Start & Finish

To start the week, a first …  Held a surgery in the Phoenix Centre café – this is where any resident can just turn up with an issue for the councillor then to look into on their behalf. (I have to say that it was slightly tortuous as I spent most of the time resisting the sight of watching people eat wonderfully naughty fried breakfasts!) I’m hoping this will become a good time for meeting residents – it used to be in the evening but very few came - as the café is now holding a regular LASA Credit Union collection point there every Monday morning. 

The Phoenix Centre

I may have banged on about this before but credit unions are one of those ‘best kept secrets’ which in these awful days of increasing legalised loan sharks – I personally believe they shouldn’t be allowed to advertise on TV – is a secret which ought to stop being ‘kept’!  I’ve been a member for years and still we seem to be no nearer getting the message across as to how good they are, both for people desperate for a short term loan to pay a bill, and those of us lucky enough to use it mainly as a savings account.  In other countries such as Ireland, Germany, Australia, they are as big as banks, although personally I’d rather they complemented them, rather than competed with them.  But most of all I just want people in difficult financial circumstances to know they have an alternative, and so can avoid getting into an even worse mess through having to take out loans at grotesquely inflated interest rates.

Some issues can sound very trivial.  I remember when Simon Coombes, Tory MP for Swindon, kept going on about postmen & women dropping elastic bands everywhere.  Arguably it shouldn’t be the MP who highlights this but on the other hand beneath the surface there are the bigger problems of litter and our throw-away society.  So whilst I was tempted to make light of my first photo opportunity, me standing next to the dog warden picking up dog poo, yet again this seemingly minor issue covers a multitude of others, from unsightliness to health issues.  Not so trivial after all.

And to finish the week, I now know all about being a governor – well I’ve had the training at least!  I think it can be a job in itself – a lot of information if nothing else – but when I do get really into it, I’m sure it’s going to be very rewarding.

Les

Oh how times change

Times of meetings, that is!  I realise that suiting up to 72 people is not an easy task by any means and meetings will inevitably get rearranged, but it is nonetheless disconcerting.  I currently have FOUR documents which include the same calendar period.  The trick is to make sure you know which one is the latest, assuming of course that will be the most uptodate!  Anyway so far so good as I’ve attended on the right day and at the right time.  Will my luck last I wonder?

Apart from coping with this what else have I been doing?  Well, on Monday I attended a social get together with other Labour women councillors – one of the most interesting things about the make-up of the new administration isn’t across political party boundaries but how many councillors are now women, virtually 2/5.  I’m pleased that locally our party has realised how helpful & reassuring it can be to meet up in this kind of relaxed atmosphere.

On Tuesday I managed the impossible by getting to two meetings which were on at the same time!  OK, I admit I wasn’t at both of them throughout, but I did manage all of one – a community PACT meeting - and the latter half of Labour Group.  PACT meetings are open to everyone living in the local area to which the police, amongst others, attend in order to find out about issues which residents are concerned about. And obviously this is also helpful to us as councillors.

Full council meeting was on Thursday, and not too drawn out.  I think we are all still settling in, with nothing too contentious - yet!  But for me the highlight of the week was going up to Seaview School on Friday.  As well as being made very welcome and shown round, I was lucky enough to listen in as Welsh rugby star Shane Williams answered questions that pupils put to him.  Yes, I did have the ulterior motive of meeting him, but believe me those pupils were very good indeed, and I was most impressed with the quality of questions they asked.  As a governor I think this bodes well for my future association with the school.

And you may have noticed that there’s a gradual transition now from predominantly induction/training sessions to 'real' meetings as it were.  In any case meetings out in the community don’t really have any training – it’s a case of learning as you go and for me that means taking time to get ‘into’ the subject matter before voicing opinions and/or offering other forms of participation. In time I should know what I'm talking about!

Les

Famous Last Words, Forms, and the Lord Mayor

Programme Cover - Lord Mayor's Inauguration

Some say a week is a long time in politics, and for any of you who might be starting to think this is true let me point out that it’s been TWO weeks since I last posted to this blog!  I’ve had a few days away (didn’t quite get the rest I could have done with but that’s another story!!) so I’ll begin with a brief resume of the week before last …

For starters why oh why did I finish the previous week’s blog with ‘… (next week) will be a bit quieter …’ – talk about tempting fate!  I had two possible meetings Monday, although as they overlapped was unable to get to both so went to the launch of a new work club initiative, then another on Tuesday to finalise all election returns, which I then completed and dropped into the council offices along with other forms etc, and although not going til Friday evening, in theory on leave from Wednesday!  Fortunately the rest of the week tailed off a bit so I was able to address far more important matters like what earings to pack etc.

Incidentally have I mentioned all the FORMS?!!!  Actually there haven’t been that many but I have a real aversion to filling them out, even when they only require name & address.  Believe it or not that’s not as easy as it sounds cos I always ask myself ‘do they need my middle name?’ and ‘do I put Lórien House or does that look pretentious?’  Arghhhhhhhhh

We came back in time to attend the Lord Mayor’s Inauguration – quite a ceremonial affair with, amongst others, the High Sherriff, and Deputy Recorder (no, I don’t know what that is either!) in attendance.  One felt that the occasion needed the sound of trumpets to give it suitable gravitas, but instead somehow the sound of Marillion’s pop single ‘Kayleigh’ came wafting into the hall - not quite what I’d have chosen!

Les