Yesterday was a very varied and long day with me only getting home for my tea at about 10.30. By tea, I mean a pizza from Pasture Road which was quite good actually as a couple of lads from the Goole ATC saw me in the take-away and popped in to say hello.

The morning started with a visit to the Belwood Play School and the new Belton Mother and Toddler Group in Belton. I spent a lot of time chatting to the two groups, one of which as some challenges ahead.

After that it was back to the office to help organise some canvassing in Goole. I couldn't join the team out as I had some target letters to organise, but the results were very good. As it happens Labour were telephone canvassing in Snaith yesterday so everyone seems to be at it! Somebody from Snaith rang me to say that Labour had rang them and that they had 'gone along' with the Labour canvasser to mess up their records. :)

In the evening I popped along to Horkstow church at the invite of Henry Fell where the Bishop of Lincoln was rededicating the church following a fantastic renovation. I learned a lot about Horkstow from the new history boards in the church. It has a great history and apparently the Percy family once had a Manor House there!

A fun day but of most cheer was a letter I received from a letter who thanked me for attending and actually taking an interest rather than just turning up and asking for a photo, unlike the current MP. That's not the first time I've had that!

Yesterday was another really busy day, although I nearly didnt get anywhere. I left Airmyn at about 7.45am for school only to find my car immobilser key had broken! Anyway, I got it sorted and got to school.

After completing my Sports Relief Mile and parents afternoon at school, I then joined the local police team for Snaith, Airmyn and Rawcliffe last night for an anti-social behaviour patrol. I did this in Snaith last month.

This time I went to Rawcliffe with one of our local PCSOs, Rachel Matthews (pictured). It was a fairly quiet patrol but we did get to speak to quite a few people, including a really friendly group of young people who couldn't have been more decent. Rachel is a cracking PCSO and really cares for the patch and no matter what issue I raised with her, she knew the details inside out. 

Today, I was out in Winterton with a team whilst another group were out in another area. I did quite a bit of canvassing and actually got better results then I had expected. People were really friendly and a lot of people mentioned a certain Labour MP and his expenses!

Somebody also sent me a photo of a campaign shop they have rented in Goole for the election; very amusing.  We understand this shop is funded by the Unions in whole or part. They certainly approached UNITE back in December begging for cash, telling them that the GMB have already given them a generous donation! Whoever said Labour were owned by the Unions ...

I dont think the Unions and Labour could have timed it better. Given all the stuff in the press at the moment regarding the influence UNITE has over Labour and allegations that they effectively buy influence in Labour, why oh why would they pick today to start delivering disgraceful leaflets in Crowle scaremongering vulnerable residents about rent rises.

The timing was made worse by the fact that just this last weekend, we delivered a leaflet in Crowle warning residents that this sort of scaremongering would go on. I have never seen such hapless inexperienced campaigning as I have seen recently, but this takes it to new lows.

One of the people who has contacted me to express their disgust described the leaflet as 'a Labour leaflet' which shows how smart the public are in figuring out the relationship between Labour and their Union paymasters.

The serious point though really is that Labour and their Union bosses have chosen to scare some of the most vulnerable people in our communities for the sake of a few votes. Heartless and cruel in the extreme. What nasty people they are.

The last week has been busier than ever so here are just a few of the things I have been working at in the past 7 days.

Flooding Consultation

Last Monday saw the Environment Agency consultation meeting take place at the Leisure Centre in Goole. The event was the opportunity to comment on their flood management plans for the Rivers Trent, Aire, Ouse and Don. We've worked quite hard to force the Environment Agency to revise their original proposals. I spent a couple of hours at the event in the afternoon and then popped back again in the evening. It was like been in a room full of friends, I had so many people stop me to thank me for working so hard on the issue.

Gunness Womens Institute

After attending the Hull and Goole Port Health Authority in the afternoon, I went to Gunness last Wednesday evening to talk to the Gunness WI. I gave them a 30-40 minute talk about my time working in US politics. They seemed to really enjoy it and Im told they had a better than normal turnout! They were a cracking bunch and I look forward to going back again.

Broadband Meeting

I also met with BT at their offices in Sheffield last week to discuss the issue of rural broadband. Basically, many parts of our area are not getting the service they should be and I am grateful to the large number of residents who provided me with examples to put to BT. There is a lot more work to be done on this but this was a productive first meeting. I shall be following ithis issue up in the coming weeks and months.

