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On river parish council i thought it was such a sought after seat, so who called the election?
on bill newman a kinder man there never was, and is.
when i joined the labour party 25 years ago it was in the middle of fighting the militant party who had infiltrated the labour party at the time.
i joined the priory branch of the party and it was like a war zone, spoke to bill who was very active at the time in the labour party as i felt iike leaving, but with his guidance he took me under his wing, and have to say i learnt so much from him.
he encouraged me to join the district council which with his guidance i won the seat at the first attempt and in a marginal seat held for 25 years
he encouraged me then to join the county council which i held for 13 years
together we worked closely as county members, including monthly visits to schools
and in around al the communities.
bill had the respect locally as a true gentleman, but also at county hall he had the respect of all threee parties, often gaining support for things he put forward and pushing them through with tories voting with him.
but bill was also the community champion, apart from all the work he did in the communities, he also worked hard when the school closures came about
the old st radigunds/melbourne closures, he made sure everyones voice was heard, and worked hard with the parents/teachers
and the officers/politicians wanting to push through these unpopular closures knew bill was around.
but with Bill he was a gentleman and could relate and put people at ease in any situation(something i learnt a lot from and used myself in future years)
whether he was with the royal family, or an everyday member of the public he never lacked the interest and was so enthusiastic.
Bill deserves his award, and have to say a big thankyou myself to him, without him i wouldn't have remained in the forefront of politics so long
a few other examples of bill you might like to know about, he took me to calais for there bi annual event, he was even respected by the mayor of calais
bill not a great french speaker sat down at a big event and tried his broken french to communicate with the mayor who not only impressed me but also the mayor
and they became very much social friends.
in latter years (this is the true bill)at labour meetings when bill disagreed with me he used to lean over to me first to apologise for disagreeing with me!!!! a true gent.
i kept tellng him thats healthy debate, disagree as much as you like and please, no apologies,lol
i think if bill stood for county/district/town today he would have the respect of locals and win the seat.
but he has decided to spend time with his family, and rightly so
well done bill, one of politics few and far between gentlemen
on the school closures the review depended on the 4 or 5 tories who were in favour of the cliosure but bill was so convincing 2 tories voted to go to review thus
it went to review allowing a voice of the people
well done bill mine was was just a snippet of my time with bill