We’re coming to the end of a memorable summer for Hartlepool. The Tall Ships will naturally be remembered for a long time, but what has also been impressive has been the number of residents’ groups who have put on their own fun days and fayres.

All throughout the town, there has been hugely successful events, more than any previous year I believe. I am privileged to attend great events at Burn Valley, Rift House, Rossmere and Owton. They are the best constituency surgeries I hold, because so many people want to have a chat. I am always really pleased when people feel able to stop me for a word, but it does mean that I am always late for things.

I’ve been tempted, although didn’t try, those weird crisp-type kebabs that were available at some of the fun days – they looked both disgusting and tasty at the same time. I was told they were very tasty, although I had to take other people’s word for it. I have however eaten honey from bees at the Burn Valley allotments, which was absolutely beautiful. At the same event, I enjoyed making fun out of one member of the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, who, despite it being a fairly warm day, was dressed like he was going to the Antarctic. Goodness knows what would happen if he needs to do a stakeout at night to tackle anti-social behaviour.

I have been very unlucky in all the raffles, to the point where I thought there might have been a fix. At the Meadowfield Court summer fayre a couple of weeks ago I picked up the Dads’ Army film DVD for a bargain price of 50 pence, something I’m rather proud of, and ate far too much cream than was good for me. Indeed, at most of the fun days I have eaten far too much cake.

Unusually this year, I escaped going into the stocks for a complete soaking, and have therefore stayed rather drier than I would normally. I got to try on chain mail from an historical re-enactment society from Hart Village when they were at the Rossmere Residents Fun Day in the Park. I missed, by being late, the bonnie babies competition at the Owton Manor fun day, but was on hand to judge the glamorous grannies competition. Unfortunately, only one lady entered, which was very disappointing – I know there are more glamorous ladies in Owton Manor than that.

The summer isn’t completely finished. I think the round of fun days will end in some style and drama this Saturday on the Rift House Rec, when Rift House Residents’ Association and Hart Gables are hosting an “It’s a Knockout” and Car Boot sale. Even better, Cllr Christopher Akers-Belcher, a man who is very fond of his hair and its various interesting colours, all from a bottle, is being sponsored to have all his hair shaved off in aid of the Rifty Youth Club. It’s a very worthwhile cause, which is really making a difference to the young people in Rift House. But it will also be interesting to see what Cllr Akers-Belcher will look like in a few years time when he finally goes bald anyway. I hope you sponsor him because it is in a good cause.

I mention these events for a reason. The events take some organising, and committed community champions, like Irene Cross, Linda Harvey, Angie Wilcox, Anne Saunders, Tom Stewart, Susan Harriman, Ann Marshall, Stephen Akers-Belcher, Linda Pine, Dawn Robinson, Hilda Wales and many, many others give up their time to make sure they are a success. I know I will have missed out many people, and I apologise for that. These events are great ways for the community to come together and have some fun. I have mentioned on many occasions how Hartlepool has a strong community tradition, something that is very precious in the modern world. We need to make sure that we can keep hold of these strong community traditions.

The most encouraging and positive part of the Hartlepool Mail last week (as opposed to the dramatic events at Hartlepool United) was seeing the looks of joy and delight on many young people’s faces as they received their A level results.

Once again, as a town, Hartlepool’s A level students have performed spectacularly, well ahead of the national average. Hartlepool Sixth Form College showed an astounding 99.2 per cent pass rate, English Martyrs receiving a pass rate of 99 per cent, whilst Hartlepool College of Further Education showed an impressive 95 per cent.

I really want to pay tribute to all the hard work and dedication of the students, who have applied themselves to achieve success. Some might not have achieved what they wanted or needed, and they live to fight another day, but in the vast majority of cases there is cause for celebration and optimism. I also want to thank the teachers, who are the best generation of committed and professional teaching staff the town has ever seen. I also want to pay tribute to parents, who have often been treading on egg shells as their son or daughter have been revising. I know about this from bitter experience.

