Today is the 58th Anniversary of Her Majesty’s succession to the throne following the death of King George VI. This afternoon I attended a special service of Evensong held at St. Anne’s in Tottington to mark the occasion. The service was organised jointly with The Prayer Book Society and was held in the presence of the Mayor and Mayoress of Bury. Following the service, after coffee and biscuits, there was a tremendously informative and entertaining talk on the subject of Coronations down the centuries held in the village hall.
Accession Anniversary
Published February 6, 2010 General Leave a CommentTags: Accession, St. Anne's Church, The Prayer Book Society
Wine tasting event
Published February 6, 2010 General Leave a CommentTags: Bury Society of Blind and Partially Sighted Peop
Last night Sue and I attended the President’s Evening for the Bury Society for Blind and Partially Sighted People at the Mayors Parlour in the Town Hall in Bury (The Mayor is always the President of the Society). The evening was a Valentine themed wine tasting with eight different wines sampled and descriptions given for each one. There was also a beef strogonoff and rice for the meal. Unfortunately, I was driving so I did not take part in the actual wine sampling but I can say everyone enjoyed the evening and most importantly I understand around £300 was raised to help the valuable work of the Society.
I attended a meeting of Bury Council last night. The two main debates were on the police and the issue of the pay for Council employees. It has generally been agreed nationally that because of the economic situation there would be no general increase in pay this year. Labour proposed that negotiations restart with the Unions. The motion was defeated.
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2010
Published February 2, 2010 General Leave a CommentTags: Big Garden Birdwatch, RSPB
This past weekend was the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch. On Saturday I spent an hour noting the birds in our garden before visiting the St. Paul’s coffee morning in Ramsbottom and helping Susan with some shopping. I did not notice anything unusual although some long tailed tits visited which are always a delightful bird to observe. Strangely, not a single magpie there are usually one or two around.
David with Matt Crofts Cllr Sheila Magnall - Mayor of Bury and Iona Worthington
Today has been the Save our Souls Fundraising day organised by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution this is their biggest fundraising day of the year. Here in Bury the Ladies Guild were ahead of the game and organised their fundraising event in the form of an afternoon tea at Greenmount Golf Club on Wednesday which I attended.
The Speaker was Matt Crofts from the RNLI who spoke about their expansion into inland rescue and how they were able to respond in the recent flooding in Cockermouth.
Today, I visited the O2 Call Centre again to hear of the progress they are making. Their link up with Tesco Mobile continues to go from strength to strength and they are still the largest single private sector employer in Bury.
An update on Susan’s hand injury – I am pleased to report that although Susan can not use pressure with her hand and thumb it is very much improved.
David with Elizabeth Houghton
I visited Bury Hospice this morning to discuss their plans for a new Hospice building. The proposals are ambitious and a great challenge for everyone involved. I met with the Chief Executive Elizabeth Houghton who always impresses with her enthusiasm for the work of our town’s Hospice.
It seems lots of people want to know what Conservative PPC’s think about the environment and climate change at the moment. Well, I say lots of people mostly they are Labour Party supporters who have received a standard email from the Labour Party asking them to seek the views of their PPC. Mainly people are concerned about the state of the economy and what the level of the national debt is going to mean for them and their family in the years ahead.
For all those who are concerned let me reassure everyone that I am concerned about our planet. I am very conscious of the fact that we are custodians of the planet and its resources for the next generation. I think it makes great sense for us to recycle and cut down on the amount of waste we have to send to landfill. I think we should be looking at ways to reduce the deforestation of the tropical rain forest.
The Conservative Party Leader David Cameron has always stressed the importance of enviromental issues. Ensuring Britain becomes a country which makes less use of carbon based energy will be a key task of a Conservative government. Not only is this vital for environmental reasons but it will also mean Britain is in a position to take advantage of the potential for new jobs being created in industries which will grow in importance as the world increases the use of renewable energy sources.
For those who want to know more about the Conservative plans for our environment click here
Haiti Earthquake
Published January 20, 2010 Local Organisations Leave a CommentTags: Bolton Road Metodist Church, Bury Rotary Club, Haiti earthquake
I attended a meeting of The Rotary Club of Bury today and the members unanimously agreed to make a donation of £1,000 towards helping to relieve the terrible distress and suffering of the survivors of the earthquake in Haiti. Sadly, I hear this afternoon that a further aftershock has happened and with so many buildings already weakened this will only serve to increase the scale of this terrible disaster.
I attended a meeting of the Men’s Group at Bolton Road Methodist Church on Saturday where I gave a brief address and answered questions on a wide variety of questions ranging from the influence of the press to voting reform.
Update on Sue’s injured hand. Unfortunately, the hand swelled up overnight on Saturday and whilst at church on Sunday morning those who were experienced in matters medical suggested we return to the hospital. So straight after lunch we went back to Fairfield and the triage nurse immediately removed the bandage and after Susan had been seen by the doctor she was sent home with her arm in a sling. The swelling has since gone down and Sue is no longer using the sling but her thumb is still not operational. It is painful and inconvenient but my frequently used saying that there is always someone who is worse off than yourself has been graphically proved by the dramatic events in Haiti.
The Conservatives have now started releasing their draft manifesto.
The first three subjects are health, schools and crime.
You can read our draft manifesto on health here
You can read our draft manifesto on schools here
You can read our draft manifesto on crime here
In each case click on the relevant link on the right hand side to open or download the document.
William addressing the meeting
I attended Whitefield Golf Club last night when William Hague MP, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, was the special guest at a reception organised in aid of my colleague Michelle Wiseman’s campaign in Bury South.
William met with guests and gave a short speech about the exciting time we face in British politics in the weeks ahead. His message was simply that we cannot go on spending one pound out of every four that we do not have and so we have to borrow it.
Today has been dominated by the fact that last night Susan slipped down on the ice whiilst we were out walking CeeCee on his last walk of the day and injured her left hand in particular her thumb was not operating. It was no better this morning and so we decided a trip to Fairfield would be sensible. Not surprisingly given all the snow and ice around there were many others with similar complaints waiting to be seen and a wait of 2 to 3 hours inevitable. The result once Susan was seen was that the ligaments in her thumb have torn and they bandaged it up. Sue is booked in for a return visit next week. I fear it could be a while before the ligaments are repaired. It is a nuisance but when we see the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti we realise that our small trials and tribulations are nothing when compared to the terrible situation facing the Haitians.
