St Lawrence Church Diddington indicative of the large community that once occupied the village before the gravel pit workings
St Lawrence Church Diddington indicative of the large community that once occupied the village before the gravel pit workings

This day started with concern over the gas leak which had given me a headache overnight and then continued with me editing FOCUS copy following the remarks and suggestions of colleagues before I delivered my own copies to Diddington and fielded some residents’ concerns with Peter Thornhill's estate

We ventilated the house as much as we could last night to try and avoid the fumes but there was still gas fumes that gave me something of a headache this morning. We called the gas board after breakfast and told them of the history and hoped that they could sort things out this time. I was expecting calls from my colleagues this morning about the accuracy of the FOCUS material and the first two came from Derek, either side of breakfast, before he went off to church.

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During the rest of the morning, I continued the task of laying-out the Eaton Socon FOCUS and correcting the Priory Ward one, but I did stop to have coffee with Di's parents who stopped by on their way to see Charles and Chris. This afternoon, I finished that task and then rushed out to give copies to my colleagues for final proof-reading. I also composed a version of the Canvassing Instructions which I gave to each of the candidates and organisers so that they would be fully briefed for the start of the campaign tomorrow.

Then the trek around Diddington to deliver the last of my own FOCUS copies and, when I was just finishing this task, I was stopped by a couple of households to advise them on local matters. One was the Irons family who are the lessees of one of Peter Thornhill's fields for the Arabian Stud and they wanted to know about the proposal to classify their field as part of the conservation area. Next was the Thornhill gamekeeper who has fallen out with his employer and is under threat of losing his family home. It was dark at 7.00pm by the time I had finished