My visit to the Houses of Parliament

By Ellise Hollie-Hayward, Disabilities Editor

Dream big and work hard to achieve your ambitions!

I was very privileged to be invited for a photo shoot at the Houses of Parliament with members of the Jill Dando News Team, Mayor of Weston super Mare and Mr Speaker in November 2024.

I was also very lucky to bring my younger sister along to share the experience too.

This was our second time to visit the Houses of Parliament with an amazing group of people, I can't even put into words how incredible our day was!

It was so lovely to visit and see Mr Speaker again who remembered me from when I delivered a presentation on my role as the Disabilites Editor, when we hosted the celebration of the life and legacy of Jill Dando back in April and took the Jill Dando News student journalists.

The members of the Houses of Parliament looked after us very well and I feel so thankful to them for hosting us for the day, we even managed to get a drink and chatted in the Strangers Bar!

We were also privileged to go outside on the terrace for some group and individual photos, it was right outside of the London Eye too.


I can't believe that we were behind the Prime Minister’s car as we were heading out, this is something that I will always remember and definitely a dream that ticked off on my bucket list.

I can't wait to do it all over again! Such a dream come true, so proud to be on the Jill Dando News team!

For more stories by Ellise and Jill Dando News click here