We have 2 Wilko stores in Gateshead, one at the Interchange, the other at the Metrocentre. Both are substantial in size and lots of residents work in them. The announcement yesterday that Wilko have gone into administration is worrying for both the staff and the local economy. Let's hope the company is able to find a buyer though that does not guarantee stores will remain open.
Wilko's store is the biggest in the Interchange Centre and its closure will be a significant blow to the viability of this location. I am not someone who visits any shops regularly but I did sometime use Gateshead Wilko to buy an eclectic mix of goods, from hardware to beer making kits. The loppers pictured above came from that store a few years ago. Ironically, as the news of the company going into administration was released yesterday, my trusty Wilko loppers disintegrated while chopping fuel for our stove.
Last night I chaired the monthly meeting of Sunniside History Society in Sunniside Social Club. An interesting meeting that included a video produced about 20 years ago by the Society of Bronte country. The next meeting on 6th September is the AGM followed by a talk by me about what history taught me about self-sufficiency. The meeting starts at 7pm. £1 for members, £2 for non-members.
On Saturday 15th July David and I got married. Thanks to the change is the law that was guided through Parliament by the then Lib Dem Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone, same sex marriage could take place from 2014. After 38 years of knowing each other, we decided to tie the knot. Apart from the rain just before the wedding, everything went to plan. Gateshead Registry Office did a great job and Sunniside Social Club did a grand job of hosting the reception. Samantha Cheeseman of Saltmarsh Catering in Dunston did a fantastic job of putting together a buffet that included produce from our farm.
We had a "honeymoon at home" over the past week. We are took busy on the farm to go away, especially with the recent birth of 5 goat kids, all of which we are hand feeding. We did however have some day trips, going to Beamish, Newcastle keep, the Baltic Art Gallery and Marsden.
Thanks for all the good wishes people have sent and thanks to the 100 guests who came along to the reception.
I was in Newcastle yesterday for the Northern Pride parade. Gateshead Lib Dem councillors on the parade in addition to myself were Leanne Brand, Amanda Wintcher, Ron Beadle and Vicky Anderson. Sadly the rain also joined the procession which led to the event on the Town Moor being cancelled. Nevertheless, Pride is something we continue to need. Look at some countries such as Uganda, Malaysia and Russia and the repression and hostility to the LGBT community is horrifying.
In my in box yesterday was an email from the North East Lib Dems. I've just got round to opening it now. It's about the forthcoming North East Lib Dem regional conference and it is being held in Gateshead on 4th November. More specifically, it is to be held in the Little Theatre (hopefully not too small!) which is on the border between Lib Dem held Low Fell and Saltwell, gained by the Lib Dems from Labour in May. A good venue to celebrate! The agenda is not ready yet so we await the motions that will be debated.
David and I will get married on Saturday. My sister Esther has made the cake. She sent me this photo of it. The icing is on but the decoration is still to be done. I am banned from seeing it until we get to the reception!
It has been nearly 15 years since I last bought a suit. I had 6 months' wear out of it before I moved on from my office based job in Lib Dem HQ to the world of self-sufficiency. Since then, the suit only came out of the wardrobe when there is a full council meeting in Gateshead or I have to attend a funeral or wedding. The suit is now showing 15 years of wear and tear and a modestly expanded waistline has not helped! So off to Marks and Spencer I went. A new shirt and a suit were acquired.
36 years ago, at the age of 23, I was elected to Gateshead for the first time. I remember fitting into my shirts which were all 15 inch collars. I then took up swimming as a hobby and had to replace all my shirts as my collar size had grown to 18 inches! It has stayed at that size for the past 30 years. Alas, my waistline has gone from 30 inches in 1987 to 36 inches now.
The point about this is that a new suit was needed not just to replace my Worzel Gummidge style tatters of a suit, but because my wedding is coming up and I guess I need to look presentable rather than having the appearance of a sack of potatoes! Hopefully, this new suit will last me another decade and a half.
Tonight the Suniside History Society will enjoy a talk about the history of Chase Park in Whickham. The speaker is Richard Pears who has spoken to the Society on a number of occasions. The talk kicks off at 7pm in Sunniside Club.
