At tonight’s local TRA meeting, residents had the opportunity to find out about the Council’s tree policy. Sixty years ago trees were planted by roads, in council house property gardens and communal spaces that were fast growing, cheep to source and could cope with a much polluted urban environment. Unfortunately the trees are now often twice the height of houses and pruning them is very, very difficult. Without the houses sandwiched between them, they would be an amazing forest. We are trying to find solutions to enable the trees and residents to live in peace. Our local Community Police Officer came to talk about her role and answer questions and the group had to cram organising a community clean-up in the last twenty minutes. It’s a lively embryonic group and I hope and hope that more residents will get involved so that they can start to apply for funding to work on bigger projects to benefit them, the community and local environment.

Work has been a busy and also very, very sad place to be this week. The very tragic death of one of our young students has jolted us to reflect at this loss, the loss to his family and friends and to society as a whole. I was fortunate to be able to attend the memorial Mass held in our Chapel today. It was a very sensitive, calming and carefully put together time to celebrate what he meant to his family, our students, staff and the college. As many of the students attending are of different faiths and none, the service booklet also directed students through different parts of the service and what they symbolise. It was very fitting.

What an amazing meeting – showing the Tories in their true colours and also deciding to limit democracy at council meetings … a … ‘We Are in Charge’ …. approach …. in limiting our involvement …. is a dangerous place to be when locally, we need to work together on so many issues to find sustainable solutions to meet local issues and needs. Even a Tory who spoke out, had to toe the whip and vote against his own beliefs of fair, open and honest debate.

Richard later presented our motion about further proposed Post Office closures. His pitch, timing, research, structure and body language was spot on. All parties voted to support our Motion voicing our concerns and objections to further closures as well as a need for a more community centred approach that is sustainable too. More creative approaches to services being supported are needed.

Last weekend was a Wendy’s 40th b’day party at a campsite in beautiful, quaint Dent. A special time to catch up with folk we’ve not seen for ages and ages. It made me remember that I need to think about friends and family and not just work, work, work! So with that in mind I surprised Mum when I popped in for a coffee, after college. Something I need to do more often!

Marking late coursework, an exam board key skill quality visit, case work and our councillor group meeting have filled the rest of the week nicely. The only fly in the ointment is being mis-quoted in this week’s Jewish Telegraph by Dr Wise. When Richard Baum and I met with him, he wanted to know why generally I avoid the press unless absolutely necessary – this is a stark reminder!

I was fortunate to be at our annual North West Lib Dem dinner last night - Nick Clegg’s after dinner speech was superb, motivational and without a prompt sheet! He’s knowledgeable and focused with the right carefully considerred policies to make a difference as well as a growing supportive army of MPs and party members! It’s a shame it wasn’t being filmed! He was also good at answering questions put to him. I liked the way that he didn’t over use hand gestures or sound bites - which the other two party leaders do - which makes them come across as puppets without originality! I also had the amazing opportunity to ask advice on how to approach Dr Wise and his article in JC from Jim Hancock. It was strange to be able to talk with somebody whom I’ve listened to on the radio, for so many years! He’s personable and genuinely interested in people, without the know-it all arrogance of many, which is how it should be.

It’s a showery day, making me not looking forward to touting for petition signatures against Post Office closures in Bury and Radcliffe! However, its important that we get our message across to people adn make sure they know whats happening! I also need to get our Focus leaflet into letter boxes this week before we circulate another about Bury’s Mayoral Referendum. My leaflets are delayed for a number of reasons, one being a war my chiropodist and I have been waging on a small army of warts on my foot, making walking painful for a while!

In the wake of the announcement that dozens of post offices in and around Greater Manchester, 5 in Bury and 11 across the Stockport Borough, are scheduled for closure, Liberal Democrats from across the area have launched a petition to ‘Save our Post Offices’.

Hazel Grove Constituency MP Andrew Stunell, Cheadle Constituency MP Mark Hunter, Manchester Withington MP John Leech and Rochdale MP Paul Rowen, along with Lib Dem Councillors and activists launched the petition today in central Manchester by holding a demonstration to oppose the plans and asking local residents to sign up in support of the protest.

Speaking after the launch Mr Hunter said: “It’s not too late for action on this issue. I hope local people will speak out and sign our petition to save their local post office. Many are under threat now and many more will surely follow if the Government gets is way.

“Post Offices are a vital part of the community; they often help to keep local other shops afloat and are relied on by a very wide variety of people particularly the elderly and young mums. It seems to me that Labour is fast becoming a Government that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. The Liberal Democrats are committed to the future of the Post Office and we will keep up our campaign to show the Government that local people want to keep their Post Offices open.”

Mr Stunell added: “We lost a lot of Post Offices in this area when the Conservatives were last in Government, and now we are faced with a Labour Government that does not understand how strongly people feel about their local Post Office.

In fact the situation could soon get even worse - the Post Office Card Account that many pensioners rely on for drawing their pensions and benefits is being reviewed and if that work is lost by Royal Mail than even more Post Offices will surely be closed in the future.

The Liberal Democrats have a viable plan to prevent further closures and help to sustain the network; a plan that wouldn’t cost the earth that would invest in our local Post Office network not chop it up. Post Offices should be local and should be supporting our communities and we will continue to fight with our local community to save them.”

Elected Mayor discussions, ridiculous post office closure proposals, developments towards City Regions, capital building investment/refurbishment and school places reviews for primary and high schools … its only Wednesday! Tomorrow is a Litter Scrutiny sub-group to explore how we can stop people dumping, littering as well as get dog-owners to be more responsible about doggie doohs.

Close to our home a few nights ago, a neighbour disturbed his late night burglar and was very seriously assaulted. I hope he recovers and can come home from hospital soon. Being hurt in your own home by an unwelcome predator is both a very nasty invasion of your privacy and personal feelings of safety and security and worryingly, on the increase.

Much as I try to be successful with veggies other than leeks, onions and herbs, I’ve not yet managed to be as successful as I’d like to be. My beetroot, after cooking it for two hours, peeled too woody to eat! On the other hand, my gardening time is limited to the odd hour here and there. This week’s activities has ranged from a community garden plan that’s going far too slow for residents to bare, casework about a resident who feeds pigeons in her garden with imagined results for other residents and their homes and gardens, a community regeneration meeting, advice to residents about school places appeals and a hatchling plan about cycling route improvements. Wilf’s 70th birthday afternoon tea party on Saturday was super. He also likes the tankard we bought him, engraved with:

Mayor Wilf
A Special Local Liberal.

He did ask why we hadn’t put ‘A Special Local Liberal Democrat’ but I pointed out that as its £2 a letter for engraving, we had to fit within budget! And he was a Liberal – not SDP member on merger! Anyway, we enjoyed a super afternoon with his family and friends. It was good to be able to relax and catch-up with people.

Today Andrew and I visited a resident about a neighbour’s planning application and I wriggled out of leafleting due to a poorly foot!

Andrew woke up to a long and unexpected weekend …… So, before he remembered he’d got somebody to see about …. We quickly packed a few things and escaped to the Lakes. After landing upon a very amenable lady at Keswick’s Tourist Information Office … their advertised booking service worked a treat for us and we enjoyed our first evening in Keswick. We ‘wore in’ Andrew’s new pair of walking books, up Cat Bells and met up with friends for dinner at the Mill Inn, Mungrisdale (staying in the super little hotel next door). Unfortunately, we only managed a short walk around the village, its well worth a return trip to explore further … It was a huge pity to have to say goodbye, come home and start packing work things up ready for tomorrow (next escape weekend hatching!).