I’ve said this before, but it is worth mentioning time and time again, as a sign of how the town has progressed in the past 15 years or so. It’s not too long ago since Hartlepool trailed well behind the national average for A Level results. We were at the bottom of the league went it came to exam success at the age of 16 – now, this week’s GCSE results show us close to the top.

This bodes well for the future of our town – a skilled town is generally a prosperous town – although there are many challenges ahead. More and more young people want to go to university. That is a great thing. I hate the idea of somebody from our town thinking that university wasn’t for the likes of them, or put off by the idea of loans and debt. The funding of higher education is a massive issue, but there still remain bursaries and grants for students coming from lower income households. Although this is not very well mentioned in the media, there are now more university undergraduates entitled to and receiving grants than at any point in this country’s history.

University entrance has always been a competitive matter, but this year is particularly tough. I know that times are difficult, but it does seem to me to be somewhat shortsighted that, in a year when applications to university are at all time high, and when our competitors like China, the US and India are expanding the number of university places for science and engineering, the Government is now cutting places for university. This doesn’t help our long-term prospect of economic growth, especially in the future growth industries like renewable energy that I mentioned last week.

I don’t want this to be an anti-Government rant, but the Future Jobs Fund, which was very successful in Hartlepool, has been cut, limiting still further the ability of young people to get help and support for their future career.

It’s probably the toughest environment ever for our young people. They are deciding what to do for the rest of their lives, and they are doing so in a very harsh economic climate with high competition for university places. Despite this difficulty, I hope Hartlepool recognises the enormous achievement from our young people, and wishes them all well for the future.

I’ve mentioned before my love of history, and my pride that this part of the world was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution. I like the fact that the North East was the workshop of the world, and made goods that were at the cutting edge of technology and provided this region with job creation and prosperity, based upon engineering. Hartlepool helped make the modern world was it is: I don’t think we make enough of the fact that the very first oil tanker in the entire world was built and launched from West Hartlepool dock in 1892.

The thing is, I don’t think engineering and manufacturing should be part of our past. I passionately believe that if we are to compete in the modern world, we need to ensure that all our strengths are used. We still have in Hartlepool the engineering skills and the facilities to exploit great market opportunities in modern industries like renewable off shore wind energy. We have great companies locally who can meet this demand and provide jobs and further contracts. We have JDR Cables, a leading (and growing) cable manufacturer for renewable energy projects, as well as Heerema Hartlepool, which is one of the world’s leading specialist in the engineering and fabrication for the energy industry. We also have had in the last few days Corus stating that they are investing £32 million in Teesside in the offshore renewables market. We have a great port, as many people saw last week with the Tall Ships that has deepwater capacity, meaning that ships can berth close to the docks, load up and then sail quickly to the North Sea.

All the companies need to come together to see how they can work closely and more cost effectively. This happened last week as part of the Tall Ships event, when PD Ports, the company which owns the port, hosted a conference, entitled Chain Reaction, for companies to come together to see how they can co-operate to take advantage of this opportunity. I was really pleased that Paul Barker, PD Ports Development Director, was able to lead this conference.

Chain Reaction is needed and welcome. It is my vision for Hartlepool and the wider Teesside area to be the centre of excellence for energy, whether it is renewable like off shore wind energy, or nuclear, or even embracing the traditional energy sources that are still needed like oil and gas.

I can’t stress enough how much potential there is with this initiative. The world’s move from fossil fuels to renewable sources will take place in the next 40-50 years, and Hartlepool is well positioned, with its skills, companies and facilities, to take advantage of this.

Chain Reaction will cluster companies together to ensure that they can offer the highest quality product to customers around the world. I want to assist in this venture by offering support, co-ordination and mentioning the initiative in Parliament to Ministers. In this way, I hope we are at the start of a long-standing prosperous time for engineering in Hartlepool. Not only did Hartlepool build the 19th century, I think we are best placed to build the 21st century. But we have to act now.