The park has seen some controversy recently when Gateshead Labour Council decided to flog off the stable block and the main park entrance to developers. Labour cabinet member for housing, John Adams, claimed the areas to be used for new executive housing are not in the park but are "adjacent" to it! Labour Leader Martin Gannon repeated the same absurd claim.
Perhaps both would care to come along to the talk tonight. It would be an opportunity for each to learn something about the park before they each next open their mouth on the issue.
The future of leisure centres in Gateshead has been a hot topic for over a year. A consultation was launched in October 2022 which included proposed closures and plans to privatise the management of any remaining facilities. The two most threatened centres also happened to be in the most marginal Labour held wards in Gateshead (Birtley and Saltwell). I think it is fair to say that Labour went into panic mode as the end of the consultation approached in January. The result of this was a last minute change of plan at the all-Labour cabinet which delayed the end of the consultation to 8th May, 3 days after the local elections! The cost of that was £600,000.
If Labour thought they could avoid defeat by delay, they were mistaken. They lost both Birtley and Saltwell to the Lib Dems.
The cabinet member responsible for leisure services is Angela Douglas. The plans for closures and privatisation belong to her. She has presided over a failure to make the facilities self-financing. Cllr Douglas has been rather quiet about the leisure facilities. When the report came to the cabinet in January she had nothing to say, despite the two hour debate that took place. At the budget meeting there was an amendment from the Lib Dems calling for reserves to be used to keep the facilities open while their future was sorted. She made no contribution to the debate despite being the responsible portfolio holder.
The people of Gateshead have every right to ask, "What is the point of Cllr Douglas and what do the people get for the £16K she is paid in addition to her councillor allowance?"
Fortunately her vow of silence came to an end in June at the cabinet meeting that considered again the closure of two facilities and to seek private sector providers to take on the running of what's left. Cllr Douglas in her speech to cabinet decided to blame the Liberal Democrats for the closures and the current state of the centres!
This is somewhat rich coming from Gateshead Labour - they have run the council for nearly 50 years (or should that be "they have run the council into the ground for nearly 50 years?") Given the privatisation agenda of Cllr Douglas, the mini-Margaret Thatcher of Gateshead Council, she should be the last person making such comments!
There is one hopeful element to this saga. There are possible community asset transfers that could result in the voluntary sector taking on Gateshead Leisure Centre and Birtley Swimming Centre. Nevertheless, the two centres will have to close on the day the school summer holidays begin, stripping Birtley and Gateshead Centres of vital income as well as denying local communities access to important leisure facilities when the kids are out of school. If they were to reopen in the voluntary sector, much of their customer base is likely to have gone elsewhere, helping to fatten up the facilities where Cllr Douglas is looking to privatise the management. But that's market forces for you. Margaret Thatcher would have been proud of her mini.
I took this photo on my farm yesterday afternoon. Note the plume of smoke on the horizon. The second big fire in a disused building in Newcastle in a month, both times visible from my farm. From what I understand, there is still some disruption to anyone using the central motorway or wanting to travel into central Newcastle.
Here's the good news. The Boundary Commission have announced their final boundaries and names for new Parliamentary constituencies and the new Gateshead Central and Whickham constituency has survived attempts by Gateshead Labour to remove "Whickham" from the name. The new constituency contains 4 strong Lib Dem wards (Whickham North, Whickham South and Sunniside, Dunston Hill and Whickham East and Low Fell). In addition, it contains Saltwell, won by the Lib Dems from Labour in May though the majority is narrow. The inclusion of the name "Whickham" recognises the importance of the biggest town in Gateshead outside the inner core. It also puts into play the notion that the new Gateshead Central and Whickham constituency is one in which Labour are the lead party but the Lib Dems are the challengers. No wonder Labour wanted to expunge "Whickham" from the name! An interesting battle lies ahead.
It wasn't all good news however. Labour won the battle to keep the name of Birtley out of the new constituency covering the town. Instead of Washington and Birtley, which we argued for, Labour won the battle to ban Birtley from the name. Instead, it will be called Washington and Gateshead South. It was a similar story with Jarrow and Gateshead East. We argued that the Gateshead East area was effectively Felling town and this should be recognised in the name of the new constituency. Labour's anti-Felling campaign worked, and the initial name of Jarrow and Gateshead East remains in place.
