As part of the battle to bring the Curry Capital of Britain back to its home in Leicester, Jon Ashworth is cooking a curry at Chutney Ivy.

Chutney Ivy is one of four restaurants in the City hoping to bring the Crown back to Leicester.

Speaking before his cooking lesson from Shaf Islam, chef and owner of Chutney Ivy, Jon said: “The Crown of Curry Capital of Britain should return to its rightful home in Leicester. Six years is far too long for it to be away. I’m looking forward to my lesson with Shaf although I doubt I will match the extremely high standards of Chutney Ivy.”

The Curry Capital Awards is now in its eleventh year and Leicester faces competition from 16 towns and cities in the country including last year’s winner Bradford.

Shaf Islam stated: “I’m delighted that my restaurant was chosen to represent our fabulous City and I was pleased to be able to pass on some of my skills and tips to our local MP.”

Under the tutelage of Shaf Islam Jon cooked Jingha Rowshne for starters, which are huge king prawns marinated in olive oil, garlic butter and chillies, gently cooked in cream, spring inions and fresh coriander. For the main course Jon cooked Chicken Jalfrezi.

The Curry Capital Awards raises funds for charities that help the poor and malnourished through the Curry Tree Charitable Fund, which this year has chosen ‘Find your Feet’.

Jon visited the Coffee Morning at Saffron Sure Start.

Jon said: “The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning is Macmillan Cancer Support’s biggest fundraising event and last year raised a record £15 million. I always attend a Macmillan Coffee Morning and take time out of my day for what really matters.”

“Everyone going along to a coffee morning will be raising money to make sure everyone has a Macmillan team in their corner - from diagnosis, through treatment, and afterwards. That way, no one will have to face cancer alone.”

The first National World’s Biggest Coffee Morning was in 1991 when 2,600 people registered to hold coffee mornings across the country. Since then it has raised over £75 million for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Sarah Smith, Manager of Barnardo’s Saffron Sure Start, said: “We’re very proud of all our parents who have worked hard to make sure today’s event a success and it was great being part of what was a great fund raising achievement.”

Jon Ashworth, Labour MP for Leicester South, visited Leicestershire AIDS Support Services (LASS) on Friday 13 September.

LASS was founded in 1987, and provides testing and support services in Leicestershire for those with HIV and AIDS. Earlier this year the organisation won a GlaxoSmithKline Impact Award, for which there were 419 applications. The organisation won the award for its contribution to improving health in Leicestershire, particularly through its rapid HIV testing service. The prize includes £30,000 in funding and a training and development programme run by the King’s Fund.

Jon said: “I’m glad I was able to see all the work that LASS does in Leicester. Support services are so important in maintaining health, and it’s great to see such a committed team of volunteers in Leicester working on HIV and AIDS issues. The testing services are particularly helpful, as they allow LASS to help people who wouldn’t normally seek assistance for these conditions.”

LASS undertakes research with Africa Health Policy Network, looking at the effect of training community volunteers on the uptake of rapid HIV testing among different communities in Leicester.

Clockwise Credit Union Ltd is celebrating its success having been selected from dozens of applications from across the UK to be awarded £21,000 from The Barclays Community Finance Fund, to support its next step towards sustainability and growth.

Transact, the national forum for financial inclusion, which manages the fund, worked with a panel of independent experts to reduce nearly 80 high quality applications to just six successful projects.

The Credit Unions, which have nearly 20,000 members collectively and 200 volunteers, is the lead bidder in a consortium of five credit unions across the East Midlands. The group are already working together with social housing providers to create money management products ahead of the introduction of Universal Credit.

Jo Dowson at Clockwise Credit Union Ltd, said: “These funds will enable us to market the services of all five credit unions and challenge stereotypes of credit unions as ‘the poor man’s bank’.

The Centre at 83 Knighton Fields Road East is owned and run by Knighton Park Table Tennis Club. The Club purchased the building last year with a grant of £398,000 from Sport England and the English Table Tennis Association.

The club sold its former premises on Avenue Road Extension to help fund the conversion of the building which has cost in excess of £110,000. Work commenced on the conversion of the building in September and the Club moved in at Christmas.

Leicester is a ‘hot spot’ for table tennis. The grant was secured on the back of the very successful PING LEICESTER which took place in the run up to the 2012 Olympic Games.

The venue was formally opened by Richard Scruton, who is vice-chairman of the English Table Tennis Association. Other guests included Jon Ashworth MP, Councillor Clair (Leicester’s Assistant Mayor for Sport), and local Councillors Bill Shelton and Elly Cutkelvin.