A few photos from Saturday's Action Day

We had another action day on Saturday in Blaydon constituency. We shifted 3000 direct mail and 3000 Focuses in the morning. In the afternoon we were canvassing. The most interesting point we found during the door-knocking was the lack of enthusiasm for Labour amongst people who had voted Labour for years. Miliband just isn't cranking up the support. Meanwhile, as expected, there was a strong local vote for us. Also in the mix: we found one Labour member who votes Lib Dem locally, a Green voter and even a Conservative (whose party has not yet found a candidate for Blaydon).

Pictured above: Dave Fawcett back in HQ (Cllr John McClurey's house) adds recent survey replies to Connect with Luke Armstrng, our local organiser who is faced with a choice of eating chocolate biscuits or delivering hundreds of letters.



Above: my bag of leaflets and letters. Below: me on the border of Whickham North and Whickham East, heading through to join our canvass team elsewhere in the constituency.

Opencast appeal disappears

For over two years I have been fighting plans to opencast a site in my ward to the south of Marley Hill village. UK Coal (now Harworth Estates) had wanted to extract a million tonnes of coal from the former colliery site and surrounding countryside. Last June, Labour in Gateshead backed the plans and voted them through. That was not, however, the end of the story. The proposed site crossed into Co Durham as well so Durham County Council had to take a decision on the application as well. And they rejected it.

Time has now run out for Harworth Estates to appeal. And residents are beginning to ask why the Labour Party in Gateshead were such enthusiastic supporters of the plan.

In my 28 years on Gateshead Council, I've fought 4 plans for opencast mining in or next to my ward. So far I've won four and lost none.

Photo above - me, Kevin McClurey, Cllr Marilynn Ord and Dave Fawcett at the handing in of the petition I ran against the Marley Hill opencast plans. And below, part of the area proposed for opencasting but now saved.

My first candidate interview by students

Today was a first in more ways than one. It was my first interview by students as candidate for Blaydon. And it was the first time I have met up with people to discuss politics in a Pret a Manger! The two students I met were from St Thomas More School in the constituency and they are putting together an article about the various candidates and parties for a school publication. There is no Conservative candidate yet in Blaydon so they interviewed the Conservative candidate for Newcastle North instead. They are yet to meet up with Blaydon Labour MP Dave Anderson.

It was quite an interesting and challenging experience which lasted for two hours! I was grilled on a variety of issues from (inevitably) tuition fees to gay rights and equal marriage. Hopefully they found what I said useful and interesting.

Meanwhile, my inbox has been flooded with emails about HSBC and tax avoidance by the rich. At the last count there were over 60. They are all the same wording but no explanation as to which organisation they are from though we can make an educated guess. Nevertheless, they are all residents of the constituency so I will be putting together a response to each.

Lady Penelope’s Pink Mystery Machine

Labour have been slated today for taking onto the road a pink van to attract the female vote. Variously described as patronising and sending out the wrong message, to me it looks like a cross between Lady Penelope’s pink Rolls Royce and the Mystery Machine, the van from Scooby Doo. Whether it will work in attracting the votes of women or not is yet to be seen. I would have thought putting that awful Harriet Harpoon in charge of it probably means the road to socialism will be scorched with skid marks from hand brake uturns brought on by the need to abandon unrealistic policies. There will, of course, be lots of socialist pot holes ready to wreck the suspension of the vehicle. And watch out for the road to socialism being permanently blocked by an overturned milibandwaggon.

I wonder what colour I should paint my Land Rover for the election? It’s usual colour is natural mud with a hint of goat poo. That could certainly help me get the “good life” vote! The photo above however shows it in a surprisingly clean condition.

Guest speaker at the 41 Club

Last week I was the guest speaker at the Whickham and District 41 Club, an organisation for ex-Round Tablers over the age of 40 (which means I easily qualify!) I was recruited to speak by a Whickham resident who had bought some of my free range eggs and was keen that I share the story of how I became (nearly) self-sufficient. So I headed down to the Gibside Arms in Whickham for a dinner and then attempted to set up my rather ageing laptop to give a powerpoint presentation. Alas, we could not get the laptop to link in to the projector, so I had to wing it instead. This seemed to go down rather well. Half an hour of questions followed at the end. Tony, the person who asked me to do the talk, is married to one of my former junior school teachers. He said she remembered me well. Given I was at the school 45 years ago, I either did something seriously good, or seriously bad, to be remembered so vividly after such a long period of time! Hopefully it was the former!