Our current Focus for Whickham South and Sunniside is now delivered to 80% of the households in the ward. Yesterday I headed out to do a mopping up operation - finishing a couple of patches in Sunniside. Good weather for it - sunny but with a refreshing breeze. Not so today. Cooler and a bit of rain. Looks like delivery will be tomorrow instead.
My two ward colleagues - Councillors Jonathan Mohammed and Marilynn Ord - recently held two village surgeries in Byermoor and Marley Hill. This is an alternative to the usual surgeries normally held in a publicly accessible building. The aim is to had a series of village surgeries throughout the ward. So we set up in the circle in Byermoor (see above photo) and afterwards moved on to the bottom of Cuthberts Street in Marley Hill (see photo below).
The surgeries also gave us the opportunity to check out the state of the play equipment in Byermoor and Marley Hill parks. We are awaiting a final decision on the replacement equipment in Byermoor as all the equipment there is condemned.
At the last full council meeting in Gateshead, Labour submitted a motion for debate. Labour motions here tend to be wordy affairs but the nearly 600 words in the motion on 25th May is probably a new record even for them. A helpful summary is: ask the government to pay for the pay increase demands of those in local government. At Lib Dem group meeting a few days before full council, we discussed Labour's essay of a motion and I joked that because it was full of debating points, the person moving it simply had to read out the motion rather than write a speech!
So I was rather amused when the motion was moved at council and the mover of the motion, Cllr Dot Burnett, simply read out the motion but otherwise said nothing else!
Our amendment simply called on the council to write to the Shadow Chancellor as well as the actual Chancellor about the motion. The demands in the motion are, after all, not Labour policy nationally. Gateshead Labour rejected the amendment. Apparently, they are happy to ask a Tory Chancellor to support their calls on pay, but they aren't happy to bring their concerns to their own Shadow Chancellor. Perhaps Gateshead Labour have given up on their national leadership.
The wording of the motion was:
“This Council notes:
Local government has endured central government funding cuts of more than 50% since 2010. Between 2010 and 2020, councils lost 60p out of every £1 they have received from central government. Councils across England are now facing a collective funding gap of £2.4bn for the financial year 2023/24 and a cumulative funding gap of £4.08bn for 2024/25 according to UNISON research.
Councils led the way in efforts against the Covid-19 pandemic, providing a huge range of services and support for our communities. Local government has shown more than ever how indispensable it is. But Covid has led to a massive increase in expenditure and loss of income, and as we emerge from the pandemic, local authorities and schools need far more support from Westminster. Recent funding announcements from the Government relating to schools did nothing to help.
Council and school workers kept our communities safe through the pandemic, often putting themselves at considerable risk as they work to protect public health, provide quality housing, ensure our children continue to be educated, and look after older and vulnerable people.
Since 2010, the local government workforce has endured years of pay restraint with the majority of pay points losing at least 25 per cent of their value since 2009/10. Staff are now facing the worst cost of living crisis in a generation, with inflation hitting 10% and many having to make impossible choices between food, heating and other essentials. This is a terrible situation for anyone to find themselves in.
At the same time, workers have experienced ever-increasing workloads and persistent job insecurity. Across the UK, 900,000 jobs have been lost in local government since June 2010 – a reduction of more than 30 per cent. Local government has arguably been hit by more severe job losses than any other part of the public sector.
There has been a disproportionate impact on women, with women making up more than three-quarters of the local government workforce.
Recent research shows that if the Government were to fully fund the unions’ 2023 pay claim, around half of the money would be recouped thanks to increased tax revenue, reduced expenditure on benefits and tax credits, and increased consumer spending in the local economy.
This council believes:
Our workers are public service super-heroes. They keep our communities clean and safe, look after those in need and keep our towns and cities running.
Without the professionalism and dedication of our staff, the council services our residents rely on would not be deliverable.
Local government workers deserve a proper real-terms pay increase. The Government needs to take responsibility and fully fund this increase; it should not put the burden on local authorities whose funding has been cut to the bone and who were not offered adequate support through the Covid-19 pandemic.
