Suzanne Fletcher's Blog

I'm going to write about what John did today instead.  An important planning meeting was being held to decide on whether to go ahead with wind turbines near to Hilton and Seamer.  It was a very difficult issue as he is very strongly committed to every opportunity for increasing the use of renewable energy.  We would have a wind turbine on our house if practical (it isn't we've checked) and not object if all our neighbours had one.  However in this case there was going to be substantial disruption to not only the lives of the villagers but the environment local to them.  I difficult balance, and he felt he had to vote against in this instance.  The decision was to go ahead, on the casting vote of the chair, so we only hope that more than proposed will be done to limit the problems.

A long day, what was the common thread from 5 meetings ?  language and words maybe.  Particularly the last engagement where the Public Lending Right was celebrating its 30^th birthday.   If I had to choose a good Government Department to be in our town I should think PLR is as good as you get.  With only 9 staff it won't have made much impression on the job market, but does work to be proud of.  It is a scheme that pays authors according to how many books are borrowed from certain libraries (different one's every 4 years) of which Stockton is one.  There is a cap of £6,600 for any one author, meaning more for the less well known.  Jim Parker in his welcome speech said how the income can make a big difference to keeping some authors going.  Most of all I was struck by what the authors said, about how much it made them feel connected with their readers, and what a boost it was for them to know how many people had borrowed their books.  I was lucky to be able to talk to those who spoke.  Stella Phillips, a Stockton woman who was the first author to register with PLR.   Tracy Chevalier  who wrote the international best seller "girl with a pearl earring".  I have borrowed one of her books using the snazzy new machine to automatically log a library book out that the new Thornaby library has.  Phillippa Gregory too, who lives not too far away from here and we saw her work on Gardens in the Gambia we saw when John visited a training  centre when he was Mayor.

A good end to a hard day, in the well designed and very inviting newly refurbished Thornaby Library.  Sort of place you wouldn't mind being locked in for the night!

The day started off more mundane with a meeting to scrutinise the Council's Communication Services.  I do have concerns about the move towards raising the Council's image, when I am more interested in raising the quality of what the Council does to raise the quality of people's and our communities lives.  I didn't become a Councillor to spend my time promoting an image!  However it is about words and how we use them - we can make a start by using words everyone understands.  A thought - I have just written about the great new library at Thornaby - but then it was inspiring.  Maybe that is a clue!

A meeting with our Tristar patch manager about how we proceed with the area management plan.  Very productive, we can do so much more by working together - but the success is the words and language we use to our put this over to our tenants.

Straight on to a meeting with our Community Centre manager.  We do so much by e-mail it is good to have some real words between us too, as we catch up with what we are all doing,

Non stop into ward surgery.  Lots of people to see us over what has become a very controversial issue.  More of this later when we have more information, but as well as using words, (and there were many!) it is so important that as Councillors we listen properly too.

Monday 29th June

A roller coaster day with emotions as I went to Maggie Clay's memorial service in Stockport.  So sad that she had died; so pleased to see old friends; and the realisation that she lives on.  On the way there I re-read "Action with the ALC, Ten years at The Birchcliffe Centre" by Phoebe Winch.  Nostalgic, but it reminded me so strongly about what I was doing and why I was doing it.

As I waited for friends to arrive, such a service is one you need to share with friends if you can, I spoke to an elderly lady and asked how she had known Maggie.  She told me that she had seen her at meetings (Maggie was Executive member for Adults and Health) and liked her so much as she really listened, understood people and where they were coming from.  What a wonderful summary of Maggie.

I'm going to quote bits from the service sheet " we remember her commitment to justice, liberty and democracy.  But above all we remember her determination that we must strive to improve our world as we pass through it."  Others spoke so well of her summing up what she was about, and what she stood for.  Andrew Stunell, now an MP, spoke of her early work in the ALC (Association of Liberal Councillors) where she was such a support and encouragement to me, and so many others.

Afterwards, tea and biscuits when those of us active in the ALC in the 1980's met up with each other and exchanged our stories.  Some have moved onwards and upwards, becoming MPs, Lords and Baroness's.  Others remain working in whatever field they have ended up in, but all of us continuing on, as best we could, the inspiration we had all those years ago.  Noses to the grindstone.

On the way home I read "Communities Actually" by David Boyle.  Inspiring stories of real community action in today's different political world, with a few leads from the past.  I was so taken aback in the last chapter to read about Maggie again in her Stepping Hill ward with reflections back to her Leeds days.  She was devolving power and decision making from the Area Committee to ward committees.  Setting up "Friends of the local Park" group.  Referring to her Leeds days she says " you need the same kind of community development to make a difference, to lead, inspire, cajole, and make things happen.  Once again community  politics here is about helping people realise they have the power to act."  Indeed, and keeping up that work is what we all need to do.

For those interested I've done my best to name the people on the photo.  Just 1 gap.  I'm sticking to names then, tough if they have changed or been elevated with titles!  Left to right, starting on the back row:

Colin Rosenstiel, John Piggott, John Smithson, Tony Greaves, Bill le Breton, Adrian Sanders, Andrew Stunell, ?, Sarah Boad, David Selby, Mark Hunter, Janice Lennon, Stephen Charters, Howard Sykes, Michael Meadowcroft, Trevor Jones, Sally Hamwee, Joye Rosenstiel, Phoebe Winch, Suzanne Fletcher, David Vasmer, Heather Greaves, Wendy Tally, Chris Willmore.

Whatever we think of current wars, brave men and women are going out there and literally risking life and limb to make the world a better place.  Today, Forces Day, was the presentation of the Afghanistan Medal to Corporal Tom Clarke who has recently returned from duty.  The Queen's representative, HM Lord Lieutenant of Durham, Sir Paul Nicholson, di the presentation presdied over by the Mayor.  A small token in a way, but a big thank you on behalf of the people.

Afterwards I visited some of the displays and was pleased to see on the SSAFA stall the neck ties that are being made locally.  These neck ties (see the picture) are made by putting in some beads that retain moisture so when they are soaked and worn by the soldiers they bring the heat down by 5 degrees - very important indeed if you are working at 40 degrees!  This is all done locally by volunteers led by Joy in the picture here, adn she says that if there are any service people known to us that are in Afghanistan they will send them out a parcel. Contact SSAFA at the local TA Centre on 01642 553666 or cleveland@ssafa.org.uk .  A big thank you to those who work hard at making up the ties and sending out the parcels.

I paste below what this was about - the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braiile

Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council is celebrating 200 years since the birth of Louis Braille. His legacy of the Braille system of reading (‘dots' which represent the letters of the alphabet) has enabled thousands of blind children and adults worldwide to experience the joy of reading.  Why not join in the celebrations by coming to come to work dressed in something with dots on to celebrate Dotty Day and make a donation of your choice to help support Blind Voice UK and RNIB.   RNIB is the UK's leading sight loss charity and Europe's largest producer of Braille. Blind Voice UK is based in Stockton and is a leading local voice in supporting and advocating for blind and visually impaired people.  There will be allocated co-ordinators in council buildings across Stockton Borough to collect donations on behalf of the charities so please join in the fun and make a real difference to people with sight impairments and sight loss!

So I donned a dotted dress to go to a meeting with an officer.  However I didn't expect to go dotty!  One printer went mad and printed out masses paper non stop with silly symbols on top insrtead of a few pages of a community group's minutes.  The photocopier jammed 3 times.  Another printer had flashing lights and the main one I used was running out of toner.  I won't be wearing that dress for a while in there - altough the dark colour did help when I had toner all over my hands.