Bees and sardines

It may be the middle of winter but today the sun was shining strongly, a situation which brought my bees out in large numbers. The 6 hives I have at my main apiary were all busy. I saw them whilst feeding my poultry after Gateshead Council's cabinet meeting this morning (thankfully a short agenda) and before heading back to Gateshead for another meeting (on the leisure services review).

After that meeting, I again returned home, milked the goat, and then had to head off to Whickham for a meeting of the Lighting Up Whickham group which assigned tasks to various individuals for the Whickham Community Festival on 4th July. My jobs are to organise the baking and preserves making competition and to bring along some of my livestock for people to see. As one of my goats is expecting in late May, I'll bring along the mother and kids so to people can have a go at feeding them.

From the Lighting Up Whickham group, I headed straight back to Sunniside for a meeting of the Washingwell History Project. This was something I kickstarted a couple of years ago and we are now going through the process of applying for a Heritage Lottery Grant to carry out the work of recording the history of the Washingwell area.

So, 4 meetings in one day, all packed in like sardines. Thankfully, I can get on with some work tomorrow. My diary is free of meetings. Hooray!

Sunniside sunset

I captured this photo from my allotment on Saturday evening, just after milking the goat. An amazing sunset. I spotted other residents of the area had posted up photos of it on Facebook as well though their pictures don't include the edge of a quail house and goat paddock!

Blaydon campaigning weekend round up

We are deep into preparing our next mailshot in Blaydon constituency. On Saturday evening, Cllr John McClurey hosted an envelope stuffing event which resulted in over 3000 letters being prepared for delivery. Note the partially hidden bottles of wine. David and I brought along 2 bottles of our homemade plonk. It seemed an opportune moment to test out our Chateau Sunniside 2013.



I had to take a break from envelope stuffing to head down to the Whickham part of my ward. We are currently carrying out a survey of residents' views on a 20mph zone being introduced for the whole of Whickham. So far we have surveyed the relevant parts of Dunston Hill and Whickham East and Whickham North wards. Now we are rolling the survey out across the affected areas of my ward.



Last Saturday I delivered 400 surveys and got 80 back from doors. This Saturday I delivered 300 and got back 50 and yesterday I delivered 180 and got back 30. I still have over 1000 to deliver in my ward. As yet I don't have any figures for the number returned by post or for how many have been collected in the other two wards.

We are having another big campaign day next weekend and one of the jobs to do for those not going out canvassing will be to add all the survey replies to the database.

Smoking out the other side

When we submit a motion for debate at Gateshead Council supporting something positive that the Coalition has done, Labour often move an amendment which wrecks the motion and makes claims of the Lib-Dems-eat-your-babies-for-breakfast variety. A couple of times recently, they used "information" they happily acquired from the Taxpayers' Alliance website to back up their claims that the Coalition spreads famine, pestilence and plague. Their opposition for opposition sake recently led them to attack the Coalition's decision to bring in free school meals for infant aged children. During the debate on our motion welcoming free school meals last autumn, they attacked the Lib Dems for taking away child benefit from the wealthiest parents and for raising the same benefit for other parents below the rate of inflation. Sadly for Gateshead Labour's sanity, a couple of days later, Ed Balls, in one of those rare moments when he could actually remember what he was talking about, announced that were Labour to win the General Election, child benefit rises would be below the rate of inflation!

But yesterday, sanity did prevail. For the full council meeting, we submitted a motion welcoming the announcement that there will be a free vote in the Commons on plain packaging of cigarettes and calling on the borough's MPs to vote for the change. On Wednesday, we had a message from the Labour Leader Mick Henry asking if the motion could be a joint one. We were happy enough to do that as long as we moved it. That meant I was able to hand them the task of seconding the motion. Whilst it saved me the task of writing a formal speech, I still spoke in the debate, welcoming the move but pointing out it was only one step along the road towards tackling smoking.