This council resolves to:
Support the pay claim submitted by UNISON, GMB and Unite on behalf of council and school workers, for an increase of RPI + two per cent funded by central government
Call on the Local Government Association to make urgent representations to central government to fund the NJC pay claim
Write to the Chancellor and Secretary of State to call for a pay increase for local government workers to be funded with new money from central government
Meet with local NJC union representatives to discuss for the pay claim and consider practical ways in which the council can engage with the campaign
Encourage all local government workers to join a union.”
David and I were looking forward to a visit to the Hoppings on Newcastle's Town Moor on Friday evening. Given the dry weather we have ensured for the past few weeks, we felt it was tempting fate to take cagoules with us. Almost as soon as we left the house, the rain started. By the time we got to Newcastle, it was clear it was not a passing shower. We abandoned the Hoppings plan in favour of dinner at the nearest restautant to where we parked - Taste of Persia in Marlborough Crescent. More expensive than a trip to the Hoppings, but a dinner much better than the burgher and chips we would otherwise have consumed!
I joined Councillors Peter Maughan and Vicky Anderson today at the community fair in Dunston Park. Peter brought along his enormous Newfoundland dog Ziva, an animal so big that it is bigger than some of my sheep! (And as much fur on her as my sheep have wool!) Ziva proved quite a hit with children and adults alike!
The couple dancing in the Tory "Jingle and Mingle" video are probably not enjoying watching the news. Yesterday, they were on every news broadcast. They are probably dreading showing themselves in public. Still, think of the positives. Perhaps a guest appearance on Come Dancing will be offered. Or how about an appearance in Dancing on Ice? On a more serious note, what is it about some people who think they are above everyone else and therefore feel they don't have to follow the rules under which everyone else lives? Those who lost loved ones during the Pandemic can rightly feel aggrieved. Their hospital visits were curtailed and funerals were limited in the number of people allowed to attend. Even those who did not lose loved ones lost the ability to meet family members and friends while some in the Tory Party just kept on partying. I suspect the Tories are heading for a mauling at the forthcoming by-elections. Quite right too.
Gateshead Lib Dems held a thank you party at the Gateshead Legion Club in Saltwell on Friday. And we had lots of celebrate following the two gains from Labour in the local elections last month. There was a buffet, quiz and raffle. A great time was had by all.
We are often asked to bring some of our livestock from our farm to local fairs. On Thursday, 15th June we headed to Cloverhill School fair with two of our lambs - Lady Ba Ba and Britney Shears. Both were a hit with children and parents alike.
I recently decided to book my place at Lib Dem conference in September. The booking went in 3 hours before the early bird offer ended. Last year I booked a place at Brighton conference. The hotel was booked. I had even booked my seat on the coach service (the train network was expected to be closed due to strike action) and then the Queen died, causing conference to be cancelled. Fortunately I got my money back on the hotel but I had to write off the coach fare.
This year we are back to Bournemouth. Hopefully, after the pandemic and the passing of the Queen, this year conference will actually go ahead. We live in hope.
A new group of volunteers has been set up in Sunniside, called Planting Up Sunniside, which will plant up and maintain flowerbeds on Sunniside Front Street and at Streetgate. It operates in a way similar to Planting Up Whickham. They have already made a start, having tidied and replanted the raised beds on Granby Terrace on the Front Street. I have been advising them as the local councillor and attended their meeting held last week at The Travellers. I'm looking forward to more activity in the months ahead.
Delivering Focus leaflets in my ward of Whickham South and Sunniside over the past week has reminded me how leaflets were delivered in Greek general elections some decades ago. It was my first trip abroad and David and I were in Crete for 2 week. There was a general election on at the same time so we went along to one of the centre/centre left rallies and watched as people sang the campaign songs. It all looked rather fun compared to elections back home. A couple of days later, we watched as a campaign vehicle pulled up at a bus stop in Herakleon, blasted the people waiting for a bus through the loud speakers and then tossed a load of leaflets out through the window! No one picked up a leaflet to read it. I'm pleased to say that this is something that has not caught on back home though given the number of Labour leaflets we've seen scattered on the ground in various places in Gateshead, people could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.
It is always good to see new businesses setting up on Sunniside Front Street. So welcome Clinic 12 who recently took over the former Sunniside Post Office.
