First at the Chowdene action day

 

I was the first to arrive at the Gateshead Lib Dem action day this morning in Chowdene ward. That meant I had the first choice on which patch I was to deliver. Somehow I ended up with the biggest patch which also contained a huge number of houses with long flights of steps just to get to front doors. The good news is that I managed to get the whole patch delivered.

The by-election tea leaves

There was a by-election in Penn Hill in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole on Thursday. The result was:

Lib Dem - 1,278, 43.6% (+0.9)

Con - 764, 26.1% (+1.0)

Reform - 521, 17.8% (new)

Labour - 135, 4.6% (-6.7)

Restore - 106, 3.6% (new)

Green - 65, 2.2% (-6.5)

Ind1 - 55, 1.9% (new)

Ind2 - 7, 0.2% (new)

So what do the by-election tea leaves have to say?

The Conservatives seemed rather excited about this contest. It was once a Conservative held ward and they pushed the claim that the battle was between Conservatives and Reform. They claimed the Lib Dems couldn't win. The reality was somewhat different. The Conservatives came second but the battle was between them and the Lib Dems. Reform came third. There was an interesting intervention from Restore. Add together Reform and Restore votes and the non-Conservative right would still be in 3rd place.

Labour and Greens each lost most of their vote share. I don't have enough information to explain why both lost votes. It could be down to either local or national issues (the Greens in particular are having problems as a result of their anti-semitic vote at their conference.)

Thumbs up to Bournemouth Lib Dems. 44% is a now strong vote share in this age of multi-party politics.

Printing again

 

Gateshead Lib Dems are having yet another action day on Saturday. That meant I was in the office this morning printing the survey we are delivering. The printing machine worked without a hitch. That's a first for me!

The orange one is in Sunniside

 

The scarecrow festival is currently taking place in Sunniside and Streetgate. This is my favourite.

Walkabout

 

Recently, Cllr Marilynn Ord (one of my ward colleagues) and I accompanied a Gateshead housing officer on a walkabout in Sunniside and Byermoor toidentify issues on the council owned estates. Marilynn and I also had lists of issues we wanted to raise. We will be reporting back to residents as and when these issues are resolved or progress on them is made.

(photos taken in Byermoor Park)

Photos from Whickham North and Swalwell action day

 

On Saturday we had another action day in Gateshead, this time in Whickham North and Swalwell ward. Here are some of my photos. Providing lunch is always a good way to booost the number of helpers.

Library reopening - the video

 

The official reopening of Whickham Library took place on 15th October. I took the opportunity to make this short video of the refurbished facility.

Photos from the official reopening of Whickham Voluntary Library

 

Earlier this month the official reopening of Whickham Voluntary Library took place. The refurbishment was paid for by a government Pride in Place grant. Here are a few of the photos I took on the evening.

Whickham North Focus delivery

 

Another Saturday and another Focus delivery for Lib Dems in Gateshead. I was given a patch to deliver which I know well. It is now a part of Whickham North and Swalwell ward but until May this year it had been part of my ward. Lunch back at the home of Councillors Peter and Susan Craig.

Timing of this action day was spot on. It was dry this morning although it start to drizzle at midday. Had the evening weather shifted back a few hours we would have been drenched in one of the heaviest storms in ages.

Delivering in Whickham

 

We couldn't let a few days go by without delivering some more surveys. So this morning I had a couple of patches to deliver across two patches in Whickham. I was slowed up by conversations with residents and then,five minutes before I finished, it started raining. I'm not complaining. We need the rain! 

Why I'm fighting these plans

 

I put together this video about why I oppose proposals to build 210 houses to the south of Sunniside.

Ready for tomorrow

 

We are all ready for tomorrow! Gateshead Lib Dems have another action day, this time in the Whickham area. We will be delivering a survey which I printed yesterday - see photo above where the leaflets are coming off the folding machine at high speed.