THE Haddenham U3A (University of the Third Age)meeting on Friday, February 12, at Haddenham Community Junior School, was an opportunity to hear John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, talk about and answer questions about his role.
As an introduction to the meeting the audience was treated to a performance by the Junior School Choir ? a performance which the audience and children thoroughly enjoyed and which Mr Bercow described as ?uplifting?.
The choir marched in with the songs Pack up your troubles and It?s a long way to Tipperary, followed by Last Minutes Calypso, acted out by Sophie Johnstone, Jerome Flaxton and Connor Spence. This was followed by Impuku Nekati, an African round, and finally, We all love to Sing!. The encore song of At The Hop had many of the audience itching to join in!
Mr Bercow?s talk included discussion on the MPs expenses scandal, together with parliamentary plans for:”moving on”. He also talked about his own agenda for his role as Speaker in the House of Commons and assured the audience that the role of Speaker would not have a negative impact on his ability to represent the needs and views of his constituents, rather that MPs and others tended to respond more quickly to his queries or correspondence!
On behalf of Haddenham U3A, John Brandis welcomed the many questions from the audience before time unfortunately ran out and Mr Bercow had to leave for his next appointment.