A day in the life of a new County Councillor

On Monday I spent my first day really working as a County Councillor, and although I started early and finished at around 10 p.m. I did enjoy myself.

The day started with a drive to Ipswich.  On the way I dropped into the Monks Eleigh Community Shop to get hold of a copy of the village magazine.  I hope to persuade the editor to include my e mail and phone number so that residents know how to contact me.  I also checked on the exact whereabouts of the school for a meeting later that day.

Then onto Endeavour House;   my new pass got me into the car park and I climbed higher and higher to finally find a space on the roof.  Seagulls were whirling and shrieking overhead. It was a reminder that Ipswich really isn’t very far from the sea, a fact I often forget.   

I needed to see one of the officers about a request for funding that I have already received and I am happy to say that the scheme falls within the guidelines to quality for a County Councillor’s locality budget.  Immediate success meant that the meeting was shorter than I had expected and so, with time to spare, I decided to have a go at accessing my e mails on one of the computers in the Members’ Area.

I sat down at the computer, and to my distress I realised that I had completely forgotten how to turn on a desktop!  I have, since leaving work, always used a laptop computer and I was completely foxed. I tried to think back fourteen years to my last job in Cork Street, working for Putnam Investments, but in the end had to seek assistance.  What an embarrassment!

I then had a meeting with the Leader of the Council,  Mark Bee at which I learned about various opportunities for further work that might be open to me in the next four years….I will write more about this in due course.

After lunch I had a meeting in Monks Eleigh concerning the village hall, which is now barely fit for purpose having been built at the time of the Coronation.

Then it was time to drive through the pouring rain to three separate Parish Council meetings, at Bildeston, Kersey and Great Waldingfield.  I was welcomed very politely by the parish councillors at both of the new villages, and it was nice to finish the evening with some old friends, who didn’t seem to mind me turning up when their meeting was virtually over and were happy to stay and chat for a while.

I think that the next four years will be quite active!