Our first HDC Full Council Day as a LibDem group to which I drove them in my Rolls Royce convertible in style. The weather was warm and sunny and the air-stream mild which made it a nice journey as others stifled in their saloons We got all of the committee places we wanted and I just had to suffer Daisy Seager ‘pinching’ my usual seat! This after being lobbied first thing about Village Hall roof maintenance.
Another IRA bomb attack, this time on a van outside an Army Recruitment Centre in Wembley when an Army sergeant Charles Chapman was mortally injured and bravely told others not to approach as he died, for fear of another bomb. The Tories are under siege with Poll Tax problems and the latest job losses are at Ravenscraig where the steel strip mill is to be closed with the loss of 770 jobs
I was wake early again on another sunny and warm day. The normal routine this morning of feeding the fish and doves and watering the plants and then I settled into my office to try to get some work done. I finished inking in my Logbook entries to make them permanent and then started to write up these last seven days' journal entries. I was making some progress when Jenny, the Village Hall Secretary, came round, ostensibly to do some photocopying, but spent a half hour or so bending my ear on the Village Hall repair programme. She was voicing the concerns of many of the ladies who feel that we should not just patch things up but get things done properly. The roof is the main concern and the issue is whether the asphalt to the front entrance hall should be left sagging and patched or re-enforced and replaced. I eventually reassured her and saw her off and then I had a little more time before Percy and Michael arrived for sandwiches and a discussion on the gravel pit plans.
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An appeal inspector is advising that the Diddington Pits be allowed within the present plan period and the matter is soon to come before the County Committee responsible for making the decision. I concluded that we should lobby for a condition that a new gravel pit roadway be built to access the A1 and relieve the Little Paxton Gravel Pit Road of the traffic that plagues the neighbouring residents. Soon it was time to get ready for this afternoon's Annual Meeting of the Huntingdonshire District Council and we went over to Sally's house to collect her and, after she had seen Michael Pope, we three of us (Percy, Sally and I) set off in my Rolls Royce Corniche Convertible for the meeting. We cut a lively dash before and afterwards in the Rolls and certainly participated in style to mark this great victory. I introduced Sally and Percy in turn to as many people as I could, and the atmosphere was one of friendly co-operation which was nice. We particularly spent time with the Labour members and the Committee Chairmen that our members were going to serve under.
The only small blight on an otherwise happy occasion was caused by Daisy Seager who removed my jacket and briefcase from the council seat I had occupied throughout the last two years and plonked herself down there to the horror of some Tory ladies adjacent who thought this was very bad manners. I did not rise to the bait but made a comment about being chivalrous and giving up my seat to a lady and moved our people along in front and sat in a line with them. I anticipated trouble with Daisy, who is a self-centred individual, but this was a rather stark example. The meeting itself went very well for us. I was appointed to the Selection Committee, and there ensured that Percy, Sally and I had the seats on the committees that we wanted; and then was appointed to the Policy Committee and on to the Computer and Community Charge Working Parties. We can say that we got just about everything that we had asked for and there will be more opportunities in June when the composition of all the sub-committees and working parties will have to reflect Party Groupings.
We had a triumphant drive home in the Rolls Royce with the hood down. The weather was warm and sunny and the air-stream mild which made it a nice journey as others stifled in their saloons. As I arrived home Helen and Hilary and their children were just leaving having had a nice swim in the pool. Helen had brought back our £50 tent contribution and was adamant that they should not take it. This evening, I did some work outside, applying "Path-Clear" season-acting weed-killer to the gravel surrounds of the games lawn and swimming pool; but I spent most time trying to catch up with my journal and I had done about half of this when it was time to go to bed. I keep getting stopped by members of the public and telephoned likewise with case problems. Today's were all about the inferior job done by the new grass-cutting contractors and the continuing problem of the lack of council housing for the poorer members of our community.
A rash of important UK news stories vying for the headlines. Another IRA bomb attack, this time on a van outside an Army Recruitment Centre in Wembley when an Army sergeant was mortally injured and bravely told others not to approach as he died, for fear of another bomb. The "Mad Cow" BSE disease panic has reached such a level that now the Commons all-party Agriculture Committee have set up an enquiry. The tale is one of the government failing to act soon or seriously enough to retain consumer confidence in beef and it will be very difficult now to restore this. The government, chastened by the local election results, are leaking stories of their plans to put a further £2bn into local government expenditure next year to allow the Tory Authorities to hold down the Poll tax level. Trouble is, that this will allow all authorities to spend more which is the alternative that many of them (including the Tories) will choose. Latest job losses are at Ravenscraig where the steel strip mill is to be closed with the loss of 770 jobs which has caused another major political row in Scotland. Scottish Secretary Rifkind has condemned the decision, but this "interventionist" stance is in contrast to the reaction of some of his cabinet colleagues who put the whole thing down to the inevitability of market forces.