The 16th International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia was marked by Barking and Dagenham Council with a flag-raising event at Barking Town Hall.

The rainbow flag was flown over the Town Square at midday on Friday, 15 May to mark the date (17 May) in 1990 when the World Health Organisation declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder.

Residents can now sign up for Barking and Dagenham Council’s Green Garden Waste service as the service opens again for new subscribers from Monday, 18 May. 

The fortnightly service offers residents an environmentally friendly way to dispose of garden waste such as flowers and grass cuttings, weeds, leaves, and hedge trimmings. 

The council is already providing the service to 5,400 existing subscribers and is now extending it to everyone else.  

Barking and Dagenham Giving Week, which will run from Monday 18 to Sunday 24 May, is a new celebration of local people and projects that support the community during the coronavirus crisis and all year round.

The aim of the week is to highlight how powerful it is for local people to give time, skills and space for their community and to support local causes.

This first year, in light of the social distancing measures imposed in the wake of the COVID outbreak, Giving Week has gone online.

The Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, Cllr Darren Rodwell, has appointed Councillor Andrew Achilleos as the borough’s Member Champion for Climate Change.

The week 18 to 24 May is Mental Health Awareness Week and this year’s theme is kindness.

To celebrate the week, Barking and Dagenham Council are asking residents to share examples of acts of kindness that they have received or shown to and from others during the coronavirus pandemic.

Right now, it is so important that people focus on their mental health and wellbeing. In these uncertain times many people are feeling anxious or stressed and worried about family or friends as well as being lonely and isolated.

In Barking and Dagenham there are a number of children in care that need your help to give them a safe and loving home, once the lockdown is over.

Fostering Fortnight, starting next week and the council’s fostering team are looking for experienced foster carers and new applicants to join our team to help us make a difference to the lives of our borough’s children. 

Residents of Barking and Dagenham are being urged to continue to follow government guidelines, and only go out for essential reasons, as the Frizlands Lane Reuse and Recycling Centre (Frizlands Lane tip) in Dagenham will remain open. 

 

New government guidelines mean residents can now only take harmful household waste to the tips – things that would cause injury, illness or harm if you kept them at home.

 

Below are a few examples of the kind of harmful household waste that residents can take to the tips: 

An East London council has called on the goodwill of a number of celebrities to help get the message across to its residents to ‘stay home and help save lives’ during the coronavirus lockdown.

Council Leader, Councillor Darren Rodwell reached out to a number of well-known celebrities with a local connection to the borough, and they’ve recorded a series of short videos which the council has put out on social media during the lockdown.

The weekend of 8 – 10 May will see Barking and Dagenham commemorate and celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, which marked the end of the Second World War in Europe.

In line with government guidance, the original plans for VE Day 75 have had to be adjusted due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. But the council won’t let that break the community’s spirit and hopes residents will celebrate this momentous occasion and commemorate this very special event.

Fifteen Barking and Dagenham residents have been helped into work through the council’s job shops since the start of the lockdown. Although, face-to-face appointments are not currently available, the service is still supporting residents via email, telephone or Skype.

There are a number of jobs available from the job shops this week, including apprenticeship and a degree entry programme with the Met Police, care assistants, domiciliary care workers, carers, support workers, housekeeper/cleaners, warehouse operative and an Investigator for the Financial Ombudsman Service.