Life Update

Well so much has happened since my last post at the end of May.  My dear wife's condition deteriorated to the point that she could only go out with the use of a wheelchair.  She could walk short distances around the house and could get upstairs by taking it slowly.  Sadly, Trish pasted away in December and it has a huge affect on me and my life.  Outwardly it may look as if I am dealing with it but in reality I am still devestated and my life is empty without her.  Still, I have to go through the motions of daily life.

In March I was honoured to be re-elected as Chairman of the Isle of Wight Council and my great friend, Connie Cowley did me the honour of becoming my Consort.  Since then engagements have been coming in pretty regularly.   Early, in April we went to Parliament, at the invitation of our MP Andrew Turner, to see Prime Ministers Questions.  What an event!  It seemed like sheer chaos. with MPs jumping up all over the place!  Anyway, it was certainly an experience I would not have missed for the world. 

The Isle of Wight is twinned with Coburg in Bavaria, Germany.   Last night, as Chairman of the Isle of Wight Council I meet with a contingent of visitors from Coburg who happened to be accommodated in the Sandringham Hotel in Sandown.  I invited along the Mayor of Sandown, Gary Young, who presented our visitors with a Sandown plaque.  The photo shows Gary, myself and the Coburg visitors.  

I was invited along to the Shanklin Youth Club by Richard Priest last night.  The youth club is situated in an old church in the centre of Shanklin.  The club is independently run by volunteers who raise their own funds to run the club. I was give a tour of the club and then took part in a photo shoot with club members, the Mayor of Shanklin and the High Sheriff.  I was just so impressed by what these volunteers do and how good the club is. The is a snack bar, disco area, craft and activity rooms.  The children seemed to be having a whale of a time! 

I must take our youth club volunteers from Sandown to have a look at the Shanklin Club as they may want to adopt some of the things that area done in Shanklin.

Last night I attend the Community Action Awards evening at the Riverside Centre in Newport.  The Awards are for volunteers from the Island who make the greatest contributions in there particular category.  Hundreds of people and organisations are entered. These are short listed and then a team of judges visits each organisation to make the final selections.  As the Chairman of the IW Council I presented the awards for the Communities category because the IW Council sponsors that category.  It was great to see so many people who give their own time for the benefit - Well done to them all!










Sandown Beach Gets Awarded The Coverted Blue Flag - Yet Again!

It's really excellent news that Sandown Beach has, yet again, been awarded the Blue Flag Award.  There were concerns that the change in beach safety measures would exclude Sandown from the award.  I do hope that such concerns have now been allayed.  Yesterday, I was supposed to run the Flag up the pole - but there was no wind!  So, a senior council officer and myself held it between us for the photo shoot.  Yet another feather in Sandown's Cap!
 

Chairman's Theme - Encouraging Business

When I was appointed as the chairman of the IW Council I said that I wanted to use my term to 'Encourage Business'.  Business is so important to our community because it creates jobs which in turn creates prosperity for residents.  I want to improve communications between the business community and the IW Council so each understands the problems and hurdles faced by them both.  Yesterday I meet with the President and Chief Executive of the Chamber of Commerce and we had an extremely productive meeting where we discussed how we could raise the profile of businesses and help them to develop by working together.  I am really looking forward to working with them over the next year.

Appointed as Chairman of the Isle of Wight Council

Last night at the Annual Council Meeting I was honoured to be appointed as the Chairman of the Isle of Wight Council.  Although I was the Vice Chairman previously and it would normally be regarded as automatic to move up to the Chairman's appointment,  however, we had the small matter of an election and the Conservative were no longer in control.  I am very pleased to say that the Independent group who are now in control still offered me the appointment. 

My chosen charities are John's Club and St Vincent care home for military veterans.  In addition, I want to use my term as Chairman to improve the links and communications between business and the council.  I am looking forward to my term and hope to contribute towards the improvement of the Island.

The Great Sandown High Street Clean Up

Cllr's Raj Patel and Ian Ward

The band of cleaners just about to start.

Sunday 5th May saw pproximately 35 Sandown Residents under the organisation of the Sandown Business Association and Rappinui gather to clean up Sandown High Street shops and street furniture.  The task lasted 3 hours and the volunteer's efforts certainly made a difference to the appearance of the High Street.  The various pictures shows the volunteers of the job!

Independents did not win, Conservatives lost

Well, I've had a good look at the the election results and have concluded that the Independents did not win the election, we Conservatives lost it to the UKIP vote.  Although UKIP only won two seats they actually got a significant number of votes in eight other Wards that they took the majority away from the Conservative candidates.  With those addition eight seats the Conservatives would have won 23 seats and thus retained control of the IW Council.  Here in my Ward of Sandown South the UKIP candidate, who lives in Wootton,  never visited the Ward during the campaign and never even delivered a leaflet, yet she came second!  Beating the local Independent into third place.  So, it looks as if UKIP are our competitors, not the Independents!

Thank You!

I'd like to thank all those kind people in Sandown who voted for Raj Patel and I in the local elections Sandown Town Council and the IW Council. The Conservatives have not been popular at national or local level over the last few years so it is no wonder that local Conservatives did not retain control of the IW Council.  Anyway, thank you all again and we promise to work for Sandown in the years to come.