There was a lot of excitement on 18 September 2024 as Iqbal Mohamed the newly elected Member of Parliament for Dewsbury and Batley visited Howlands and met with members as well as staff and volunteers.

Iqbal spent some considerable time meeting and chatting with members who were in attendance as well as hearing about our history and the wonderful work we continue doing to empower people in unearthing their creative talents whilst reducing loneliness and social isolation and enhancing social confidence and self-esteem.

It was a real pleasure to have our MP in attendance and we felt that this was the beginning of a wonderful new friendship and partnership. Iqbal has even committed to coming and doing a session with us in a voluntary capacity, albeit we think he wants to show us his art skills developed at school. Either way we will be taking you up on this offer, Iqbal, and will work out when and how to do that going forward.

As he prepared to leave, Iqbal thanked everyone for the warmth that he felt during his visit and the overwhelming sense of family that was evident at Howlands. Iqbal committed to be a familiar face at Howlands going forward saying:

“It was a real pleasure to visit and meet you and all the wonderful people.

The work you all do is essential and hugely appreciated.”

We look forward to working with Iqbal going forward.