Debbie was doing well at Kimbolton Prep, according to her teachers this evening
Debbie was doing well at Kimbolton Prep, according to her teachers this evening

Tired, after a late night, I was struggling to write press releases and motions for my forthcoming meetings but I finished them later in the afternoon, taking the Rolls-Royce to deliver the motions to Pathfinder House and the press releases by hand to the local papers. This evening Di and I saw Debbie’s school teachers and were happy with her progress, as she was excellent at Maths though struggling in Science. News today is of Thatcher finishing her Polish trip with a meeting with Lech Walesa and then rousing trouble outside the Gdansk shipyard gates. The Soviets have suspended their withdrawal of Afghanistan because of rebel breaches of ceasefire and Lord Mackay has fallen out with his Protestant colleagues by attending a Catholic colleagues funeral.

Again, far too late to bed last night and half-dead this morning as a result. Up in time for breakfast and, after the morning papers and mail, I settled down at my desk to try and phrase and produce multiply-addressed and printed copies of a press release on the Southoe News. I was also struggling to produce a question and motion for the forthcoming full meeting of Council, the week after next. Percy Meyer dropped round and tried to interest me in a Mepal Hospital ward issue, but I was too distracted to give much thought to the idea. By 1pm, I was struggling and Joan got me lunch as I made out her money etc. and then I had the release and letters nicely done a couple more hours later. I took out the Rolls-Royce (Di had gone to Bedford for the day in the Range Rover) and did a circular tour, dropping the District Council motions off at Pathfinder House and then delivering each of the press releases by hand to the local papers.

Whilst in St Neots, I also did some Post Office and Building Society chores before coming home for tea. This evening, Di and I went to see Debbie’s school and the teachers. They were happy with her progress – she is just below halfway in a good class but came first in her Maths set, but well down in Science. The facilities there are a lot better now that the ‘Prep’ have taken over the old main school science labs and refurbished them as a hall and classrooms. We come back fairly early, having got there in good time to collar the people we wanted to see. The news today is of Thatcher finishing her trip to Poland with a meeting with Lech Walesa and a visit to the Gdansk shipyard gates. There were mass demonstrations of support, a church service and much shouting of anti-government slogans. In Afghanistan, the Soviet forces have suspended their withdrawal from the country because of the activities of rebels and the breaches of ceasefire. The Lord Chancellor, Lord Mackay, has been suspended as an elder of the ultra-Protestant (Free Presbyterians) church and banned from taking communion for attending a Roman Catholic one. He claims he just attended a Catholic colleagues funeral.