While I was walking to the farm yesterday I spotted on the horizon at a great distance a huge fire and smoke cloud. I could see that it was somewhere in Eastern Newcastle. It turned out to be Henderson Old Hall. Sadly another historic building had gone up in flames. I attended an event there many years ago. What will happen to it now, no one knows.
Just arrived at my house - the Whickham South and Sunniside thank you Focus. This afternoon I will buy a new pair of shoes. My last pair disintegrated recently following the pounding they got during the local elections.
I am one of the volunteers for Planting Up Whickham who helps look after the flowerbeds on Whickham Front Street and especially on Church Green. Two weeks ago we stripped out all the winter plants from the beds and yesterday we planted up the beds with the summer flowers. I captured both events on the video above.
I learnt tonight that Jamie Driscol, Labour's North of Tyne Mayor, has failed to make the longlist for the new North East Mayor. He is now staring at redundancy as, once the regional mayor is elected, the North of Tyne position is consigned to history. Driscol prospered in the Corbyn days and is described as the last Corbynista still in power. In office he was, at best, rather underwhelming. At least now we won't have to put up with his visits to Saltwell in Gateshead. Not that his previous visits there helped Labour. They lost the seat to us in last month's local elections.
In 2016, the plans for devolution in the North East collapsed. In what was effectively a palace coup, Labour's Martin Gannon seized the leadership of Gateshead Council from Mick Henry who had been prepared to sign up to the deal. He killed off the deal and North and South of Tyne went their separate ways. 7 wasted years later, Martin is now backing the new devolution plan which is currently on the table. All 7 councils have to sign up to the plan and Gateshead's signature has already been added to the dotted line.
I described the current package as "new". In reality, it is nothing of the sort. It is the old deal dusted down. According to Martin however, it is "completely different" to the collapsed plans of 2016. He points to the forthcoming transport deal as being the big issue that makes this deal a new one. The reality is that the transport deal came along after 2016 and had we had devolution back then, we would have had the transport funding assured (the funding is based on having an elected regional mayor.) So, the deal we have now is a near carbon copy of what we could have had 7 years ago.
The only significant change during Martin's 7 wasted years is the way the mayor is elected. The government have changed elections from the supplementary vote to first past the post for all elected mayors. This applies across the whole of England so this is not a change specifically for the North East. So come on Martin, if the "new" deal" is "completely different" to the old one, tell us what these differences are.
Today we said goodbye to Jol. She was married to my council group colleague Peter Maughan and was a great friend. There was a big turnout for the funeral service at Whickham St Mary's Church and then at the Gibside Arms. She will be missed.
Our big day is approaching. Saturday 15th July is the day of our wedding, when David and I get hitched. The registry office in Gateshead is booked, my sister Esther is doing the cake, my brother Matthew is doing the photos, Sunniside Social Club is booked for the reception, the caterers are booked. There will be no stag do or honeymoon (unless we can take all our animals with us!) The biggest expense was the rings. They are now ready and at some point will be passed on to the best man - Ron Beadle. All we have to wait for now are responses to the invites. So if you have been invited and you are yet to RSVP, you are about to be sent a reminder!
Finally, this will be the first same sex marriage ever for a Gateshead Councillor. Something to celebrate!
I'm not sure many people will be shedding a tear over the announcement by Dominic Raab that he will be retiring as an MP at the next general election. His conduct in government has not been above reproach. His recent forced resignation from government is a good example of this. Yet I can't help but think that the prospect of defeat at the hands of the Lib Dems at the forthcoming general election has been a deciding factor in Raab's decision to jump overboard from the sinking Tory ship. He has a majority of only 2743, (4.4%). It is a top target for the Lib Dems. I guess Lib Dem campaigners will currently be saying. "General election? Bring it on!"
Annual council meeting last Thursday and I was delighted to see Leanne Brand and Paul Elliott taking their seats on the Council. Leanne took Saltwell from Labour with a majority of 58 votes, making it the most marginal ward in Gateshead. Saltwell, as far as we know, has been Labour since the 1930s. Paul gained Birtley with a more comfortable majority of 456. The ward has been mainly Labour for decades but with the occasional appearance of an independent "Liberal".
