Friday 5th June

After a very restless night filled with nerves and excitement, I headed down to Bacup Leisure Centre for the official election count at 9.30 this morning. I waited nervously as the votes were counted and things began to take shape. Standing there with my primary opponent Hazel Harding and her family, it is fair to say the pressure was really on and it was extremely nerve-wracking.

I was lucky to have my team of supporters to take the pressure off, although my campaign manager, Mr Clive Balchin did a disappearing act! Talk about not knowing how to cope under pressure! Instead of being there to reassure me and keep things in order, all Clive did was flap about like a headless chicken! However I cannot be too mad at Clive as all his hard work over the past few months paid off and I was elected the new councillor for Rossendale North. I won by 541 votes so it was fantastic to know I have so much support out there. I cannot thank you enough for giving me this opportunity and I will not let you down.

I would like to say a special thank you to all those involved in the count as I know it was a very long morning and those counting did a brilliant job. However, I was disappointed with how the later stages of the count went - it was very badly organised and unprofessional. The results were shouted out across the hall as they came in for each ward, but as many had still not finished counting not everyone was listening and many of the candidates were not even in the room. After such a big build up, not just on the morning but over the past few months, I think all the councillors deserved a bit of praise and recognition - I even had a lovely speech prepared! Well, you know me - never stuck for a word! I have already made my official complaint to those in charge of the count and voiced my opinion about how it should go - which is proof I do not just say things but I take action!

I didn't have time to let the news sink in before I had to make my way over to County Hall in Preston for a celebratory get together with all the other councillors. There was even a surprise visit from David Cameron which was a great end to a fantastic day! It was a significant day for the Conservatives in Lancashire who became leaders of Lancs CC for the first time in 28 years, and picked up 51 seats leaving Labour with just 16.

I was back in Preston on Saturday morning for the first Conservative group meeting where the new leader of Lancs CC was announced as Geoff Driver.

After the meeting, I spent the rest of the weekend recharging my batteries before getting ready to take on my new duties!

Thursday 4th June

Last night the trusty Win With Winder team spent the evening knocking on the doors of our known supporters, speaking to them to ensure we could count on their vote today. We also put up lots of posters before the polls opened at 7am, which meant some of us were up extremely early this morning! You have hopefully seen the Confused posters dotted around the town, but I would like to point out they have all been been put up on private land so will not breaking any laws by being there.

So the BIG DAY has arrived! The sun may not be shining as much as it has in recent days but the weather still looks promising and there are a lot of people about.

It is very busy by Rawtenstall market - when I first saw the crowds of people I thought my opposition had finally crawled out of the woodwork but she is still in her secret command bunker. Burnley, Rossendale and Pendle Councils have set up a roadshow where voluntary, community and faith groups can promote their organisation to the public. Events like this are a great way to bring the local community together and it is really good to see so many people about and I managed to have a good chat with many of them this morning.

I popped down to the polling stations earlier and was impressed at the amount of people turning out to vote. The polling staff were smiling and in a pleasant mood, despite their early start which must have been tough! If you have not already done so, you have until 10pm tonight to get voting so remember to cast your vote!

Wednesday 3rd June

Yesterday afternoon I was invited to visit one of our local mosques in Rawtenstall, by Nila restaurant owner, Raj Mia. It gave me an opportunity to engage with people in the Muslim community and also gave them the chance to find out more about me. Whilst I was there, I spoke to about 30 local residents, both young and old. I am aware of the difficulty people in our Muslim community are having with the BNP, although luckily we do not have any elected in our ward. People should be treated with the utmost respect, regardless of their ethnicity and religion. I have had to address religious issues as an employer and have offered my support for Muslim staff during religious periods such as Ramadan.

Some of the concerns raised during my visit to the mosque were from concerned parents and older residents who were worried about the younger generation getting involved in crime and anti-social behaviour. As a magistrate I understand these concerns, and this is something I have pledged to focus on if I get elected -by increasing the number of activities for younger people to prevent them from falling into a path of crime.

Another major issue which was also raised was the lack of maintenance our local roads are receiving and I explained this was another vital issue I want to improve.

Last night the final batch of leaflets were delivered by eight Win With Winder helpers to finish the big drop from Monday night- which means all the leaflets have been sent out!

So it's the day before the BIG DAY and I am as busy as ever. I am working in the salon this morning before it's off to judicial duties this afternoon. I will be sitting down with Clive my campaign manager this evening to discuss the final plans for tomorrow.

I know a lot of people, myself included, are disappointed that the election votes will not be counted until Friday morning. It does take the edge off the campaign and if it was up to me the counting would take place on Thursday night after the final votes have been cast. It has been done to suit the benefit of the polling officers, not the public, the candidates and those working at the polling stations. However, I do believe this is the rule throughout Lancashire and not just in Rossendale.

I do not think I will sleep a wink on Thursday night!

Tuesday 2nd June

I was absolutely thrilled at the turn out of people last night to help deliver leaflets for my campaign. We started out at Boundary Garage on Burnley Road and covered the full ward - Goodshaw, Cribden and Hareholme. It would normally take a full week to do but thanks to the 33 helpers who came along we got it all done in a night! It was an enjoyable evening, especially as the sun was still shining and a lot of people were out in their shorts making the most of it.