My colleague, John McClurey, moved the motion. He is a retailer but has extensive experience in tackling smoking and is a spokesman for anti-smoking campaigners. He brought along a number of plain packaged cigarette boxes to show people what they would look like. Many contain uncomfortable pictures of the effects of smoking.

The only fly in the ointment was Labour's Cllr Steven Ronchetti. The last time he spoke in council on smoking he attacked the smoking ban for what he perceived as the negative effects on pubs (he is a publican!) He said that though he would be voting for the motion, he wanted plain packaging to be delayed until after legal challenges had been completed in Australia. He seemed to be well briefed.

LGBT History Month at Newcastle's Discovery Museum

Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums in partnership with UNISON, Community Hubs Network and Newcastle City Council held an event to celebrate LGBT History Month on Monday at the Discovery Museum. As a member of the TWAM joint committee I was invited and popped in to look at the history display and listen to a number of speakers who talked about how laws and attitudes about sexual orientation have liberalised over the past 60 years.

Sadly, I was only able to stay for an hour as I had livestock to feed and a goat to milk back home.

Our latest efocus in Whickham

This was meant to go out last night but I came back from collecting surveys last night with a painfully swollen foot which necessitated a hot bath to kick start the recovery process. For those numerous Labour hacks in Gateshead who follow my every move, I'm pleased to say the recovery is now complete and I will be back out on doorsteps again in the next day or so.

Anyway, this link takes you to edition 92 of our email newsletter for the Whickham area. It leads on leisure service cuts, funding for the Swalwell Swifts and the Washingwell History Project (with which I am involved). My first Parliamentary column is also included, looking at funding for mental health.

Self-Sufficient in Suburbia - a look back at 2014

I have just finished and published my latest email newsletter to people who follow my self-sufficiency activities. It is a look back at 2014. So if you are into sustainable living, or just want to have a look at the non-political side of my life, you can read it on this link.

On the doorsteps in Whickham

We had a Whickham action day today. It started with delivery of our latest Focus in Swalwell, my old home turf though I didn't do the patch where I lived from 1987 to 2002 (when we moved to Sunniside). Back to Cllr Chris Ord's house for lunch (pictured above). In the afternoon we headed out as a team to canvass in Whickham North. We found no Labour voters, 2 Conservatives (both at the same household and I remember canvassing them nearly 30 years ago when this area was part of my Whickham South ward - they were Conservative then as well), some Ukips and a good number of people voting for us locally and nationally and a further number of people voting for us locally but voting for other parties for the Parliamentary election. The split voting does not surprise me. We have endured this for as long as I've been politically active in Blaydon - ie over 30 years.

The biggest issues raised with me by residents had nothing to do with politics. My self-sufficiency activities continue to attract interest from residents. "How are the goats/allotment/bees/hens?" were the most frequently asked questions! I had a number of conversations about goat breeding, keeping pigs and how to use goats milk. Alas, all that time spent on swotting up on policies and key messages was not put to productive use today. Hopefully on the next canvass outing the questions will be as much about politics as it is about me and the good life!

Comparing Labour's economic stats to the Coalition record

I have recently been putting together the first edition of Parliamentary Campaigner for 2015. This is the newsletter/campaign manual for Lib Dem Parliamentary candidates. I've been the editor of it for 11 years. I included in the forthcoming edition a copy of the above table.

It is up-to-date as of this morning when the latest unemployment figures were produced. Yet another fall in unemployment means we have half a million fewer people out of work than in May 2010 when Labour left office. The other figures speak for themselves.

I am reminded of the Labour Councillor in Gateshead who, 2 or 3 years ago, claimed that Labour had left a "golden legacy" for the Coalition. The real world statistics suggest otherwise.