Photo above: Leanne and Paul in their seats in the council chamber. Below, Lib Dem Leader Cllr Ron Beadle welcomes Leanne and Paul to Gateshead Civic Centre.
Gateshead Council tenants' satisfaction rating has gone over the cliff, according to a report considered at the recent scrutiny committee that covers housing. The drop is staggering. In 2015, the rating stood at 88.5%. Now it has crashed to just 44%. The survey of 1086 tenants reveals that people are not happy with repairs, anti-social behaviour, street repairs and cleaning.
Gateshead Labour are normally quick off the blocks to blame everyone but themselves for anything that is not good news, despite their 50 years continuously in office in the borough. Expect the usual - blame the Lib Dems in Coalition for everything that is bad. They may have a problem however. The satisfaction rating at the end of the Coalition was stratospheric. Clearly tenants were happier then than now.
Oddly, however, Labour have been rather quiet about this bad news story. Maybe they are busy licking their wounds after their poor performance in the local elections in Gateshead earlier this month. So I thought I would do a hunt around to see if there has been any response from Gateshead Labour to their poor performance on tenant satisfaction. Where better to start than Cllr John Adams? He is, after all, cabinet member for housing!
I looked at his Twitter account and discovered Cllr Adams had time to tell the world his views, hopes and ambitions for the Eurovision Song Contest. Alas, nothing about the poor tenant satisfaction rating, even though he is responsible for housing in the cabinet.
Perhaps Cllr Adams, who was a former special adviser to the Blair government, may wish to enlighten us to his views as to why, under his management, tenants are much less happy with the service than when the Coalition was in power!
So, the local elections in Gateshead are over and we've all had time to compare the size of our votes/majorities etc. So here are a few of the record breakers:
Labour's biggest vote was in Ryton, Crookhill and Stella where Alex Geddes took 1545 votes.
The Conservatives' biggest vote was in Winlaton and High Spen with Lewis Ormston on 642 votes. (In some wards that would have put them within shouting distance of victory but not here. Labour held on with 1441 votes.)
The biggest Lib Dem vote (and biggest vote for any candidate) was in Low Fell where Ron Beadle was re-elected with 1836 votes (beating me by 7 votes!)
The largest share of the vote went to Labour in High Fell with 72.9% and for good measure, the winning candidate, Kathryn Walker, got the biggest majority - 1309.
The biggest Lib Dem majority went to, ahem, Jonathan Wallace in Whickham South and Sunniside, where the lead over Labour was 1167.
The Greens got their biggest vote in their one target seat of Crawcrook and Greenside where Jack Philipson notched up 1017 votes. He was just 357 votes behind Labour so the ward remains in contention for a Green gain in the future if they maintain their activity in the ward.
We had our group annual meeting on Tuesday. Attendance was modestly bigger than previously, following the election of Leanne Brand in Saltwell and Paul Elliott in Birtley (both gains from Labour). Ron Beadle was re-elected Leader and therefore Leader of the Opposition on Gateshead Council. Chris Ord was re-elected Deputy Leader. Sonya Hawkins was re-elected Secretary and Daniel Duggan was re-elected Group Chair. I was re-elected media officer.
I filmed this last week on Wednesday to Friday, from the last full day of campaigning in the local elections to the count on Friday. It also includes my failure to predict the Lib Dem gain in Saltwell and my visit to the A&E at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead at 2am, 4 hours after the polls closed! Most of the video is set in Birtley where I managed the campaign that saw a Lib Dem gain from Labour. There's a bit at the Sunderland count and then the Gateshead count.
There will be new constituencies at the next general election, whenever it comes. Gateshead Lib Dems have added up the votes cast for each party in the new Gateshead and Whickham constituency. The resulting graph is above. The new constituency has joined the three strongly Lib Dem Whickham wards to equally strongly Lib Dem Low Fell ward. We can now add into the melting pot Saltwell ward where we won for the first time last week. There are of course strong Labour wards in the new constituency but as we've shown with Saltwell, safe Labour wards can go Lib Dem.
