Whickham South Focus delivery completed

 

Earlier this month we had an action day in Whickham South and Sunniside ward. At the end of it there were 2 patches left to deliver which I took. My plan was to deliver them a couple of days later. The "couple of days" stretched to a couple of weeks! Council meetings, meetings about the Sunniside Christmas tree, campaign meetings and the weather all conspired to delay the delivery. I eventually got the Focuses delivered on Tuesday this week. Job done! 

The lead story was about the return of post office facilities to the Whickham South area. We also had articles about the Whickham Christmas tree lights switch on, our advice surgeries, Rectory Lane traffic lights and Greggs expanding in St Mary's Green.

RIP Colin

 

Local history in the Whickham and Sunniside area has lost one of its greatest figures. On Sunday Colin Douglas passed away. Colin had been one of the founders of the Sunniside History Society in 1992 and a mainstay of the organisation for over 20 years. He discovered the bell pits at Lotties Wood, Sunniside and was one of the people behind the Fugar Project which drew out the history of the Washingwell/Watergate area. Colin also persuaded me to take on the role of chair of the Sunniside History Society when he stepped down from the role a decade ago.

I attended Colin's funeral this morning. I promised his family that the History Society would do something next year to commemorate Colin and his work for local history.

The photo above was taken at the launch of the Fugar Project shortly after I had taken over the role of chair.

Lights, camera, action

 

I filmed this the very moment the Christmas lights were switched on in Whickham yesterday.

Whickham lights switch on

 

We had a packed out event in Whickham yesterday when the Christmas tree lights were switched on in Church Green. I was there as a steward. I reckon over 500 people attended, mainly kids from the local schools. A great time was had by all.

Saltwell action day

Gateshead Lib Dems had another action day, this time on Sunday. The ward we were working was Saltwell. The aim was to deliver about half the ward with the Central Gateshead Focus. While I was out delivering, I kept bumping into other Lib Dems with their bundles of leaflets. Sadly, something went wrong with my patches: I was 100 leaflets short. It will mean squeezing in a return visit to Saltwell this week, in between preparing for or attending Christmas light switch on events.

Final details for Wednesday

Councillors Marilynn Ord and Jonathan Mohammed and I met up with Planting Up Sunniside on Monday evening to sort out the final details of the Sunniside Christmas tree lights switch on event. It is the first community Christmas tree in Sunniside for 7 years so we are all getting rather excited about the event tomorrow. The biggest outstanding job was putting the lights onto the tree. This is no easy job given the size of the tree. The job was actually done today by the council, using one of the cherry pickers.

The big day is tomorrow. Meet at 5pm next to Sun Hill on Sunniside Front Street. The mayor will do the switch on at 5.30pm.

Bridges action day

 

Gateshead Lib Dems had another action day yesterday, this time in Bridges ward. 90% of the ward was delivered with the latest Focus newsletter. The noticeable point about Bridges ward is the almost complete disappearance of the Labour Party. They are nowhere to be seen despite (currently) holding the ward. I wonder if the rumours we hear are true - that Labour are struggling to find candidates and members prepared to go out campaigning across Gateshead. Meanwhile, lunch was in Tescos. I recommend the halloumi burger.

Whickham surgery

Yesterday I joined the other Whickham Lib Dem councillors to hold our advice surgery in Whickham Library. It was a busy session with quite a few people calling in for advice and help on a range of issues. It was also an opportunity for us to catch up with each other on a list of issues. As soon as the surgery was over, I headed to Bridges ward for an action day.

Full council photos

I wrote about Gateshead's full council meeting last week, before I was able to sort the photos I took in the council chamber. So here are the Lib Dem group members with the occasional Labour member in the background.

Meanwhile, here are a couple of photos of Labour voting against our motion opposing digital ID cards.

By-election analysis

Today we are analysing 7 by-elections, held yesterday. Again, the results were a bit mixed but the trend continues to show no Green surge, Labour and Conservatives doing appallingly badly, Reform's bandwagon is still rolling (though the wheels can sometimes come off) and the Lib Dems doing well but the absence of a handful of votes meant no net gains this week.

Let's start with Dumfries and Galloway (Stranraer and the Rhins ward)

• On first preferences, Reform were in the lead (just) but Scotland uses the single transferable vote in local elections so topping the poll on first preferences did not deliver victory.
• The Conservatives were the victors after a number of rounds of vote redistribution, a rare victory for them. The gain was from the Independents.
• The Conservative victory throws up the interesting prospect that Labour, Green and Lib Dem voters may be voting Conservative tactically to beat Reform, though this is assisted by preferential voting which is a key part of the STV voting system.