I am really touched by the amount of support from those who have endorsed my campaign including Paul Fletcher, CEO of Burnley Football Club, and successful local business people - Bank Manager Janet Booth, Raj Mia, owner of Nila restaurant, Kevin Swain who works across the road at Patricia's Floral Fair and of course my excellent campaign manager Clive Balchin.

As the big day looms nearer, I am really pleased things with how things are looking and the support i have received, but I do not want to count my chickens just yet! I need people to vote. I have just been informed by a very loyal supporter that she will travel back from a trip to London on Thursday by 9.50pm so she can cast her vote! Hopefully she will not get any speeding tickets in the process though!

Whilst I have been extremely busy campaigning for the election, I have noticed that nothing has been seen of the Liberal and Independent parties. They are hardly going to win votes when they cannot be bothered to put any effort into promoting their party.

Today brings another busy day, which started with my 7.30am meeting with my campaign manager Clive, who is keeping the pressure on in the final two days, and pushing me to my limits. I spent the morning in my salon with my valuable clients and I enjoyed listening to their opinions. Most of my clients take a great interest in how our valley is run and will be casting a vote on Thursday.

This afternoon I will be visiting a number of mosques in the Bacup Road area, speaking to ethnic residents so I will report more on that tomorrow. Hope you manage to enjoy the sunshine whist it lasts!

Wednesday 27th May

Following Burnley’s promotion to the Premiership it’s been fantastic to see such a sense of euphoria amongst the local community – and thanks to local community police officer Frank Romasanta we’re hoping to give the Valley Centre a bright new look. We all know it’s in need of one! Local schools are going to be invited to paint the town red (and claret, white and blue!) with a football themed arts competition. This is only a temporary solution to improve the terrible state the centre is in – my long term goal should I get elected is to focus on a more modest scaled development that is more in character with the town.

This blogging is hard, especially as I'm new to building websites. My apologies if it looks a little naff, but the content is from the heart.

Many of you have probably noticed by now that the new Pelican crossing outside Rawtenstall Market has been completed – at long last! The County Council have been trying to claim credit for this but if it wasn’t for the work of the Rawtenstall Chamber of Commerce this wouldn’t have been completed. As Past President of the Commerce I have been lobbying on this problem for a long time – in fact since Asda relocated three years ago. I believe the public have a right to know why it has taken so long and caused so much inconvenience to both pedestrians and motorists and this is what I have been working hard to find out.

Even this week is school holidays and driving into town is still a nightmare because of the parking issues. I am continuing my campaign to scrap two-hour disc parking and introduce a better scheme for residents. Surrounding towns such as Hyndburn, Bury and Rochdale have succeeded in amending their parking regulations so there’s no reason why we can’t have that here too. Rawtenstall needs to be helped to attract shoppers back to the town without the fear of getting fined.

Tuesday 26th May

I went down to Wembley for the Match. What a result! I was amazed how many people from Rossendale I bumped into, including my principal opponent County Councillor Hazel Harding, strange or what?

We are now gearing ourselves up for the next phase.

It is disappointing that the count will not be until the morning after the polling day. To me it seems to take away a lot of the fun of the count.

Right I am going to try and get better at this blog over the next few days.



Thursday 21st May

We have been hard at work for the last two nights. Eleven brave souls have turned out each night in the wet delivering our first confused leaflet. With this leaflet we have tried to steer away from the usual yaa-boo politics.

We have respect for our opponents. We may not agree with their views and approach to tasks, but we do not doubt their commitment. No doubt as we are plodding up one street delivering leaflets they are going up another delivering theirs.

Hmmm! I don't think I will be much of a blogger – plain forget about it. We have now delivered our first leaflet and have generally received a good response.

It is amazing how many nooks and crannies there are that you don't see when you are driving about.

We have taken some good-hearted stick about the Westminster expenses fiasco. I keep stressing it is has very little to do with us chaps at county level.

I am having a problem with this site. When I upload my blog the apostrophe become funny A. I do hope it does not interrupt the flow to much


Friday 29th May

What a busy week it has been - but the sun is shining out so I am going to try and have some me time this weekend to re-charge my batteries.

On top of the election campaigning I have been busy working in my salon Antony and Patricia looking after all my valuable clients. Being a hairdresser is a fantastic opportunity to listen to the people in the local community - I really get to hear and understand peoples concerns, something I'm afraid the Leader of Lancashire County Council is extremely out of touch with.

I know one of the major issues affecting you is the badly designed roundabout on the Rawtenstall bypass. It is fair to say it has not been developed properly but what I can not understand is that it was built under the watch of the Hazel Harding, who herself lives in Rossendale - so surely she can see it is a dangerous hazard and only a matter of time before a serious accident is caused? Unless of course she drives round the roundabout with her eyes closed!

As it has been such a lovely day, I decided to go for a stroll at lunchtime but I found that walking from Rawtenstall town centre to East Lancashire Railway is near impossible for pedestrians. Bacup Road is probably the only major road in the country which has not been designed with pedestrians in mind - there are no crossings in place and crossing the road on a busy lunchtime made me feel at serious risk. Road safety is an extremely important issue and it is something I will work hard to change if I get elected.

Driving up through Crawshawbooth I noticed the new centre where the old library was is nearing completion and it looks great. It is really nice for the local residents to have a new facility but it does concern me that it may have come at a public expense to other local areas. I want to see similar developments spread across other parts of the Valley to benefit everyone.