Father of the House

Yesterday, at the full council meeting, tributes were paid to Jim Turnbull, Gateshead's longest serving councillor who passed away earlier this month. Jim was also the oldest member. He was 85 when he died. I paid tribute to Jim at the meeting on behalf of the Lib Dem group. I was the one who had served the longest with him. He had first been elected in 1982. I was first elected in 1987. It was therefore appropriate for me to speak about him.

Jim's passing has caused a change in the informal title of "Father of the House", held by the longest serving member. This title is now shared by two councillors: Cllr Mick McNestry and myself. Both of us were first elected at the same elections in 1987. I'm not sure if Mick is standing again in the local elections in May. He does currently represent a ward that has a better than evens chance of returning Labour Councillors in May. He may survive the oncoming tsunami. Or he may retire, in which case I will be the only Father of the House, should I be re-elected.

The conference shop

 

Last photos from conference (I promise). In the olden days when we had only 11 MPs, getting a full set of MP mugs was affordable. Now, with 72 MPs, the cost if a bit more challenging if buying the full set!

Guaranteed to be seen from a considerable distance (and probably from low earth orbit, Lib Dem must have fashion accessories were on sale at the conference shop. Put on one of those sweat shirts and you too can look like a walking Belisha beacon!

Flag waving is now part of political campaigning.

Tied to the party. 

Meet the kids at the Library

 

Tomorrow, Whickham Voluntary Library will be holding their Easter fair and I will be there with Nettle, one of our nanny goats, and one of her babies. They will be there to raise funds for the Library. At the last fair, they raised £119.

First canvass team

 

Tuesday wasn't just used by Gateshead Lib Dems to deliver leaflets. It was also used to send out our first canvass team. The Pelaw and Heworth Team - Councillors Paul Diston, Amanda Wintcher and Ian Patterson - headed out to canvass in their ward. The results were in line with expectations. In other words, we were happy with the returns.

Bridges action evening

 

On Sunday just gone, Gateshead Lib Dems had an action day in Bridges ward. Alas, with some of us at conference in York, there were bundles left over. Therefore, an additional action evening was held on Tuesday.

The plan was to deliver the manifesto leaflet.

I didn't get to deliver my usual patch. Instead, I was sent out with Cllr Leanne Brand to some of the steepest streets in Gateshead! Most houses also had significant numbers of steps leading to front doors. Shoe leather and calories were burnt off in good numbers.

Meanwhile, Jonathan and Calvin were delivering the next patch. By the end of the evening most of the backlog was cleared.

Springtime in Sunniside

 

Today is the end of winter and the start of spring. I snapped this photo this morning on my way to feed my livestock. Everything is starting to grow and Plant Up Sunniside have surpassed themselves with the planters they look after. The one in the photo is on the Kingsway/Sunniside Road junction.

Apply for a postal vote

 The local elections in May will elect an entirely new Council.

If you are going away on Thursday, 7th May and don’t have a Postal Vote, your voice will not be heard. You can apply for a Postal Vote here: https://www.gateshead.gov.uk/article/2925/Apply-for-a-postal-vote

It's really important that everyone has a chance to have their say so if you are going to be away please do apply for a postal vote."

With the Labour vote collapsing across the country, Gateshead will be a battle between the Lib Dem Focus Team and Reform.

So if you will be away on May 7, please apply for a Postal Vote today.

Gateshead Lib Dems at conference

 

Over the weekend, Lib Dem spring conference was held in York. 5 of us from Gateshead attended: me, David Randall, Daniel Duggan, Amanda Wintcher and Jamie Rickelton. Amanda and Jamie attended as stewards but were given time off to take part in debates (Jamie made his maiden speech) and to meet up with us for a Gateshead Lib Dem dinner. 

Here are the first photos. Some more to follow later.

The train at platform 1 is....

 

On Sunday there was a model railway exhibition in Birtley Community Centre. As someone who had a trainset as a child, this was an event not to be missed. I filmed a video of my visit to the exhibition and will post it when I find time to edit it. I did discover a constituent who recognised me and who has a great passion for model railways!

Alas, I got rid of my model railway decades ago. 

2 meetings with Plant Up Sunniside

 

I have had 2 meetings this week with Plant Up Sunniside, the voluntary group that maintains the flowerbeds and planters on Sunniside Front Street. On Monday, it was a site visit with officers from the council to look at possible planting on the grassed area. I had initially suggested we explore having the site recognised as a village green. At the site visit on Monday I suggested an alternative. I shared with people at the meeting a photo I took of the crocus bed on The Broadway and suggested we aim for something similar in Sunniside. People were happy with that so we dropped the idea of a village green and have gone for the crocus bed instead. This was confirmed at the Plant Up Sunniside monthly meeting on Tuesday.

