Making a Difference

The day started with a seminar on possible future arrangements for Local Government. Most people aren't too bothered about how the council works as long as it does. But the Labour government seems obsessed with the idea of changing it - should we have an elected mayor like some of our neighbours or would the risk of a single-issue candidate capturing the imagination for a day be too great? Or maybe a Council leader in place for 4 years instead of 1? But then what if he or she started doing things which the rest of us felt were wrong? Or perhaps there's some other form of governance that we haven't thought of yet? Over the next 2 years Stockton council has to decide what it would like and then consult with people to see if they agree - slightly back to front perhaps? On the other hand, if we had an open consultation would anyone know what it was about? Meanwhile, as councillors, we'll continue to do our best for the people whom we represent, trying to get things done for our residents in the best way possible.
This evening was about making a difference in another way. I went with my husband to St Nic's in Durham where we enjoyed an international buffet supper followed by a concert by Gareth Davies-Jones, who despite his Welsh name, hails from Bangor in Co Down and now lives on Tyneside. He's a wonderful guitarist who uses his talents as a player and a singer to encourage people to think about trade justice. One thing he said struck me as worth sharing with a wider audience: "If you think that what you can do is too small to make a difference, you've never shared a bed with a mosquito!". It's not an original quote but I'm afraid I can't remember to whom he attributed it.
The buffet used Fairtrade products where possible and the proceeds went to support Uhuru, a Kenyan charity working with Street Children. So, good food with good music for a good cause - what a fantastic way to spend a Friday evening. Sadly, I left my camera at home and so have to make do with a photo taken on a phone - I'll learn one day!

The Maths of Government

In the midst of news programmes on radio trying to make sense of the "draft Queen's speech" and the 10p tax cut compensation package I heard the following comment from a certain minister: "Repossessions are increasing but they're still at a record low". Which school did she go to? And this is the government that lectures teachers about not getting children to the "right" level of numeracy. I'm old enough to remember when being able to point out the error in such statements was part of our arithmetic lessons.
I was interested tonight to be able to visit Thornaby Methodist Church which is bucking the trend seen in many churches and actually increasing the number of families involved in the life of the church. The minister and the congregation are reaching out to the local community in very imaginative ways and everyone is benefitting. Unfortunately I had worn a skirt rather than trousers so didn't feel brave enough to go in and sample the amazing soft play area which has just been installed. Add to that a cyber cafe in construction and an assortment of training, drop-in sessions and meetings already available and I could see that here was a church truly putting itself at the heart of its community. It was heartening to see that here was a minister with vision and passion who had inspired his church members to be brave in doing what they knew was right for the people of the area.

Whoops!

I listened to a phone message left yesterday for me, pointing out the grammatical error in a Focus article on the new Mayor! Mea culpa. I wrote that particular article and did indeed slip into a common error, so I hope readers will forgive me. The lady who so politely pointed it out to me didn't leave a contact number or name so I can't apologise to her personally.
I had an unusual experience this morning in having everyone else in a committee meeting sympathise with me! The sympathy was too late because they should have spoken up at a previous forum when their views would have changed what happened. As it is, the Environment Select committee is stuck with reviewing something which none of us want to review and which won't help the people of the borough one little bit, all because not one other group would agree with us at the crucial moment. Yet again the Liberal Democrats are proved right, but it's not much consolation.
The Fairtrade group meeting at lunch time was much more positive, with some good ideas on how to move forward. Possible links with the embryo multi-faith forum and with the Local Strategic Partnership were suggested, as well as a way of approaching one of the big businesses in the borough. Really positive results from a relatively brief meeting. Of course, if any Stockton resident reading this is interested in being part of the group, do get in touch.
Then it was another change of hat to go to a meeting with the new Integrated Service Area Manager for the south of the borough. This is someone who's going to oversee all the services for children and young people in Thornaby, Ingleby Barwick, Yarm, Eaglescliffe and the villages surrounding them. We discussed the main issues for the Western Area (Eaglescliffe, Yarm, Kirklevington, Long Newton etc), including the difficulty of finding premises for a Childrens' centre in Eaglescliffe and of finding suitable places for young people to kick a ball about without upsetting the neighbours. Both are huge challenges and won't be solved overnight but at least we're talking about them and trying to find a way round. The one thing which might happen more easily is developing some way of allowing young people to have a voice in the area. We had a very successful day in Norton with some youngsters from Egglescliffe and Conyers schools but we need to be able to have regular communication with youngsters from all round the area. One or two ideas were floated and will be discussed further. It's all so painfully slow though. I've been trying to do this kind of thing for about 4 years and it's still only at the discussion stage.

These things pale into insignificance when viewed against the news from China and Burma of people trying desperately to help those who are suffering from two huge natural disasters. It was very humbling to catch a snippet on the TV news of a business which had collected what sounded like a paltry sum to western ears, but had bought water and cake and taken it to the disaster zone to distribute. Ordinary people doing what they can - that's what makes a difference.

