Whickham eFocus No. 130

I finished the latest edition (no. 130) of eFocus for the Whickham area last night. The party politics have been stripped out. Most of the content is about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on services. The latest advice was included and we will be increasing the frequency of publication to help keep people informed.

You can ready eFocus on this link.

Delaying VE Day event

Sadly, I have just had to agree to the postponement of the events to mark the 75th anniversary of VE day, due to take place on 8th and 9th May, at Sunniside Methodist Hall. The events were to be run jointly by Sunniside History Society (of which I am chairman) and Sunniside Methodist Chapel (who have also cancelled the craft fair due to be held on 28th March). Hopefully we can rearrange the events but the coronavirus outbreak makes planning new dates rather difficult.

Disposing of the disposable

I was called by a friend who works for M&S recently about a large quantity of disposable crockery and cutlery they had in store. The company no longer sells these products but they didn't want them to go to waste. As it turns out, the Whinnies Community Garden in Sunniside are in the middle of setting up a summer house that will also be a tea room. They were quite happy to take the crockery and cutlery so I went down to the Metrocentre M&S store and loaded up the land rover. There was so much that I ended up having to do two trips.

I hate the idea of single use products but it is better to have one use from them than no use. At least that way they have some value before entering the waste system. Let's just hope the days of single use disposable products are numbered.

Delivering Focus

I was in Whickham this morning to deliver 370 Focuses. I managed to beat the rain but I had to cling to the newsletters in the gale that was blowing. 2 hours later and the job was done.

Low Fell eFocus 50 and 51

This is a bit of catch up as I am somewhat behind with updating the blog. Lots happening especially on the smallholding. Low Fell Lib Dem Focus team produced two eFocuses during January. Edition 50 covers:

• Improving Low Fell's car parks - views wanted
• Dealing with litter 
• Council Tax expected to rise
• Cllr Craig receives honour
• Fallen panels on Station Road

You can view Low Fell eFocus no. 50 on this link.

Edition 51 covers:

• Recycling trial to continue
• Bishop of Durham renames Low Fell school
• Council rejects school crossing
• Lowrey's Lane car park resurfaced
• Outrage over plans to rip up £700,000 car park that was built 2 years ago 
• Fallen branches removed
• A new NHS App has been launched
• Labour Councillors force through Bus Tax 
• Success! Plans for more woodland in Gateshead are passed

You can read eFocus 51 on this link.

Whickham eFocus no. 128

The latest edition of the eFocus for the Whickham area (no. 128) has just been published. Issues covered include:

• proposals to begin work again on the unfinished house on Whickham Bank;
• Lib Dem tree planting plans backed by Gateshead Council;
• Cllr Peter Craig to be awarded British Empire Medal;
• Knitting activities at Sunniside;
• Fireworks clamp down call;
• Polling stations moved from some local schools;
• planning applications.

You can read eFocus on this link.

All ready for tomorrow

Our second Lib Dem action day of the year in Gateshead will be tomorrow. We are heading to Birtley to do some door knocking and a survey. I printed 1000 survey forms last night. Much to my amazement, our printing machine was as good as gold so my visit to our office in Consett was unusually brief.