Sweatbox Reopens

Just arrived home after calling in at The Sweatbox to see how things were going with the long-awaited relaunch. It was a beautiful sunny evening so lots of young people were all outside on the grass. Food was being served, films shown and the disco going. About 100 had turned up, so not as many as had been expected, but it was a 'ticket only' event, so that may have made a difference for some.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the acoustic session shown in the photo (above left) which was a girl duo of Tori Allnutt and Katy Bond. Very talented young people who could go far! How lucky we are to have this facility on our doorstep thanks to Garry Kingett and his volunteer helpers.

New Lord Mayor of Oxford

This evening I saw the mayor-making in Oxford Town Hall where Cllr John Goddard takes up the reins. There is a reception every year to which I am invited and we have seen numerous mayors come and go. Cllr. Goddard is also a County Councillor so it is good to see one of my Liberal Democrat group doing the rounds on the city circuit for a year.

Schools' Tag Rugby Tournament

This afternoon I attended the Oxfordshire Schools' Tag Rugby Tournament at the Horspath Road Sports Ground in Oxford. This is an annual event sponsored by the County Council's Chairman and is suitably entitled "The Chairman's Trophy".

500 pupils from 48 schools attended today and the finalists included St. Nicholas' School in Abingdon from the Vale area. The outright winners were Coombe Primary School from West Oxfordshire who now go through to the South Regional finals.

Special Conference at Birmingham

This afternoon I attended the special Liberal Democrat Conference at Birmingham to debate the national situation since we have become a coalition government with the Conservatives. I am pleased to say that it was an excellent day with so many of us in agreement! No media or press were allowed, so suffice it to say that it was a constructive afternoon, our motion to support the coalition was passed unaminously and we all came home content that we are in government actually helping to progress some of our policies - much better than sniping from the sidelines!

Student Police Officer Confirmation Ceremony

Today I was delighted to attend the Thames Valley Police Student Officer Confirmation Ceremony held at Drayton Golf Club, nr. Abingdon. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet with the families who support our new police constables as they have completed all their training and learning development. It was my pleasure to do the closing remarks at the ceremony on behalf of the Police Authority of which I am an elected member for Oxfordshire.

After the certificates were all handed out, there was a 'Best Endeavour' Award and a student officer speech which gave us all an an insight into the hard work that has gone into this two year rigorous learning programme. We then had tea and cakes and I enjoyed meeting and talking to many of the student officers themselves.

We are very fortunate in the Thames Valley to have such an excellent police force. It was reported in the press a couple of weeks ago how crime is falling in the Vale of White Horse area and much of this is due to the hard work of our neighbourhood teams.

Tree Replaced at Howard Avenue

The General Election is over and it is back to business as usual. This morning I held my monthly surgery at the library and was pleased to check out the tree replacement at Howard Avenue.

Readers of my blog will be aware that when we lost our Christmas tree last year, we also lost a cherry tree on the green area on the corner of Howard Avenue. Apparently, the tree was diseased and was chopped down leaving us with an empty space (left photo). I requested a replacment and a new tree has now been planted by the county council (right photo). This is a welcome sight amongst the houses.

Polling Day

Tomorrow from 7am until 10pm the polling stations are open for the General Election. There has been a lot of discussion this time round because of the political debates on television and I hope that this will increase our voter turnout. This is the first time since I have been a county councillor that the General Election has not been held on the same day as the county elections. Full details of all candidates for the Wantage constituency are here and the count will take place immediately afterwards as reported here

I have enjoyed canvassing around the area during the last few weeks, as it gives the opportunity to talk to people on the doorstep. Most residents have been very welcoming and enjoyed having a chat about local and national issues. Many people have been very impressed with Nick Clegg and one can only hope that this will have an impact on the result tomorrow!