Hanging out at The Speakers House in Parliament

On the green benches (trust me, it was dark)

On Wednesday night I was lucky enough to be invited to an event at The Speakers House inside Parliament. Sadiq Khan, MP for Tooting, was holding an event for 'Community Heroes', celebrating the work of charities and community groups in his constituency.

I was there in my capacity as 'official photographer' for the hyperlocal social network Go Earlsfield.

It turned out to be an excellent evening. The Speaker has some beautiful official apartments which John Bercow has actively opened up for such events. The highlights of the apartment had to be the grand staircase and the Monarch's bed (below). Apparently the Monarch used to stay in Westminster the night before the State Opening of Parliament.

I got the impression that John Bercow is the first speaker to open up the apartments to public events. It was mentioned a couple of times that he felt it was his duty to allow us tax payers in.

The Monarch's bed

The evening was designed as a networking event for local community activists, culminating in speeches and a short awards ceremony. I really enjoyed John Bercow's speech. He and Sadiq clearly get on well and their was quite a few jokes around who was the shortest of the pair.

There were also some presentations and inspiring stories of what some people are doing in the community. 'Official Photographer' for Go Earlsfield really doesn't take up much time and I felt challenged to do more.