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This was a warm and muggy month, with the odd thunderstorm, that was dominated for me by my Council work as I both spoke out at meetings and worked behind the scenes to make progress on a number of my campaigning issues, having only a little time for my little Paxton history with talks also being given to the St Neots Rotaracts and the Little Paxton Ladies. I tried to take opportunities to be with the family and to meet up with friends whilst also attending the lawns and cars at the Hayling View. A busy time with our swimming pool being a popular venue for the Little Paxton brownies and others. UK interest rates rose to 9% with a record trade deficit of £1.2 billion which had sterling falling sharply. Thatcher is still carrying all before her as the opposition parties start leadership elections, though suffering criticism from religious leaders. More IRA bombs and the downing of a British army helicopter. A restricted nuclear arms agreement at the Reagan Gorbachev Moscow summit then Gorbachev returns home for a new style Soviet party conference and to hear of a huge Russian train explosion which killed scores and injures and makes homeless hundreds more. Both France and Germany have their train and mine accidents and The UK Iran stand-off continues, the Turkish Prime Minister escapes an assassination attempt and hundreds die there in a landslide near the Black Sea.
And that ends the month of June – a dry month on the whole, that ended wetter, but we had many close and muggy days and the occasional rainy day and a huge torrential thunderstorm. My Council work got into full swing and I was becoming quite effective – both at getting things done and attracting beneficial publicity – but this came at a cost as this dominated my time and left less for my family and other pursuits. I did progress the Little Paxton History book a little, particularly about the Mills chapter, but there is still much to do. I have not yet started work on The Lady, with our planned boating holiday only a week away, and my financial investment reporting is in the same state of neglect and neither have I had time to visit Thormaid now that the accounts and managements plan have arrived. Concerning the history, I was working on my Little Paxton chapter about the development of Riversfield and on windmills and watermills, calling in to see Ken Gambier and Mr Brannigan, his managing director, at Samuel Jones Paper Mill, to return their archives and talk to them about local affairs. I gave Little Paxton talks to a very-interested St Neots Rotaract club, the WI and the Little Paxton Ladies Club who reported the best turnout ever with more than 40 ladies present and, by collecting many subscriptions, the event seemed to help restoring their fortunes!