Henry Smith, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Crawley, welcomed yesterday the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Rt Hon Sajid Javid, to town to show him a local community engagement project.

Henry said;

"On the day Parliament was dissolved ahead of the General Election on 7th May, I was delighted to welcome the Culture Secretary to Crawley."

Henry introduced the Secretary of State to Azam Riyard of Crawley Eagles Cricket Club, as they saw a new local project, funded by Government and the England and Wales Cricket Board, worth £50,000 to provide new cricket nets and help bring together community participation.

This follows Henry personally contacting Crawley Borough Council following concerns the funding may have had to be withdrawn due to Town Hall bureaucracy.

Henry continued;

"It was a pleasure to see with Sajid and Azam how cricket can unite communities - and how we managed to hit Town Hall bureaucracy for six!

"This is a first-class example of real community engagement in Crawley."

Henry and the Secretary of State also visited Langley Green Mosque to discuss a number of local community initiatives.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Rt Hon Sajid Javid, commented;

"I was delighted to visit Crawley and see first hand the hard work put in by Henry Smith. Touring the Eagles Cricket Club in Langley Green which has benefited from Government and English Cricket Board funding to expand local community cricket was inspiring.”