Stratford on Avon (Salford Priors and Alcester Rural)

• A Reform gain from the Conservatives who fell to third place.
• A case of so-near-and-yet-so-far: Reform's majority was a slender three votes over the Lib Dems.
• Labour and Greens were squeezed by the Lib Dems but to win next time, the Conservatives are going to have to be squeezed as well. This is a ward where the Conservatives previously took nearly 60% of the vote. Now they are the third party.

Stratford on Avon (Quinton)

• A 2nd bite of the cherry for Stratford, this was a Lib Dem defence and a comfortable hold with a modest increase in share of the vote.
• Reform were second on 33%, a typical share of the vote for them in council by-elections.
• The Conservatives were previously on 41%, breathing down the necks of the Lib Dems. This time, the Conservatives collapsed to 15%. It is possible that some of the drop in Conservative vote share was due to tactical voting to keep Reform out. However, the majority of the lost Conservative votes walked over to the Reform camp, finding themselves a new political home.
• Green and Labour were squeezed. Labour were in single figures. I've spotted other single figure results for Labour recently but they had all previously been town council elections.

East Sussex County Council (Ashdown and Conquest)

• Another Reform gain.
• Formerly a strong Conservative ward, they lost the seat and two thirds of their vote share and dropped to third place.
• The Greens were the runners up and put in a good performance, taking their vote from less than 10% to 25%.
• Yet another poor result for Labour. I looked at some of their digital campaigning in which they claimed that the contest was between Reform and Labour. Not many people believed them. Labour came in 4th place. The lesson for all parties is that tactical squeeze messages have to be realistic or otherwise people will see through them.

Cheshire East (Macclesfield Central)

• At last, something for the Greens to smile about. A Green gain from Labour in which they doubled their share of the vote.
• A poor result for Reform. They were 3rd and their share of the vote is half what they are typically getting in by-elections.
• The Labour nightmare continues. Another lost seat and vote share halved.

Trafford (Hale)

• This by-election has to be the oddest for some time.
• They must have put the bunting up as this was a gain for the Conservatives. A remarkably healthy 10% increase in share of the vote comfortably put the Conservatives ahead.
• It was one in and one out for the Greens. Here they lost the ward with their vote share dropping 10%.
• Reform got only 8%. I wonder if this is the lowest council by-election share so far for Reform.
• A noticeable absentee was the Labour party. Is this a straw in the wind? Are Labour finding it difficult to get candidates?

Redcar and Cleveland (South Bank)

• A tiny nugget of positive news for Labour who held the seat despite a strong campaign by Reform. Nevertheless, Labour had previously won over 60%. The ward has gone from safe to marginal.
• Reform took 44% of the vote, 3% behind Labour. The Reform vote was about 10% above its average by-election vote.
• The Conservatives were 3rd on 8%. It is not fertile territory for them.
• And it wasn't fertile for the Lib Dems either. There was no Lib Dem candidate. There are still electoral deserts for the Lib Dems and South Bank is one of them.

Love bombed by Labour

We had full a council meeting yesterday in Gateshead. It started off in a rather unexpected manner. Labour leader Martin Gannon addressed us in an unusually friendly manner. He was considerate in response to views and ideas put forward by Lib Dem Leader Ron Beadle. And even more surprising was Cllr John Adams who heaped praise on my skills in checking grammar, punctuation and spelling. I felt as if I had just been love bombed by Labour!

This little love-in did not last. After the first motion, the unanimity rapidly disappeared. Words were exchanged between the two groups on our call to oppose digital ID cards. Labour voted against the motion. The love-in had ended and everything went back to normal!

Locked in at the Civic Centre

 

The AGM of Gateshead Lib Dems was held on Monday evening. There were around 40 members present (it's normally a lot lower!) Officer positions were filled, as were the executive ordinary places. There was also a speech by Ron Beadle, Lib Dem leader on Gateshead Council, about the local elections next year and the work we are putting in to the campaign.

When the meeting finished, we headed downstairs to leave the meeting. Alas, all the doors were locked and we had visions of being trapped in the Civic Centre overnight. Whether we could sleep through the alarm going off was another matter! Security had forgotten to check the meeting rooms but we got word they were on their way. The police beat them to the Civic Centre. Eventually the front door was opened and we were able to leave. A letter of apology from security was received the next morning!

It's up!

 

It's up! The first community Christmas tree in Sunniside since 2018 is now in place. Myself and Councillors Marilynn Ord and Jonathan Mohammed, were determined that this year Sunniside will have a Christmas tree. We've worked with Planting Up Sunniside, the local group that has taken on the task of ensuring we have a tree in the village. We also met with officers to arrange the funding. So, join us at 5pm on Wednesday 26th November for live music, Christmas donkeys and the lights switch on by the mayor. All welcome.