Before any planting can be done, a survey will need to be carried out by the council for underground cables and pipes. Alas, we can't just go in with spades and trowels and dig up the ground.

Get Gateshead Going

 

Gateshead Lib Dem manifesto will be launched shortly. Called "Get Gateshead Going", a mini version of it has been produced and delivery of it in our held and target wards has begun. 50,000 copies have been produced. That's quite a bit of shoe leather that will need to be worn out delivering them!

Over the past few years, our manifesto was called "Six to Fix". The new manifesto is the product of two members' away days and extensive consultation inside and outside the party. As far as we are aware, no other party in Gateshead has a manifesto for the forthcoming local elections. Indeed, in my 39 years on the Council, I've not known Labour to publish a manifesto.

Seeing purple

 

I snapped this lovely crocus bed when I was in Whickham recently, delivering Focus newsletters. Well done everyone involved with planting and maintaining the bed. It looks amazing. Indeed, it looks so good that I want to copy it and set up a bed on the grassed area on Sunniside Front Street. I've had talks about this with Planting Up Sunniside and council officers. Last night I attended the monthly meeting of Planting Up Sunniside and we discussed further the idea of putting in a crocus bed. Watch this space for progress.

Well done Tanfield Railway

 

There are many heritage railways in the UK. On my doorstep we have Tanfield Railway and I'm delighted to report that they have won a major heritage railway award. Tanfield Railway was named ‘Railway of the Year’ at the Heritage Railway Association Annual Awards, held in Llandudno on March 7.

As a local historian I am delighted with the success of Tanfield Railway. I visit Tanfield regularly and it is great to see just what they have achieved. This is not just about winning awards however. Tourism is a growing part of our local economy. Tanfield Railway helps draw in visitors. They spend money in local hotels, restaurants and shops. This is about jobs and prosperity.

Visit Tanfield Railway website on this link.

Weekend action days

 

Gateshead Liberal Democrats had two action days over the weekend - in neighbouring wards of Low Fell and Chowdene. About 15 members turned up each day to help deliver the latest Focus newsletter. I'm pleased to report that 90% of both wards were delivered.

Magical lantern show

 

On Wednesday 4th March 2026, Sunniside History Society had its monthly meeting at Sunniside Club. Instead of a speaker, at this meeting we had a lantern show! The Society had been given the photo collection of Francis Newman, a former member who passed away a few years ago. It included over 1000 slides. The Society has not yet gone through the slides so a random selection of a couple of cartridges, each holding 50 slides, was made. So we had no idea what to expect. I recognised the contents of the first cartridge immediately: Marley Hill School's centenary celebrations from 1995. The next cartridge contained a range of old photos of buildings around the area.

We had great engagement with the members present. We are also likely to repeat the exercise. There are still over 1000 slides to view.

I needed the wide angle lens!

 

On Tuesday 3rd March Gateshead Lib Dems held their next executive meeting. I had to use the wide angle lens to fit everyone into the photo! Most of the business was about the local elections. Polling day is just 2 months away and there is much to be done. The exec meeting got many of the smaller jobs done - the sort of jobs that can be done now rather than left until the last minute. But there were big jobs to do as well, including agreeing the final changes to the manifesto and sorting plans for literature. Roll on 7th March.

Mystery lantern show

 

Sunniside History Society was given the photographic collection of Francis Newman after he passed away. In the collection are a large number of slides taken of the area, along with a slide projector. On Wednesday I will be chairing the next meeting of the Society and we will randomly select a cartridge of slides and show them to the meeting. We have no idea what is in the slides but the aim is to engage with the members present and see if we can work out when and where the slides were taken.

The meeting is on Wednesday at 7pm in Sunniside Club.

Mopping up

 

Today was a mopping up day! In other words, all those streets that somehow got missed off the delivery patches were delivered today in Marley Hill and Sunniside. Tomorrow I have 2 patches of letters to deliver in Whickham. And once they are out of the way, I start work on our next Focus newsletter.

Back in Bridges for another action day

 

We had a good turnout for the Gateshead Lib Dem action day on Sunday. And yet again, it was held in Bridges ward. The final headcount of helpers was 15. The aim of the day was to deliver as many of the letters we had produced for the ward as possible - we shifted half of them (we started the day with 2000). A bit of mopping up also ensured the remaining Focus newsletters were delivered as well.

Lunch in Tesco cafe afterwards.

