Meeting the new locality coordinator

 

We have a new locality coordinator for the wards in the west of Gateshead and Cllr Marilynn Ord and I met up with him at the Whinnies Community Garden in Sunniside last Friday. Sam, the new officer, is new to working for Gateshead Council so comes with new ideas. We are planning to have monthly meetings but we will have lots of issues to raise with him. Welcome onboard Sam.

Only 3 historical inaccuracies

 

I've spent the last few weeks watching every edition of Downton Abbey (and 2 films) checking for historical inaccuracies. I only found 3. See the video to find out what they were. Last week I put the box set of Downton DVDs into the Sunniside History Society raffle. I'm now trying to watch all 52 editions of Blake's 7. The special effects budget for this was clearly tiny compared to Downton!

Sunniside Hub Meeting

 

Whickham South and Sunniside Councillors (me, Jonathan Mohammed and Marilynn Ord) were at the Sunniside Courtyard Cafe tonight for a meeting of the Sunniside Hub group. The group will be looking to raise the funds needed for a Christmas tree in the village later this year.

Meeting in the Tilley Stone

 

Gateshead Lib Dems (or at least the social media group) decided not to meet on-line last night. Instead, we met in person at the Tilley Stone pub on Jackson Street, Gateshead. I think my role there was to be the old guy who doesn't understand TikTok! But a useful meeting nonetheless! (Picture: Liam Bowering, Amanda Wintcher and me)

Like a rerun of lockdown

 

The ghost of the 1960s has come back to haunt Gateshead residents and Gateshead Council. On Friday last week, the Council took the emergency decision to close the A167 flyover in central Gateshead following a structural inspection. Public safety comes first and so, in avoiding crumbling concrete dropping onto people and vehicles, this major arterial road has closed until further notice.

The flyover was built in the 1960s but it was never completed. The aim was for the raised carriageway to continue over the Tyne and join up with the central motorway in Newcastle. Indeed, you can see the sudden end of the flyover in Gateshead and the point in Newcastle where the flyover would have joined it.

The flyover was never finished as the Labour government of Harold Wilson pulled the plug as an austerity measure. That left Gateshead with a rather out-of-place and oddly short raised dual carriageway which literally ends at the end of the road. Meanwhile, as this is a major arterial route, the congestion, bad as it was, is now vastly worse around the flyover but there is no traffic to be seen on it. It reminds me of lockdown when the roads were empty.

Mopping up in Bridges

 

On Sunday last weekend I was in Bridges ward in Gateshead for the Lib Dem action day. As I hadn't finished the 3 patches I was given to do, I headed back there yesterday. The job was almost but not quite finished - I was 30 leaflets short!

Mopping up in Birtley

 

Yesterday I headed back to Birtley. My aim was to deliver the remaining patch of Focus newsletters I had which didn't get delivered in November. Just as I finished, it started to rain. Good timing!

eFocus on NE16 no. 190

Gateshead Lib Dems recently published edition 190 of eFocus on NE16, covering the Whickham area. Key issues covered include:

• Dunston Pool under new management;
• Local Remembrance services and parades;
• Whickham North and Swalwell by-electon result;
• Concern over Sunniside woodland;
• Christmas lights switched on by Peter Pan in Whickham;
• Whinnies Community Garden Christmas Fayre;
• Christmas tree lights switch on in Sunniside.

You can read eFocus on this link.

Sunniside lights

 

Friends of Sunniside Community Hub put on a great event on Saturday evening to light up the Christmas tree outside Sunniside chapel. Unfortunately I was double books as I had a prior engagement in Newcastle. It meant my offer of using some of my goats cunningly disguised as reindeer at the event could not go ahead. I've looked through the photos and video taken by people at the event. It looks as though everyone had a great time.

Bridges action day

 

We had another action day in Gateshead over the weekend. This time we were in Bridges ward, now one of the most marginal in Gateshead. Following the by-election in the ward in September, Labour have a majority of only 65. Sunday saw us delivering our latest Focus across the ward. I took 3 patches and delivered 2. At some point I will fit in delivering the final patch.