Tag: community

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Local Elections – Members of the Public

nataliegist

A former colleague of mine was one of those people who clearly had, and presumably still does have, a brain the size of Jupiter.  You know one of those people you look at and wonder how they cram it all in there?  And on such a wide variety of subjects?  Not one of those people who thinks they’re very clever, but one of those people who thinks they’re stupid because they’re so clever they have a grasp of the enormity of everything that they don’t know?  I used to sit next to such a person at work.  And every lunchtime that person would battle his way through the tourists in the middle of Stratford in order to make his way to the Leisure Centre so he could go for a swim.  In the warmer months he found the walk to be particularly trying due to the number of visitors, and the swim even more trying due to the other swimmers.  He often referred to those impeding his way as “Members of the Public”. 

On one occasion after a particularly testing walk and an even more difficult swim, he was openly wishing for his own heated swimming pool in order to avoid these trials, I advised him that frustrating as it may be to him, Members of the Public are free to walk in the street and use the public swimming baths.  I then advised him that he freely enjoyed these things as he was also a “Member of the Public”.  It became very apparent very quickly that this was very much new information.  It had clearly never once occurred to that bright, brilliant mind of my dear colleague that he was just the same as everyone else.  Not in a derogatory sense.  He never once gave me the impression that he thought of himself better than anyone else.  Just of all the things he had considered, thoughts he had had and issues he had wrestled with, that had never been one of them.  He sat for about fifteen minutes staring out of the office window, quietly saying “oh…er…yes…”

There are sixteen parishes in my hoped-for ward, and a complicated arrangement in some cases for meeting, but around ten meetings in total.  It stretches from just north of Banbury to just south of Daventry.  Presumably the Boundary Commission were trying to make the ward boundaries fair in terms of Members of the Public.  However, the geography is stretched over a large rural area.  Therefore if one wishes to get a handle on things, there is not one Parish Council meeting to go and listen to.  Any Member of the Public can attend a Parish Council meeting.  Over the past few weeks, I have been making free with my democratic rights and have attended five with Nigel so far, sitting quietly in the corner and making a few notes. What have I found out so far?

1. It has been significantly more interesting than I thought it would be

I doubt that this will be a surprise to anyone but my hopes were not high on this score.  Of all the wild nights out I could have, this was not anywhere near any list that may have existed.  However, with sincere apologies to all of the lovely Members of the Public I have met so far, whilst it has been far from raucous (which in fairness, Nigel never even hinted at as a possibility) it has been most interesting, so I was wrong about that.  That was my first surprise.  

2. Everyone was pleased to see us

The second surprise has been that either we have a statistically unusual pool of acting talent in the area, or that people have been genuinely pleased to see us.  This is an odd sensation for me as people are usually only slightly more pleased to see a lawyer than an undertaker. 

3. Each meeting is broadly the same, but wildly different

This seems to be the most surprising piece of information to people.  Of course each meeting has a published agenda and follows a broadly similar format in terms of topics to cover.  But but oh my goodness every meeting so different.  Wildly different.  

3.1 Buildings are different

Not a shock really.  Some are small and some are large.  Old, modern.  Parking.  None.  Most are used for lots of different things, some for sporty things, some for parties, some for community clubs or playgroups.  I sat in the tiny room for my village and wondered how six of us used to do yoga in there without smacking or kicking each other.  Some rooms are freezing cold, one was so warm the heat hit me when we walked in, another had a lit fire.  The chairs are different, the chairs are set out differently, the decor is different. Everything.  Different.

3.2 Attendance varies between parishes

I naively assumed that the villages with the largest populations would have the largest attendance from other Members of the Public.  Nope.

3.3 How each meeting is run is different

As I said above, each agenda is broadly similar, but the manner in which business is conducted is very different between villages.  As the Chair is in charge of the meeting, they run the meeting in the way that they would like to, and of course each and every one of us is a different person.

3.4 Issues concerning each village are different

No one is delighted to have cars speeding through their village.  It is very upsetting when criminal gangs have clearly targetted your village to see what they can steal for the period that they are operating in your area.  These are just two issues which are familiar and common to rural areas.  But there are little peculiarities for each village that are of particular concern to residents, which are part of their identity.

4. Parish Councillors are from all walks of life

An important point here for those who think that being a Parish Councillor might not be for them.  Parish Councils are made up of people who are all sorts of different ages and from all different jobs.  And when I say jobs, I don’t just mean those in paid employment – I mean people who parent full time, people who volunteer their skills and time, and people who take the time to look in on their neighbours – those are the sort of people who are really needed if you’re thinking it’s not for you.  You don’t have to have a brain the size of my former colleague to be a part of one.  Which is something of a relief to the rest of us.

5. Not everyone always agrees with everyone else

A group of people together discussing matters that matter to try and find a way forwards and resolve issues can and frequently does result in heated discussion.  Not a surprise there. But…..

6. Everyone is doing their best

As an outside observer and fellow Member of the Public, I can hand on heart say that every Parish Council I have met is formed of people who are earnestly trying their best for their community.  It has reminded me very much of the pre-school building project that I was a part of.  https://nataliegist.com/2017/06/29/abacus/. I cannot tell you how many discussions we had about, of all things, toilets. Cost, size, where to put them, how many, what sort…..good grief you wouldn’t have thought it possible….and yet, there we were sat on my friend’s rug using it as a toilet cubicle size guide.  And the thing that we had, that kept us together through all of that, was that in spite of any differences we did have, we never lost sight of what we all wanted to achieve: the best for our community.   It’s the same in a Parish Council.  But without the rug.

If you are interested in being a Parish Councillor, you can find more information here: https://www.stratford.gov.uk/doc/211844/name/Notice%20of%20Election%20May%202023%201%20Parishes.pdf

Or ask the clerk of your the Parish Council where you would like to stand and they will be able to give you further information.

