folded their tents and slunk away in the night of late. Who now remembers the Rev Alan Green of Bethnal Green a former Rahman toady?
In his regular column in The Guardian, where else, IFE apologist and Lutfur arse licker Dave Hill has gone silent as has Giles Fraser who scribbles rubbish in the same journal. He of course is famous for the £2000 he took from Lutfur for chairing the ridiculous FaIrness Commission which decided that if you are poor then life is unfair. I think we should ask Fraser to pay the money back, what do people think?
Reblogged this on Tendance Coatesy and commented:
In the already right-wing enough West of Suffolk.
Promoting Integration? Presumably it was integration amongst men only as I don’t see any women in the pictures.
Gish! What are you insinuating?
That women had more sense than to go on this jolly?
I wonder if you are being completely impartial here? there is a very good video of the trip which surely shows the purpose much better? I thinkk it is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bfXYEMZOD4&feature=youtu.be
ROFL!!
As hilarious this is, sadly, I doubt if it’s far from the truth in so many ways.
Watch out for the accusations and veiled threats……I doubt they’ll be far off.
Where was little Oli Rahman? Shopping for a new bow tie?
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[…] But enough said on Miah; he’s now history and I doubt very much we’ll see him again trying to make his way in politics. The reason he popped on this blog was because he was part of a DCLG-funded weekend away in Suffolk discussing faith and “promoting integration” with t…. […]
Kentwell Hall in Long Melford, near Sudbury, Suffolk. Wasn’t that near where Ohid Ahmed was a PPC for Labour in 2010. Was this a personal recommendation?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Suffolk_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2010s