Thursday, 6 December 2007
Confirmation service
Sue was recently invited to attend a Confirmation service at St Steven's Church in Edgewood Rd. She had the pleasure of meeting the Bishop of Birmingham the Rt Rev David Urquhart. It was a marvellous celebration at a marvellous church. If people think the Church of England is on the rocks just pop along to St. Stevens and see the congregation there, you would get a very pleasant surprise.
Last Sunday we went along to another local Longbridge Church, St John the Baptist, where they were celebrating 50 years of the church and celebrating the Longbridge area in general. The Bishop was there again along with the vicar Colin Corke who is a real petrol-head and local historian. He has had a book published recently entitled "Making cars at Longbridge" as is well worth a look.
Last Sunday we went along to another local Longbridge Church, St John the Baptist, where they were celebrating 50 years of the church and celebrating the Longbridge area in general. The Bishop was there again along with the vicar Colin Corke who is a real petrol-head and local historian. He has had a book published recently entitled "Making cars at Longbridge" as is well worth a look.
Catching up with photos.
We've not posted many photos lately so here are a few for you.
Before Keith went in for his surgery we had a visit to Morrisons by the "Breath easy" Bus. This offers free checks to people to identify any cardio-thoracic problems they may have. It mostly involves blowing long and hard into a tube to test lung capacity. In order to get some good photos Keith had to do it 4 times, thats probably why he looks a bit pasty faced in this shot which was taken afterwards. If you see the bus anywhere go and take the test, especially if you smoke.
Before Keith went in for his surgery we had a visit to Morrisons by the "Breath easy" Bus. This offers free checks to people to identify any cardio-thoracic problems they may have. It mostly involves blowing long and hard into a tube to test lung capacity. In order to get some good photos Keith had to do it 4 times, thats probably why he looks a bit pasty faced in this shot which was taken afterwards. If you see the bus anywhere go and take the test, especially if you smoke.
Wednesday, 5 December 2007
A wheelie bad idea.
Yesterday's Council meeting consisted of false outrage and crocodile tears. Sir Albert jumped on the passing pay & grading bandwagon, urged on by his trade union friends. Although the single status agreement was signed about 10 years ago the Labour Party did nothing about it. They looked at it, found it would be very difficult and tortuous and said " no thanks Guv. Now the deadline for sorting this out looms and Alan Rudge has worked mightily to get a scheme together which complies with the legal requirements of equal pay law and the single status agreement, using the national pay scales agreed, no demanded on, by the unions. There are some employees whose salary will drop due to them receiving a higher pay grade than the job calls for but even their salaries will be protected for 3 years, the maximum allowed by law.The unions will huff & puff but I think back to my days as a TGWU shop Steward and I don't think they will have enough support to be able to do a lot of damage and they will quickly lose the support of the citizens if they leave the rubbish uncollected. Most people see council workers as overpaid and under-worked. This is a very unfair view as the majority of workers I meet are dedicated to their work but who said life was fair?
There was also a threatened kerfuffle about a Scrutiny report calling for pilot schemes using wheelie bins for recyclates and green waste. We believe this is a Trojan Horse to get wheelie bins adopted across the city. This will also involve all the other things associated with them, fortnightly collections, chips and "pay as you throw". It would also mean extensive capital outlay which the city cannot afford.
Keith's view is also coloured by the topography of Longbridge. The area stands on a sandstone outcrop of the Lickey Hills and is very convoluted. We have many hills around here with roads cut into the side of them. This means that to get from a front door to the kerbside can mean going up or down a great number of steps, to do this whilst pulling a heavily loaded wheelie bin would be dangerous if not impossible for thousands of householders. Bags are not perfect but they are manageable and flexible, you can put out as many or as few as required. That is why we will always oppose wheelie bins in Longbridge.
There had been fears that Labour and some Lib-Dems would combine to defeat us on this but in the end it rather fizzled out.
Sue and I had already agreed to attend a charity function and it looked at one stage that we would have to miss it but we managed to get paired and got there just in time. A good job really as Keith won first prize in the raffle, a 36" flat screen tv...RESULT!!
There was also a threatened kerfuffle about a Scrutiny report calling for pilot schemes using wheelie bins for recyclates and green waste. We believe this is a Trojan Horse to get wheelie bins adopted across the city. This will also involve all the other things associated with them, fortnightly collections, chips and "pay as you throw". It would also mean extensive capital outlay which the city cannot afford.
Keith's view is also coloured by the topography of Longbridge. The area stands on a sandstone outcrop of the Lickey Hills and is very convoluted. We have many hills around here with roads cut into the side of them. This means that to get from a front door to the kerbside can mean going up or down a great number of steps, to do this whilst pulling a heavily loaded wheelie bin would be dangerous if not impossible for thousands of householders. Bags are not perfect but they are manageable and flexible, you can put out as many or as few as required. That is why we will always oppose wheelie bins in Longbridge.
There had been fears that Labour and some Lib-Dems would combine to defeat us on this but in the end it rather fizzled out.
Sue and I had already agreed to attend a charity function and it looked at one stage that we would have to miss it but we managed to get paired and got there just in time. A good job really as Keith won first prize in the raffle, a 36" flat screen tv...RESULT!!
Saturday, 1 December 2007
Fundraising, the honest way.
On Wednesday evening Northfield Conservative Association held it's annual dinner at the Clarendon Suite. It was an enjoyable evening but a lot of hard work.
During the run up we suffered withdrawals by 3 senior names, a change of date and were on the verge of cancelling several times. However, thanks to the people who attended we made a few quid on the ticket sales, £186 on the raffle and about £30 on a quiz, all arranged by Keely Huxtable who must have felt like tearing her hair out at times.
This is the reality of fundraising for the majority of associations, the money comes in dribs and drabs, not in large cheques from insiders.
Our main guest and speaker was David Liddington MP. He is No2 to William Hague. He is an excellent speaker and only a train timetable cut short the time we wanted to listen to him.
All our fundraising efforts are designed to ensure that when an election is called Keely will have enough funds to compete with a sitting MP who is sitting on a sackful of money.
All local elections are funded by the wards themselves and this requires another effort to keep funds topped up. Most Conservative Councillors we know, including ourselves, pay into Ward funds to make sure that we do not lose our seats through lack of money for leaflets, posters, postage etc. It is an expensive business fighting elections and all the coffee mornings, social events, quizzes etc although enjoyable at the time are all hard work which at least encourages teamwork throughout the organisation.
During the run up we suffered withdrawals by 3 senior names, a change of date and were on the verge of cancelling several times. However, thanks to the people who attended we made a few quid on the ticket sales, £186 on the raffle and about £30 on a quiz, all arranged by Keely Huxtable who must have felt like tearing her hair out at times.
This is the reality of fundraising for the majority of associations, the money comes in dribs and drabs, not in large cheques from insiders.
Our main guest and speaker was David Liddington MP. He is No2 to William Hague. He is an excellent speaker and only a train timetable cut short the time we wanted to listen to him.
All our fundraising efforts are designed to ensure that when an election is called Keely will have enough funds to compete with a sitting MP who is sitting on a sackful of money.
All local elections are funded by the wards themselves and this requires another effort to keep funds topped up. Most Conservative Councillors we know, including ourselves, pay into Ward funds to make sure that we do not lose our seats through lack of money for leaflets, posters, postage etc. It is an expensive business fighting elections and all the coffee mornings, social events, quizzes etc although enjoyable at the time are all hard work which at least encourages teamwork throughout the organisation.
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