The Whinnies Community Garden in Sunniside held a coronation celebration day yesterday. I popped in for a few minutes. I'm pleased to report that despite the best efforts of the weather to drive people away, they were still turning up to enjoy the event.
Late last year I agreed to give a talk to Sunniside History Society about coronations from the past 1000 years. The offer was made before we knew the date of the coronation and the plan was that the talk would be given on the first Wednesday of the month immediately before the coronation itself was held. Alas, the coronation ended up being just after the local elections, and that meant I was out of circulation for campaigning on the eve of polling day!
Despite not having time to rehearse the talk, it was well received. The first coronation we looked at was that of William I. As Conqueror he led a brutal occupation. On the day of his coronation 25th December 1066 (he was declared King in the morning) while the ceremony was being held in Westminster Abbey, his guards outside the building thought there was an insurrection and burnt down nearby homes. The result was an Abbey full of smoke with many of those at the ceremony fleeing in fear. It was not a good start.
The coronation of Richard I (the Lionheart) was one of those dark spots in our nation's history when members of the Jewish community arrived to offer gifts to their king but ended up being beaten and flogged.
In 1216, with part of England under French occupation and a civil war underway, 9 year old Henry III was hurriedly crowned king on his father, King John's death. Neither the Archbishop of York or of Canterbury were available to carry out the service and the crown was missing (either lost in The Wash by John or sold off during the civil war). Instead, they crowned him with a gold corolla belonging to his mother Isabella. The Barons began to shift their support back to him and the French left.
We looked at a number of other coronations but the most interesting one was that of George IV. It was the most expensive and extravagant coronation ever (it cost 20 times that of his father 60 years previously) and the most noticeable event at it was the refusal to allow Caroline of Brunswick to attend. As George's wife she was Queen but George and the government were determined not to let her into the Abbey to be crowned. George and Caroline had been separated for years but the marriage was never annulled. Caroline died 2 weeks later.
The next talk I am giving is about photos from the Francis Newman collection. See the slide below for more information.
The Lib Dem Focus Team in Low Fell, Gateshead, have already published their first eFocus since the local elections last week. It is entirely about the result of the contest in Low Fell. You can read eFocus in this link.
In the local elections, we had 2 targets for gains in Gateshead - Birtley and Saltwell. I managed the Birtley campaign and Ron Beadle managed the Saltwell campaign. Ron had the more demanding job for a number of reasons. Firstly, the Labour majority was bigger (213); secondly the Labour fightback began last year rather than being last minute, and thirdly Labour's candidate (and defending councillor) was an improvement on last year.
My involvement in the Saltwell campaign was limited because I was running Birtley (and my own ward campaign in Whickham South and Sunniside). I therefore had no feel for what was happening on the ground though in our campaign meetings we had regular updates on how campaigns were going on the ground. Given Labour's lead in the polls nationally, a presentable Labour candidate and a history of the ward never before returning anything other than Labour councillors, I was less optimistic about Saltwell. I arrived at the count expecting a Labour hold.
The 2nd last ward to complete its count was mine! Over half the electors in my ward are postal voters and we have a relatively high turnout. Even with 2 more staff to count the votes in my ward, it was 2nd last to declare. Only my ward colleagues Marilynn Ord and Jonathan Mohammed were there for the declaration. Everyone else in the hall was at the Saltwell count. With my result declared, I headed over to the chief exec to sign the necessary papers. As I was doing so I head a huge roar. I turned to see lots of people with yellow rosettes jumping up and down. I hurriedly finished signing the papers and hurried over to the Saltwell count. Lib Dem Leanne Brand had won with a majority of 58.
So 2 gains in Gateshead, bringing out total to 17, facing 49 Labour councillors.
Finally, I am saddened for the defeated Labour Councillor, Robert Waugh, who is the current deputy mayor. He has always treated me with courtesy and politeness. He is still in his 20s so there is time for a comeback, though possibly not in Saltwell.
Winning Birtley in the local elections last week was the culmination of a number of years of campaigning with our candidate - and now councillor - Paul Elliott. I was the campaign manager and we started the election campaign facing a Labour majority of 78 from last year. Birtley has been Labour for decades though there is a now distant history of the ward electing an independent Liberal. She lost her seat in 2012 and attempted come backs came to nothing.
