Victoria & Abdal for St Katharine's & Wapping Labour

Today, Tower Hamlets was recognised as UN Tree City of the World for the fifth year running. Here in St Katharine’s & Wapping, we’re so proud of playing our part in supporting urban greenery and boosting diversity. We've had 52 trees planted in the ward since 2022, often honouring much-loved and sadly missed residents of Wapping in celebration of their contribution to the community.

We’re always looking for more ways to plant trees so if anyone has ideas for where to plant or would like to donate a tree, please let us know. And if you’d like to get involved in urban gardening, John’s team at the Wapping Wildlife Garden on Vaughan Way are always looking for new volunteers.

Hope you can enjoy the shade of Wapping's trees over the coming heatwave this week! 🌳

https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/News_events/2026/May/Rooted-in-success-Tower-Hamlets-marks-five-years-as-Tree-City-of-the-World.aspx #:~:text=Since%20first%20earning%20the%20title,across%20parks%20and%20open%20spaces

St Katharine’s & Wapping, I’m your councillor! At the count on Saturday, Abdal and I were both elected by a significant margin. In a very tough election for Labour, it was a rare and decisive vote of confidence, and I’m so grateful to everyone who put their faith in me at the ballot box.

We’ve lost some talented and long-standing Labour councillors in Tower Hamlets. I thank them for their service, and I know I have so much to learn from them.

It’s taken me a while to write this since polling day last Thursday. Between campaigning and the count, we had a number of 12 hour days, and any breastfeeding mums can imagine how relieved I was to get back to the baby on Saturday night!

But the real work starts now. I’ll always strive to serve the community with integrity, passion and compassion.

My thanks are due to the 50+ volunteers who made this happen: doorknocking, preparing and distributing leaflets, shooting and editing videos, standing outside polling and tube stations and so much more. In particular to our campaign coordinator Jeremy, my brilliant colleague Cllr Ullah, and my husband Stefan for carrying a huge amount at home in the past weeks.

Photos are: celebrating our win at the count at ; a 10pm celebration with volunteers at the when polls closed on Thursday; a late night curry at on polling day; and exhaustedly reunited with the baby on Sunday.

Love these and the gorgeous community quilt - with thanks to Wapping's force of nature Sam and happy birthday to her mum Jancis. Don't forget to vote on Thursday!

We're 6 days out from the election and I wanted to take a moment to appreciate the amazing efforts of friends old and new who've turned up for Abdal and me, volunteering time and energy to our campaign. This final week will be the busiest of all - a reminder that if anyone would like to join us doorknocking, we'd love to have you! No experience needed and party affiliation not required 🌹

There are too many people to count - around 40 people have helped us so far and a dozen more are hoping to join us for the first time on polling day May 7th! But you know who you are - thank you for taking time off work, pounding the streets in the cold and rain, giving up your evenings and Saturdays and bringing your babies along. This is my first time standing for election and my greatest learning has been the sheer scale of volunteer dedication needed to keep our democracy functioning.

Please vote on May 7th! It matters, and so many people have sacrificed so much to make it possible.

I spent lunch today eating delicious food cooked by the team at Jesuit Refugee Service UK (JRS) on Chandler Street, and chatting with Friends from all over the world. JRS UK provide a space of sanctuary here in Wapping for asylum seekers who are destitute because of the asylum system; they also work in immigration detention centres.

I’ve spent my career working with refugees and host communities in the Arab region. By complete chance, the nonprofit that I founded and ran for a decade, Seenaryo, has worked extensively with JRS in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. It's a wonderful coincidence that their UK centre is here in .

East Londoners, there are so many ways in which you can support JRS’s work apart from financial donations (which of course are always valued!):

1- Donate clothes or food to their “shop”, through which Friends of the centre can choose much-needed items. You can drop them off to the centre on Chandler Street at any point.
2- Do you have a spare room? JRS are always looking to match Friends who are currently experiencing homelessness with local people who have extra space in their home.
3- Looking for a reason to get fit? Run a 5k, 10k or marathon for JRS.

Photos are of my trip today - I loved my heart-shaped rice! And swipe right for a couple of photos of me leading theatre projects with Syrian and Palestinian refugees in with Seenaryo.