Lost Weekends and Good Times

Just a quick update from me this week before I go out again and knock doors over the weekend. But before I do, I wanted to say something. Something which I fear is disappearing from the english language.Therefore I think its appropriate to say a few THANK YOUs.

Firstly a massive thank you to all of the volunteers who have helped Team Millbrook with their campaigning over the past months and years. You give up your free time on a regular basis, not for fame, monies or glory. They like me, do it because we care about the community around us and we want to make changes for the better.

Yesterday on a doorstep within Regents Park we reached a milestone in terms of constituents who we have contacted so far this year. Its a big number, and we'll be putting out literiture in the near future to give you further information on the activites myself and your current Labour Millbrook Councillor Dave Furnell have been undertaking on your behalf.

Additionally, thank you to all those people, whatever their political persuasion, who didnt put the phone down on us, slam doors in our faces or even swear. Its this mutual respect and dignity which makes campaigning in our community enjoyable - you can have a genuine discussion with voters on the real issues on the phone, via email or on the doorstep at 10.30am on a Sunday morning!

Interesting and very busy times...

It’s been a few days since my last post on the blog - but don't worry, I haven’t been on holiday to the Caribbean (like some I could mention!). It’s been a very busy couple of weeks politically, and also personally - more of which I hope to share with you over the coming weeks.

Just to update you on my actions over the past few days...last weekend both myself and Dave Furnell were out and about on Saturday and Sunday in Waterhouse Lane and Regents Park Road. Although the weather wasn’t with us, we did receive quite a warm welcome on the doorstep - great news as this hasn’t been our strongest area of the ward for many years.

My wife was relieved to hear that I had Monday night off from doing politics, but you'll be pleased to know that I was back in the swing of things on Tuesday night: I met up with the Chairman of a major Southampton amateur sports club to discuss the future direction of the club and how they could weather the financial storms of 2011. It was a positive meeting and I was glad to help out where I could.

Wednesday evening was taken up with a party forum to discuss the direction of our policy in the leisure and economic areas. It was a lively debate with members from across the party. It’s our third meeting and a great opportunity for all members to come together to develop a meaningful and realistic alternative to the Tories holed up in City hall.

On Thursday evening I went to the Southampton Biomass Consultation public consultation meeting. I must admit I have sat down a read a fair few pages of the publicly available documents - but I must warn you that they run into hundreds of pages...Have a look for yourself http://www.southamptonbiomasspower.com/ I would urge you to log on and have a look as this power station will be a real legacy for Southampton. And we’ve only got until the 18^th March to respond on the proposals. Based on only 2 days of public consultation I'm not yet sure of whether we should or shouldnt support this. The messages on the doorstep have been mixed and the consultation staff I spoke to on Thursday night were not able to answer most of my questions sadly.

And so that brings me to Friday. I met Andy Burnham earlier today. He is the Shadow Secretary of State for Education and a really nice guy to boot! Expect lots of pictures of me and Andy in our upcoming leaflets - apologies if I'm smiling like a loon in them!

Have a great weekend, and possibly see you at the junction of King Georges Avenue & Westbury Road tomorrow at 10.30am.