Canvassing

I know the national polls seem to be narrowing but we just don't find that reflected on the doorstep or in our local surveys. We've just done a big direct mail survey in Goole to which we had a great response: our best yet. This past weekend we had three big teams out on the doorsteps where again everyone kept telling us they wanted rid of Brown. I'm pictured with the team that set to work in Haxey and Westwoodside.

There has been so much going on of late, I simply haven't had time to keep the blog updated. Anyway, one of the most important issues I have been trying to help with relates to taxes on businesses operating on the docks at Goole.

A couple of years ago the Government introduced a new rates system for businesses operating on the ports. This increased the tax on local businesses by more than ten times. Despite repeated attempts by the Conservatives in Parliament to address this issue, the Government has so far refused to act.

The situation is now becoming critical, with hundreds of jobs in Goole under threat. Naturally, I am doing everything I can to help force a climb down. Lets hope the Government finally sees sense.

On the wind farm front, Cllr John Briggs and I (pictured) have also had another meeting with the developers of the wind farm at Keadby. It looks as though the proposed route for construction traffic off the A18 is progressing and they informed me that a planning application may be submitted shortly for the bridge necessary for this route. This will save Eastoft, Luddington, Old Goole, Swinefleet and Ealandfrom the horrors of thousands of construction vehicles.

John and I also attended the Public Inquiry into the proposed Flixborough Grange wind farm which we have been opposing.

Andrew recently joined one of the ambulance crews in the Goole area on their Friday night shift. Andrew wanted to experience first hand the challenges faced by the ambulance service locally.

Prospective MP, Andrew Percy says, "I was delighted to join Robin Drury, who is a Clinical Team Educator at Goole, and his colleague Emma on their ambulance recently. Having spent all day at school teaching, I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived at Goole Ambulance station at 6pm; I didn’t have long to wait.

"We were one of 2 ambulances working from Goole last Friday and our first call didn’t take us very far, just a few streets away in Goole. However, our next call took us all the way to York where we ended up transferring a patient to York Hospital. I have never got to York so quickly and it was certainly an experience tearing up the A19 with the sirens and blue lights flashing!

"On our return to Goole we were then called out to North Cave which resulted in us heading to Hull Royal Infirmary. Then, on our way back to Goole, we were called to Walkington near Beverley which took us all the way back to Hull Royal Infirmary again. By this time it was the early hours of the morning!

"Because of the way the call handling system works, it didn’t matter that our ambulance was supposed to be based in Goole, if we were the nearest ambulance then we were despatched. That explains why, once we were at Hull Royal Infirmary, we were dispatched to calls in the Hull area, rather than being sent back to Goole. That can mean that sometimes our crews can be some distance from Goole for much of their shift. Obviously, we were not the only crew covering in Goole so the area was not left deserted.

"However, I did find this fact one of the most surprising things of the evenings. I never for a moment thought an ambulance from Goole would be sent to York. I was also surprised that on every one of our calls we arrived to find a Rapid Response Vehicle had already arrived.

"Robin and Emma were great hosts for the evening and I learned much about the service from them. They were able to answer all of my questions and I was struck by their professionalism in dealing with a broader range of incidents than I had expected. It was also interesting to see the interaction between the ambulance crew and the hospitals.

"My visit has certainly given me some food for thought and I would very much like to do this again. If I am elected, I would hope to do this once a year as I think you learn far more actually being at the front line, then you can ever learn from meetings."

There has been so much going on of late, I am finding it quite hard to keep up with my blog so I shall try to catch up over the next few days.

Last week I took some time out to meet with farmers on the Isle of Axholme, courtesy of Caroline Ellis of the NFU. I've done a couple of these meetings through the NFU and have also arranged my own farmers forum with Shadow Minister Jim Paice MP. It is always great meeting with farmers as it is such an important area of policy.

As usual, quite a wide range of topics were raised and they had some genuine concerns which I shall be more than happy to take up if elected. For me, it is vital that we support farmers in staying in business and we have to do that in various ways.

I always said Labour would get nasty in the run up to the election and they are. Poor Keith Moore, their hapless Councillor in Goole, has penned a poisonous letter to the Goole Times this week regarding donations from non-doms.

No mention of Labour's non-dom donor Lord Paul. A close friend of the Prime Minister who apparently gave money to Brown's leadership campaign. He has just been made a Privy Councillor, no connection of course though ...

It looks as though I am going to have to start reminding local people about which party has an MP in the region who is facing prison for allegedly abusing the expenses system. Who was it who was claiming taxpayers money to pay to rent to that same MP ...

Labour should be more careful with their language.