A typical week?

It's certainly typical to find myself out virtually every evening doing town council related things, but perhaps not so typical that they all involve a glass of wine! Tuesday night I attended a reception given by Friends of Lewes to celebrate the publication of their updated book on the Street Names of Lewes, given financial support by the town council. Several short speeches, including one by the son of the author of the original version and yes a glass of wine.

I represent the town council on the Railway Land Wildlife Trust and Wednesday evening was the annual walk around the reserve for the trustees. A lovely sunny day and I'd been looking forward to it, but I'd stubbed my toe so badly that it had a huge bruise and couldn't cope with shoe contact. I got the report back, though, and yes wine was drunk!

Last night was the regular full town council meeting, mostly taken up with approving the annual accounts. Afterwards we are always invited into the mayor's parlour for, yes, a glass of wine. Tonight we are off to a mayor's reception to celebrate walking groups in Lewes (can't help wondering if they would rather be watching the world cup?) and of course there will be wine.

Daytime activities were much more down to earth. I've nearly finalised the latest Lewes CND newsletter to go out later this month and, of course, have spent a lot of time working on the campaign for the upcoming by-election - it's looking good.

Apologies

Many apologies to anyone following my blog. I abandoned you at a critical time. I have a pretty good excuse - I think. Right at the start of the general election campaign my husband had a heart attack - fortunately mild and he seems to have made a full recovery. However you can probably imagine what sort of state I was in, trying to juggle all my election commitments with everything else - town council duties, the youth centre, etc, etc, while worrying about him. Something just had to give and it was my blog.

Now I am determined to get off to a fresh start, so that you can see I am still working hard for Lewes. After all we have a town council bye-election on 22nd July and full local elections next May.

Green Party conference

Green Party Spring Conference starts tomorrow. I'm nearly packed ready for a midmorning start on the train to London and then the bus to North Finchley. First stop my B&B - Chumleigh Lodge Hotel, and then on to the venue - The Arts Depot, apparently about 10 minutes walk away.

I'm looking forward to a few days of inspiration and information to get me properly geared up for the general election. First thing, though, is to find the press office and add my name to those proposing an emergency motion of support for the Robin Hood Tax. That should make for useful press release when I get home as it is definitely time I got a lot more pro-active ahead of the general election.

Talking of which, the government has yet to set date, but most people seem to be working on an educated guess that it will be on 6th May. Indeed I've already had invites to various hustings events booked with just that date in mind.

Robin Hood tax

A tiny tax on bankers that would give billions to tackle poverty and climate change, here and abroad.

It sounds complicated, but actually it isn’t. A tiny tax on bankers has the power to raise hundreds of billions every year – giving a vital boost to the NHS, our schools, and the fight against child poverty – as well as tackling poverty and climate change around the world.

Not complicated. Just brilliant.

I've just signed up as a supporter on the Robin Hood tax website. it is actually much the same as the Tobin tax already supported by the Green Party, but has the advantage of lots of high profile supporters. The video on their site for instance stars Bill Nighy. Their website address is robinhoodtax.org.uk

Iraq Inquiry

I've just signed up to a petition to the Chilcott Inquiry requesting that tough questions be asked of Blair. My suggested question - when did Blair know that Iraq had no WMD?

38 Degrees | Make sure Blair faces tough questions at the Iraq Inquiry

www.38degrees.org.uk

38 Degrees brings you together with other people to take action on the issues that matter to you and bring about real change.

I've just signed up to this organisation's new campaign - Nick Griffin: Never Again.

Nick Griffin has announced that he's standing in the General Election to be Barking's next MP. And looking at the statistics he has a good chance of winning - and the BNP could take control of Barking & Dagenham council as well.
If we come together , though, we will stop them. I'll never forget how I felt watching a BNP victory speech after the European Elections. As I watched it on the TV I swore to myself "never again."

Lewes is hardly a hotspot of BNP activity, but nonetheless it is vital that we all stand together and do what we can in opposition to these extremists who would destroy trust between communities in our country.

A New Year

After a restful fortnight over Xmas and the new year period it is now time - weather permitting - to get down to business again. At this stage business mostly seems to revolve around fundraising, both for the Green Party and for Landport Youth Centre.

I've been helping with putting together fundraising events to help pay for Lewes Green Party's general election campaign. Our seasonal festive event was due to be a fundraiser, but has now been postponed because of the difficulty of even getting out of the house. Meanwhile, we now have a venue, a speaker and some offers of artwork to auction for our main fundraising event on 5th March. It's looking good, but will obviously require some decent publicity. Luckily, Cat - one of our newer members - seems to have lots of good ideas there. I am now being asked for photos for our freepost leaflet, so things are beginning to get quite serious on the election front.

Down at the Youth Centre just getting enough money to pay ongoing running costs is a permanent concern. I've just been sent some forms to apply for a grant from the Sussex Community Foundation. Filling those in will be a nice little job to keep me out of mischief until the weather improves. This afternoon, though, my main response to the weather has been a cauldron of thick soup and some home-made cheesey bread.