Government minister visits Crawley

A LEADING politician dropped in for tea with a Crawley woman.

Foreign secretary David Miliband met members of Three Bridges Forum and the local Neighbourhood Watch at Mary Grace's home in The Birches.

Mrs Grace, who also works with local youth groups, told Mr Miliband about helping her neighbourhood.

She said: "It's about knowing and loving your neighbour. We want to make people get friendly with people living around them."

Mr Miliband praised the forum and Neighbourhood Watch members, who called "pioneers" of new ideas for helping their community.

He added: "I hope we can build on what I think is a real sense of pride in communities like this."

Mr Miliband met other local people including the neighbourhood policing team and Claire Tiley, head teacher at Three Bridges Junior School.

After leaving Three Bridges, the minister spoke to members of Crawley's Chagossian and Tamil communities and the local Labour Party.

Mr Miliband also backed Labour MP Laura Moffatt's hopes for re-election during his visit on Thursday.