We've had a ton of names in on our petition to save free parking in Brigg. We keep getting requests for more petitions - it's getting hard to keep up.

I have just been and handed over £200 for the Real Aid Flood Charity which is working closely with East Riding Council to help assist flood victims in the East Riding.


The money was raised by way of a charity football match organised by Blaine Robin who works at CCHQ.

Blaine phoned me after the flooding to see if there was anything he could do to help. He came up with the idea of a football match and as a result £200 was raised. The photo shows me handing the cheque over to the charity which is based in Beverley. Sincere thanks must go to Blaine and all those who took part.

In other news, I just got an e-mail from a friend I worked with in the states but haven't heard from for a while. He has now got back in touch thanks to this blog! I spent a year on work experience in the states when I was a student. I worked in politics which was great, especially because as I was paid by the Government, rather than a political party, and so I got to work with politicians of both parties. That was while Clinton was still President which seems an age ago!

Local Politicians Support ‘Riding Around’ Event

Prospective Goole MP and Airmyn Parish Councillor Andrew Percy and East Riding Councillor Caroline Fox recently took part in the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s ‘Riding Around’ event in Goole and Snaith.

The ‘Riding Around’ events are taking place across the East Riding and seek to establish resident’s views on a whole host of issues. The aim is that the responses will be considered by the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP), made up of agencies such as the Police, the Council and the Firs Service, and will help to form the priorities for these services in the coming years. The responses will be used in formulating ‘Our East Riding’, the LSP’s community plan for the East Riding.

Andrew explains:
“Far too often politicians simply turn up to events and have their photos taken without really engaging with local residents. Caroline and I do not think that is the way to do business, so instead we decided to give up some time and take part as volunteers in the ‘Riding Around’ event in Goole.

We spent the morning surveying local people using a range of subject specific surveys provided by East Riding Council. Subjects included young people, sustainable communities, transport and older peoples’ issues. We had a really great response and practically everyone we stopped to ask was keen to take part.

This is a really excellent initiative on the part of East Riding Council, and ensures that local people have a real say in forming the Council and other agencies priorities in the coming years. We would like to thank everyone for their kindness in giving up their time to complete the surveys.”

Hundreds Raised for Local Flood Victims.

Andrew Percy today handed over a cheque for £200 to the Real Aid Flood Relief Fund which is leading the flood relief effort in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The money was raised through a charity football match held in Southend in early July.

Andrew said,
“Shortly after the floods occurred in June, a friend of mine who works at Conservative Central Office in London rang me to ask if there was anything he could do to help with the flooding that had hit our area. I explained to him that the East Riding was going to be working with the Real Aid charity, based in Beverley, to set up a flood relief fund. Blaine went away and came up with the idea of running a charity football match with his team down in Southend. The match took place in July and managed to raise £200 which I have asked be used for people who have been affected by flooding in the Goole and Swinefleet area.

I want to say a huge thank you to Blaine for organising the football match and it is really heart-warming to know that people in other parts of the country were so concerned about the plight of flood victims here in the East Riding. The Rea Aid charity has done a great job and I know that, whilst the publicity of the flooding may have waned, many of those who were flooded are still waiting to get back into their homes. Hopefully this money will go someway to helping some of those people through this very difficult time.”

Just got in from a really good day delivering leaflets in the Goole area. I have to admit I was none too keen this morning to get up at 8.30 to start delivering! Last night I attended a party in Hook which went on rather late, but was great fun.

I think I must have looked in need of refreshment this morning as a thoroughly lovely lady came running after me to invite me in for a cup of tea and a few biscuits. Turns out she was a teacher too and so we had much to talk about.

This afternoon I popped over to Ousefleet, Whitgift and Adlingfleet to do some leaflets. We have a network of volunteers who do this area for us but I felt like doing it myself today as it is a really great way of meeting people. I'm pleased I did as I picked up yet another offer of help. We've never had so many.

The newspapers seem to be obsessed with this issue of an early election. I hope we have one actually as all the polling we are doing suggests that the national poll figures are not too accurate, well not locally anyway. However, those polling chaps are the professionals so I guess they know more about this sort of thing than little old me. In any event, win or lose, I still think an early election is the right thing to do.

Right, have an event to go to tonight so I better get ready. Tomorrow I have the team out again doing some work in the Brigg area.

I have not had chance to update the blog for a while as I have been out and about in the constituency from pretty much dawn until dusk so I have not been checking e-mails that much.

I was however made Chairman of the Burringham and Gunness Community Chest last Friday and I have been talking to local people about awarding grants for some really worthwhile projects.

I also spent a great evening with the Belgravia Carers in Goole last week. A more decent bunch of people you could not find. I only intended staying an hour as I had my tea to make! However, thanks to them stuffing me full of cakes I stayed until the end of the meeting. We discussed some ideas about how we could keep the profile of mental health and the Barts House Unit in the public mind just in case it is threatened again in the future.

Tomorrow, I am meeting with Cllr Caroline Fox who is taking me to meet some people in her ward who have asked for me to pop down. I have had to draft in some extra office help to deal with all the correspondence I am getting from local people. My typing skills are not advanced enough to keep up so I am grateful to my extra help, one of whom is my Mother who as a School Secretary is loving me giving her more office work to do in her own time! I think I'll say it with flowers.

A resident e-mailed me earlier to draw attention to the fact that the current Labour MP for Brigg and Goole did turn up to have his photo taken at the Bridge Tolls protest on Saturday. I can only assume he turned up after lunch so my apologies for saying none of the local MPs appeared.
The resident went on to say that the current MP has unfortunately politicised the event on his blog. I have checked it out and he does rather cheekily write -