Adrian reports
A new Council administration is to be established following the May elections. Its composition will become known soon enough but meanwhile like my colleague Cllr John Salter (who has been in Ireland for a few days) I have a full tray of individual ’casework’. Some, such as family matters involving children, or housing, are too sensitive to even hint at in any detail.
John has been in Ireland this week but Wallasey Town Hall beckons
Others are less so but still ‘private’. Here are some examples: a tenant with central heating difficulties; a dispute between neighbours about overhanging branches of a tree; another, similar, dispute involving a commercial body with overgrown trees blocking light from neighbours; a parking dispute about white lines; and the list goes on. This part of a Councillor’s job reminds me of my stint as a full time official of UCU, the lecturers’ trade union - much of my time being spent in employment tribunals which were open to the public, but a far greater part dealing in confidence so that cases would never get that far if local agreements could be reached.
Yesterday required a spell of morning reading in readiness for a half day meeting of the Merseyside Police Authority, in Liverpool. On the MPA party politics never rears its head. Wallasey’s Conservative Cllr Kate Wood and I often share a taxi (or sometimes my excellent 16 year old British built car) to keep costs down, as we did yesterday. After dropping my son off at college this morning, and taking my two dogs for their morning walk on the way back, I had to apologise for not attending a morning meeting of the Seacombe Partnership – as there was urgent work to be done with deadlines to meet.
It is a (very) well led body with excellent elected officers and I know I will be kept in the picture as some of us have allotments nearby - how handy ! we can sometimse lean on a spade to catch up. The rest of this morning was spent largely on phone calls and email – how did we ever manage before it? Then came a Crime Reduction meeting in the Town Hall in the afternoon.
I had to leave that a little early in readiness for the ‘Seacombe Area Group’ residents’ association meeting in St Paul’s Church Hall. Many thanks to Wirral Partnership Homes for sending two well informed officers to address the residents’ association and answer questions. There were about forty or fifty residents present and it was a lively meeting . From there I returned home for a short while in the late afternoon.
Waiting to be 'whistled' so that they can jump out of the ageing 'Disco' for their next walk
Next, after taking the dogs for another walk, came a meeting in the New Brighton Lifeboat Station where I do a little voluntary work with a body of very fine men and women. Wallasey Amateur Photographic Society is recording a year in the Lifeboat’s activity – it will leave for posterity a remarkable historical record that will be valued for centuries to come. This has been a well publicised year for the Lifeboat with Mayor Cllr Andrew Hodson adopting the station as one of his charities. (It has also been adopted this year by the RAOB as its charity.)
Then on to the Park View Social Club for a meeting of the Egg Run Trustees, starting at 8.00pm. New Brighton’s Conservative Cllr Sue Taylor is also a Trustee (we have both been ‘bikers’ in our time). Sue bought me a pint. My turn next time! The Egg Run is a wonderful event in which great numbers of motor-cyclists come together for a fund-raising occasion that provides many thousands of pounds for charities serving sick children. ‘Egg Run’ does not quite describe what the bikers do as they also organise the ‘Toy Run’ later in the year and they are always alert to other opportunities.
Home about 10.30 – having stayed on for a while at the Park View Social Club (always to be recommended for the quality of its superb cellar, thanks to Club Steward, Mike) to linger a while with friends and neighbours.
Tomorrow will be spent largely on reading a considerable quantity of material that has to be fully absorbed in readiness for an all day event as a governor of one of our local schools on Friday. After the reading is sufficiently absorbed Chris and I will attend for a meal, in a local hotel of high repute, for a meeting of another charitable body we both support.
