I knew it would be hard work as a Councillor but the pace of the last few weeks has even surprised me! But I am sure as I learn the ropes (and I have some great Labour colleagues helping me already) I will be able to get into a routine that will enable me to give my constituents a good service.
So far I have been to a Councillor induction meeting, a Full Council meeting (which included Mayor making) and have already started on three pieces of case work in the ward. This week I have my first Planning Meeting, a second session of induction plus a meeting at Sidegate School.
It has not all been hard work as on Friday we had a victory party which was combined with a retirement party for Donny Edwards. Donny gave a moving speech, which really emphasised the reasons why many of us join the Labour Party- the wish for everyone to get a fair chance, equality and justice- it was also great to hear the names again of all those greats in the Ipswich party that Don has worked with- especially pleasing for me as both my late father and mother got a mention.
Peter Wheeler from the National Executive was also there and he also congratulated me on my win and also spoke fondly of my parents- it is obvious now that I have a lot to live up to, following in there footsteps!
The Full Council meeting should have been the highlight but was turned into a farce by the Tories and Lib Dems- and then they had the gall to blame us. The fact is that we were the victors on May 1st, we have the most Councillors but still the Tory/Fib Dem coalition will not even give us a seat on the executive- so denying a large majority of the population of Ipswich to represented where the real decisions are made. All that council meeting has done to me, is to make me moire determined that we continue to campaign hard to make sure we win an outright majority in 2010.
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