As the most marginal ward last year, my concern was that the national poll ratings would boost Labour's local vote. All the feedback during the campaign however showed we were doing well. We were assisted by a rather lacklustre Labour campaign which woke up to the threat from us only after the postal votes had gone out (and typically about two thirds of those voting in local elections in Gateshead are postal voters). By then it was too late for Labour to turn around the situation.
So when we arrived at the count we were confident that Paul would win and my expectation was of a majority of about 150. So a majority of 456 was a pleasant surprise.
Labour's losing councillor was Catherine Davison. In many ways I'm sorry she is no longer a member of the council. While our politics may differ, she has always been friendly, pleasant and approachable. Sadly, when you have winners, you also have losers. I wish Catherine all the best for the future.
I was in Birtley for most of polling day. The bunting was already up for the coronation.
Some jobs still have to be done, elections or not. In the afternoon I returned to our farm to milk Penelope, one of our goats, only to have the milking area invaded by a ewe and 4 lambs.
Curly the ewe steals Penelope's lunch.
Back in my home village of Sunniside and I spotted that someone has decorated the lampposts.
Sunniside Church was joining in the bunting as well.
After returning to Birtley for more campaigning, I headed back home to lock up the poultry. Alas, Columbus, our Columbine cockerel objected to being picked up and put in the henhouse. In retaliating, he attacked me and sank one of his spurs into the back of my hand. After a shower to clean myself up, I headed to the Sunderland election counts but I stayed for less than an hour. My hand was swelling up and becoming very painful. I headed back home and when I got back, we decided I needed to go to the A&E at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
I was seen quite quickly by a doctor who said he had never had to deal with a cockerel injury before. He said that I was very sensible for coming in to have the wound treated. He described it as like being stabbed by a very dirty knife. He cleaned the wound and I got a tetanus injection and a course of antibiotics to take over the following few days. We were home by 3am, just in time to see the Tories in meltdown reported on Sky News.
The photo above was taken at the QEH when I was in pain!
It seems the good people of Whickham South and Sunniside are not yet ready to ditch me as their councillor. On Thursday they re-elected me with 64% of the vote. Thank you to all 1829 people who voted for me and commiserations to my opposing candidates. This term of office is for only 3 years, not the usual 4, as we have boundary changes and all out elections in 2026, by which time I will have done 39 years on Gateshead Council.
I have been reliably informed that the Conservatives used a commercial delivery company to distribute their election leaflet in Winlaton and High Spen ward of Gateshead Council. That's not the interesting point. Rather, the response the leafletters have been getting from residents has not been positive with many turned away from people's homes. It seems that the good people of the ward are not as happy with the Conservatives as they used to be. The ward is the only one in Gateshead where the Conservatives had put in any effort and in recent years stood a chance (not a big chance) of taking the seat from Labour, winning their first representation on the council in 31 years. It looks like the Conservatives' hopes have evaporated, leaving Gateshead to continue as a Tory free zone for another year.
I have been so busy over the past 4 weeks (lambing and political campaigning) that I haven't had a chance to write about the local elections here in Gateshead. So, with a few minutes to spare before I have to print another leaflet, here is a bit of catch up. And first up is the Labour candidate against me in Whickham South and Sunniside.
Sam Grist works for Liz Twist, MP for Blaydon. I am reminded of the Labour election attacks on me 20 years ago for working in politics! But we won't let a bit of Labour hypocrisy get in the way of wishing Sam all the best with the election campaign and I am looking forward to meeting him for the first time at the count on Friday.
Sam has something of an interesting background. A quick search of Linkedin reveals that Sam has a long history of working for Labour. This quote caught my attention:
"Having helped with bespoke correspondence for The Leader Of The Opposition, I went on to take a lead on several different correspondence based projects."
This was dated Feb 2016 to Dec 2018. And who was Leader of the Opposition at the time? None other than Jeremy Corbyn! I didn't see any reference to that in his leaflet!
Another quick search revealed Sam's history of standing in local elections goes beyond the borders of Gateshead. He was also a Labour candidate in the local elections in 2021 and 2022 in Newcastle. I haven't looked any further back in time but hopefully his record of standing and not winning continues south of the Tyne!
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