I had a meeting this morning to discuss the agenda for the Western Area Partnership Board meeting next week. The most important item on the agenda is the feedback from young people who went to a consultation event earlier in the year about what they want to see happen in the area. Just before the meeting started I checked my council emails to make sure there wasn't anything I needed to deal with quickly. I was slightly amused to see, flagged as important, a message telling me that this is National Condom Week. It did go on to give some useful facts about where to get more information if any young people I was working with needed it and I was very pleased that the council and its partners in the health service were taking the topic seriously.
I was also pleased that a week after I first reported the issue, something seems to be being done about the generator at the new medical centre site on Muirfield Rd. This is running all night, keeping residents awake, even though no work was going on and there is good street lighting around the area. It seems that the Environmental Health officer has been in discussion with the site manager to see how the noise can be reduced. Sadly, what they propose will take until later this week to implement!

A Proud Mum

I know this is primarily a political blog but it's also about me and in this case my wonderful daughters who both completed sponsored races to raise funds for Breast Cancer research this weekend.
One, expecting our second grandchild, walked in unseasonably hot weather in the Midlands on Saturday and the other, not having done any running for some time, ran in rather colder weather in the Southern Hemisphere on Sunday.
Well done both of you. I'm truly proud of you.

Candidate chosen

At a constituency meeting in Stockton at the weekend a new Parliamentary candidate for Stockton South was chosen. Jacquie Bell has a long association with this area and we're looking forward to working with her on the things which have to be changed at national level - there's only so much that the local council can do as those of you who want us to stop certain types of planning applications are well aware.
Jacquie knows only too well the issues that really concern people on a day to day basis, including health, education and having the right kind of support available at difficult times in our lives. I'm sure she'll be an excellent advocate for the people of Stockton South.
The only downside of the meeting was that I realised I'd picked up my camera and left its memory cards in various other places so I'm waiting for colleagues to share photos so that I can post one here. Watch this space as they say!

Fairtrade Challenges

The highlight of today was a meeting of representatives of towns & cities across the North East at Durham to hear from George Alagiah, patron of the Fairtrade Foundation. He's probably better known for his day job as a news presenter and war correspondent on TV, but George is passionate about Fairtrade as a way out of conflict for the world. He pointed out that most conflict ultimately boils down to arguments about the distribution of resources and if that's done fairly then the reason for conflict disappears! Put like that it sounds simple but of course it isn't. Fairtrade helps about 7 million farmers and producers at present but there are still a couple of billion who need help. He also answered the criticism that Fairtrade stops people developing and expanding their range of produce because they're guaranteed a minimum price for what they're already producing. He went and asked Nicaraguan producers what they thought of that idea and they told him in no uncertain terms that the Fairtrade guarantee allows them to innovate and try new products, knowing that they've got a guaranteed income from the basic crop they produce. Those growers have diversified because of Fairtrade, not in spite of it.
George laid before us the challenges facing us over the next few years as activists and campaigners and left us feeling reinvigorated to do more.
The afternoon also gave us a chance to meet up with campaigners from around the Tees Valley and decide on our next move together, so a very worthwhile afternoon.
I know that other people went to listen to George speak at Hartlepool and no doubt will write about it in due course so I'll look forward to hearing what he said to motivate those who were not already involved.
Add to that a bit of filing done and some other jobs completed, and it was a very successful day.

Faith & Belief

The day's meetings started with a good discussion with the Town Centre manager and one of her staff about what might be done in terms of Fairtrade promotion in the Borough over the next year. It was very useful to be able to exchange thoughts about what could have gone better this year and to realise what a gulf of understanding there'd been between us on what each had capacity to do. It should mean that next year is much better organised.
We chose our meeting place so that Suzanne Fletcher and I could leave to go upstairs at 3 to the Faith & Belief in Stockton event. For some years now, ever since the Western Area Partnership Board came into being, I've argued that the churches in the Western Area were as much a part of the community as the community groups and residents groups and so they should have a place on the Board. I've been told, usually politely, that this wasn't what the local strategic partnership was about! Today, we finally had a meeting with all faiths & belief systems invited, to hear about what happens regionally and in our neighbouring borough. Out of that we hope to have a group which will be much more part of the thinking in the borough, including the LSP. So not yet a miracle but perhaps a little seedling and I like to think that my harping on about it has played a little part.
A bonus was the fact that one of the very interesting stalls was run by the Muslim community in Thornaby and I was given a copy of an English Translation of the Koran as well as some other literature about Islam. I had such a long and interesting conversation with the gentleman running the stall that I didn't get to all of the others!
The bad thing of the event was that Stockton council was giving away plastic carrier bags to hold your goodies! Plastic - I ask you! The Arc had good recycling boxes but they would have needed bigger ones to hold what was given away this afternoon.
And then it was on to council - lots of questions, some interesting and some less so. Suzanne Fletcher asked about the Area Bus Forums which had been promised and we were told that they would be discussed at the Area Transport Strategy meetings, but I hadn't been told that when I had my briefing as chair!
We had a debate about some possible corrections to the minutes of one of the committees, as well as some quite lengthy questions on other minutes. John handled it all very well in his first meeting as mayor, but it must have been a real headache for him. I'm just glad it wasn't me in the chair.