Sunniside street surgery photo

 

This photo of our street surgery in Sunniside on Saturday arrived a bit too late for inclusion in an earlier post but here it is now, in all its splendour! Our next surgery is Saturday 28th March 2026 at Whickham Library.

Conference agenda has arrived

Last week, the agenda for Lib Dem spring conference arrived. Conference is again being held in York, a favourite for the March gathering. Back in 2012 it was held at the Sage, Gateshead, which made attendance much easier. York however is only an hour on the train. I've had a quick look through the agenda. Most of what interests me is the training and there are plenty of sessions from which to choose. Fringe meetings are another favourite of mine. If I have time, I will also attend some of the debates in the main conference hall. What I need to do however is spend some time going through the agenda in detail. I've got 2 weeks to get that sorted.

Find out more about conference on this link.

Letters and toasties

 

Today was my ward's turn to host a Gateshead Lib Dem action day. We had letters to deliver. We also had two surgeries. The first was at 10am outside Whickham Library. I didn't get to it as I was in Sunniside Club car park dishing out bundles of letters to the eight members who turned up to help.

But at 11.30am, by which time all the bundles had gone, we had our second surgery of the day, on Sunniside Front Street, outside Sun Hill. Those attending were myself, Cllr Marilynn Ord, Cllr Jonathan Mohammed, Cllr Susan Craig and Cllr Peter Craig. Two people passing in vehicles shouted abuse and made gestures with hands/fingers but these were outvoted by the 6 people who tooted their horns supporting us!

Meanwhile Peter headed up to the Potters Wheel to get a couple of takeaway coffees. Outside the building he discovered an army of two Reform party members who had met up to do some leafletting. I hope they enjoyed seeing our giant diamond corex posters!

Once the surgery was over, we headed to the warmth of Sunniside Social Club for toasties. Very enjoyable!

Some pics from Thursday's full council meeting

 

On Thursday 26th February 2026, Gateshead Council held their budget meeting to set the budget and council tax. As usual, I took my camera and got a few snaps of the Lib Dem opposition group in the opposition room and in the council chamber.

So Labour support Reform instead of the Lib Dems?

Gateshead Council's Labour Leader, Martin Gannon, constantly calls for Lib Dems to apologise or resign. Hardly a meeting goes by without his claims that Lib Dems are a "disgrace". Yet another incident took place at the Council Budget meeting on Thursday. The meeting also had an interesting exchange of words about whether or not the Lib Dems will take control of Gateshead Council in May. Cllr Gannon angrily shouted at the Lib Dems that we "will never run Gateshead Council."

This is an interesting claim from someone who is so closely part of the current Labour one-party state in Gateshead. But as we all know, a realistic outcome of the local elections is that Labour lose lots of seats and they have to kiss goodbye to control of the Council. Indeed, that is the most likely outcome. There is a possibility that Labour could end up in 3rd place in the number of seats they hold. The Lib Dems or Reform will hold the rest. In this scenario, neither of these parties have a majority. That means Labour will have to decide which party forms the administration as they will hold the balance. According to what Martin Gannon said on Thursday, there is no way that Labour will back the Lib Dems to form a minority administration. To keep to Gannon's claim, Labour would have to let Reform take over.

To use Gannon's favourite word, it would be a disgrace if Labour allowed Reform to take control when a Lib Dem alternative is available. Whether Gannon's colleagues on the Labour benches support their leader's anti Lib Dem posturing is not clear. Usually, Gannon is loudly applauded by his side in council meetings, no matter how good or bad his speech is. When he finished speaking on Thursday, only a handful of Labour councillors clapped their hands, and it lasted only a few seconds.

And the winner is.....tactical voting

I did not stay up for the result of the Gorton and Denton by-election on Thursday. Instead I woke up on Friday morning to learn of the Green Party's victory in the constituency. The good news is that Reform failed to take the constituency and this time it was not just a handful of votes in it. Labour's performance was an almost perfect match with local council by-elections. Labour are typically losing around half their vote share. This is exactly what happened in Gorton and Denton. If repeated in May's local, Welsh and Scottish elections, Labour will be hit by devastating losses.

The real winner of the by-election however was tactical voting. The Greens threw everything at the contest in its early stages and picked up momentum. Once it was clear in the public's mind that the Greens were the challengers to Reform, they could surf to victory on a wave of tactical votes and disappointment with the Labour government.

Absent from the Green campaign was anything about the environment and anything about their other policies. The downside of victory for the Greens however is that their policies are going to be put under the microscope. Election victories for them will therefore be much more challenging to achieve, given their hostility to NATO, their plans to abolish private rented housing and so on.