A self-sufficient year in photos - 2014

Lots of my constituents take a great interest in my self-sufficient, food growing activities so I've put together this short video looking back at 2014. It was a year in which we had a number of new projects, such as getting a milking goat and keeping quail. We also won a number of prizes at local agricultural shows and, as usual, made loads of preserves.

The Washingwell History Project

I had to leave the Lighting Up Whickham meeting early last night as I had another to attend at 7pm. This second meeting was the first of the Washingwell History Project. The catalyst for this project was a proposal by me a couple of years ago that the historic orchard at Fugar Bar be restored. I took this proposal to Sunniside History Society to see if they would be interested in leading it and very quickly, the proposal grew into a bigger project to record and publish the history of the Washingwell Woods area - which includes Fugar Bar.

Washingwell has an extensive history going back to the Romans. There is a Roman fort on the site though it is only identified by crop marks. The area also has an extensive medieval story to tell, based mainly on the former Fugar House (to which the orchard was attached). There was also a great deal of early industrial activity. And finally, the site was also the location for the last deep pit to be sunk on the Durham Coalfield. So there's lots to cover.

We are in the process of applying for funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The application will be submitted shortly. We will put in a separate application to environmental funds for the orchard. So, lots to do and to keep me occupied in the months ahead.

Back to the 60s

We had a meeting of the Lighting Up Whickham committee last night to kick start the arrangements for the next Whickham Community Festival. We have chosen Saturday 4th July as the date but the main discussion was around the theme. We had had some discussion by email in advance and I had suggested pets and animals. I would have gone for a history theme but since I have successfully pushed for the past two festivals to commemorate historic events and periods, I thought I would be pushing my luck to get a 3rd historic theme.

In the end however, someone suggested the 60s as a theme and we decided to go with that. We will be able to dust down our hippy outfits and engage in a bit of flower power. It was also agreed however that we have a pets competition and, assuming my goats have given birth by then, I'll bring along the babies for people to see. (The drawback is that moving the goats requires a large amount of DEFRA form-filling.) Someone also suggested we have jam and baking competitions for residents. As I have lots of experience of going in for these competitions at agricultural shows throughout the North East, I was given the job of drawing up some ideas and proposals for these competition. Sadly, that will preclude me from entering.

Campaigning in Dunston Hill

The snow started to fall just after the ward surgery in Dunston this morning but at 11am we met up to do a bit of campaigning against Labour's greenbelt grab. Labour want to take a section of land out of the greenbelt to the south of Whickham Highway and allow it to be used for over 500 executive homes. Lib Dems have been fighting these plans since they were first announced. The problem is that as Labour have such a large majority on the Council, on this issue they will get their own way. The battle on this is just about over and sadly, it is one Labour have won. Interestingly, Labour have tried to claim they are against their own plans, a trick they tried to pull in the Ryton area as well.

The photo above was taken this morning in Watergate Park, next to where Labour want their homes for the rich. Left to right, Kevin McClurey, me, Cllr Chris Ord.

Whickham Lib Dem Councillors' annual report - the musical!

I decided to have a go at putting the 7 Whickham Lib Dem Councillors' 2014 annual report to residents into a more interesting format. The inspiration for what I eventually produced came from Facebook and Google+ who automatically generated reviews of the year using uploaded photos. The Google+ version went one step further and added the music I use for the introduction and credits on my self-sufficiency webcasts.

As there are 7 councillors and 2 further activists to include, much had to be left out. This video is really intended to give a flavour of the work the Lib Dem Focus team does in the 3 Whickham wards and in Lobley Hill and Bensham ward.

So, here it is - Carry on Councillor: the Musical!

Normal service is now resuming

It's been a month since my last post. Various activities got in the way of my blog writing over the past 4 weeks. In that time I've made two trips to London and one to Barcelona (all now carefully logged and explained on my travel blog). We've had one full council meeting (more about that shortly). And we had to take one of our goats up to Northumberland to get her mated. Filling in the DEFRA movement forms took ages - time I feel could have been better spent on other things but one of the things I have learnt since starting to keep goats in 2013 is that there is a huge amount of bureaucracy.



Anyway, now that we are into the new year, normal service is being resumed on this blog.