Published and promoted by Richard Vos on behalf of Nigel Rock and Natalie Gist (Liberal Democrats) all at 55 Ely St, Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 6LN

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Judge Me By My Size, Do You?

nataliegist

 

 

milky way galaxy during nighttime
Photo by Hristo Fidanov on Pexels.com

The best stories are always those where there is a battle between good and evil; the Empire and the Rebel Alliance, Frodo and Sauron, Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort, those of you who love Marmite vs those of us who hate it…… You may recall that just over a year ago I wrote a blog about being involved with a potential building project of a new pre-school. I say potential because at the time of writing nothing was certain. For those who don’t recall it was a blog written about three days before we were scheduled to knock the old building down expressing my extreme anxiety as to the consequences, if, for want of a better phrase, we fucked it up. The two important points to bear in mind were: 1. We had to build it into the Summer holidays so we could open for the new term, and 2. We had one pot of money that had taken ten years to save, and that was it, down to the last penny.  And in that blog I said that I would let you know how our story came to an end; it was a titanic battle.

As many of you who volunteer or work for charities know, we needed cash. And lots of it. You’ll be relieved to hear that we weren’t three days away from the start date when I was writing and still wondering where we were going to find the money. However, I would be remiss if I did not take the opportunity to thank every single person who ever donated anything towards the project because without them we would never have got to it even being a possibility. Previous trustees had been scrimping and saving for almost ten years to try and gather a pot of money together to prepare for the day that the building came down, either because it was knocked down deliberately, or by a reasonably strong gust of wind.

As the gust of wind option became more likely the need for the cash became more pressing. Thankfully we had a committee member who had the perfect skill-set of knowing precisely how to wring money out of people combined with an ability to boss about those of us who didn’t. And to keep it up, consistently, for about four years. It is impossible to express to you just how hard it was to raise that money. And once raised, how incredibly careful we had to be to make sure that money was enough.

Whilst we were getting the money together, because we are not completely stupid (which may surprise most of you), it had also occurred to us that we needed the legal right to actually go ahead with the build. Apparently planning authorities and landowners get a bit sniffy if you just start building on their property.  This is where my complete and utter inability to organise a fundraiser did not matter (“Natalie you look as comfortable with that bunting as [three year old son] looks when I give him a pen”). However, my  skill to work my way through the varying departments at the local authority until I got to speak to the correct person to give us that permission did matter. I exchanged the contract, I believe, with around an hour to spare before an army of volunteers turned up to empty the building before it was to be knocked down and the site cleared the next day. Nothing like taking it to the wire.

The committee also had a number of very detailed conversations late into the night about the minutiae of the building. A long list of all of the things that would be necessary in order for it to function as a pre-school, together with the associated cost of those items and the difference between essential and desirable. My colleagues and I now know far more about toilets than frankly, we ever wanted.  Consequently we have also given more consideration and had more open conversation than we would have ever wished to regarding the dimensions of the human bottom.  Nevertheless, if you need a lavatorial expert, I know just the woman, so please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Taking the old building down and the new one going up was where committee member number four came in. We had employed a company to supply and construct the building but once it was plastered we were going to need some other people come in. Committee member number four knew (and presumably still does) an inordinate number of people with diggers and trailers, those big metal fences, drills, chain saws, and lots of other manly equipment and power tools. A selection of eager husbands, fathers and I think some people who just fancied joining in turned up the next day and took great delight in dismantling the old building and chucking it into skips. Committee member number four took five days annual leave to work on the project. And that excludes evenings and weekends.

This is not forgetting other committee members, and the Manager in particular, who were doing boring and unsexy but extremely necessary administrative stuff and things like sanding handrails for hours on end, digging holes and spending a thrilling evening on their hands and knees putting nails into the floor so the carpet could be laid.  All to ensure that we finished. On time. And on budget.  Ready for the new term.

Perhaps when you are surrounded by people who are all working towards the same goal, even if you differ at points as to how to get there, the thing that binds you together is that you all do want to get there.  Although there was a web of red tape involved which was exceedingly challenging to navigate, we didn’t feel that we were up against the wrong side.  It was realizing that some people are wandering through life with entirely and exclusively their own interests at heart that did.  One of our volunteers was working on the building one evening after being at work all day and looking forward to their dinner at eleven pm when their partner telephoned as they had come home to discover that they had been burgled. The plasterer walked off site the reasons for which we will never know and in doing so risked everything everyone had worked for, and five people’s jobs. Orcs? Death Eaters?  I think so. By contrast a local builder found us four plasterers who were in the building the next morning to try and catch up the time. A local farmer who grows and sells sunflowers for charity had heard about the project and gave us a donation.  Rebel Alliance?  Gryffindors?  Yup.

And us? The committee as was? What happened to us?  We are still around, but not putting our hands up for any charitable building projects any time soon.  Any number of people could have done what we did.  And we could not have done it without everyone who had gone before us, and everyone who stood with us at the time.  We just happened to be the people who were in the right place at the right time.  And we knew it.  Although some days it felt very much like the wrong place and the wrong time.  But it is my view that the anything worth having in life, something worth truly having, is something that you have to fight for – love, respect, friendship.  Do you remember that scene in Star Wars when Yoda lifts the X-Wing out of the swamp using The Force? If you don’t (unconscionable but possible) look it up on YouTube.  Luke Skywalker stands amazed and can only just manage to say “I don’t believe it.”. Yoda turns to him and in his distinctive, ominous and slightly squeaky voice, utters the immortal words: “That. Is. Why. You Failed.” We were a group of people for whom failure was not an option. We knew that together we had the ability to pull it off.  But only together.  Which I think by my own assessment, makes us all Yoda. Yikes.