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The JourneyPOLITICAL
Welcome to the start
This will document my experiences as I meet people and learn politics.
From the raw beginnings and the ground up, lets see where this leads.
I hope you join me and see me as a person you might vote for.
of my political journey
Pulled my hair and ranted at the TV!
Who’s not?
This is why I feel the need to do something.
If I don’t then I only have myself to blame for not trying.
It maybe that, the way they are doing it is the only way?
There’s only one way to find out and that’s to try myself!
So this is my ‘something about it’ and that is what I am going to do.
I am going to try and become a Councillor and MP……………. How hard can it be?
Talked to MP's & Councillors.
Emailed and asked for help and advice. Some helpful, some not.
The start point is still the same, putting my name in the hat.
It feels that the only way to find out the facts is by stepping in with two feet. So I have, and will start with the local elections May 4th 2023.
Went to my first Parish Council meeting.
And those feet got stuck in to the local spectator sport of pond cleaning.
Election Paperwork submitted.
Parish and Ward.
May 4th 2023 - Vote Weaden!!!!!
The papework for this is an interesting process. I went in with nicely presented and written forms, and ended up handing over a mistake written mess. Filling these in is a test in it’s self, but they are in and my names down!
So, What am I doing?
What are the rules to this game?
What is a Ward, Parish and District?
You would think that information would be easy to find out? Simply as popping on to the local parish council website? or ask some simple questions and getting some well-developed handbook?……NOPE!!……nothing that is easy to find.
And I think this is the first issue I have with people that hold authority, it’s like it’s held has a secret and only a privilege to have this knowledge, like some school playground clique and used to make you look stupid for not understanding.
This information should be simple for any person, at any age to find out and get educated on.
I will try my best to share the knowledge and links I find, and explain it in normal tongue!
Getting out there. Build a website.
People need to know who they are voting for.
My search on the internet doesn’t find seem to be much out the other local candidates.
This is definitly going to be a good thing to have so people to know who I am.
……….and who is that??……..great question Weaden!…….haha……..who are you?
Self promoting is actually interestingly uncomfortable for me.
Filled with ‘what are people going to think’ and at the same time ‘this is me, this is who I am’.
This isn’t the worry of ‘what people think’, it is the weirdness of editing myself.
Election
Flyer
of course I need the traditional doorstep flyer.
I have had a few local councillor candidate flyers come through my letter box in the last week. I see how and what they are messaging.
Interestingly they don’t really say anything about what they will do fully, lots of open statements, suppose that’s all they can do?
They have all been ‘party’ candidates so far. I’m doing this on my own, so my messaging needs to be clear and strong to compete.
...can't forget some good old S&M
Social Media
is a must.
Wow Here already!
This is now real!!
2000 flyers with my head on them!!!
Time to start door stepping.
7 day countdown to the 4th May.
2thooousand
homes in 3 days.
600+ letter boxes posted on the first day.
It took some practice to get a smooth letterbox action.
I can now spot how a letter box will open from 30 feet away and know how to put a flyer in so it hangs just right on the other side, or flips onto the side I want showing.
No one warned me about the dogs and getting a RED letter box hand or the skin loss from hand exiting the letter box!!
Posting these is a CONTACT SPORT. Another 600+ houses and I have the wear & tear to show it.
Nice to have people talk to me about their views on Herefordshire and the other candidates. VERY interesting.
It is underestimated how hard walking around the roads, cul-de-sacs and winding estates is.
You need fancy footwork. Moving past security gnomes, being careful not to step on the grass and having to U-turn at every door. Bending down to those low letter boxes is actually a challenge after 4 hours of plodding the pavement.
It’s been hot and sunny and have a burnt head. Getting heat stroke and dehydrated would’ve of been slightly embarrassing….ha….
Reality is
there is no infrastructure, no shops anywhere within these areas or close by to get a drink!
Society is forced to drive.
Lots of empty houses.
Strangely, I’m observing, lots of empty houses in the ward. I’m not talking about the ‘New Builds’ which haven’t sold yet, these empty houses are in the older established areas of the Holmer Ward.
This is another area that I will investigate because it goes against the narrative of needing more houses built. It feels that the solution to the issue of no available homes has possibly snowballed beyond the reality. Maybe it’s just the economic and social impact of the last 3 years, stuck in systemic stagnation and policy purgatory, until momentum picks up again.
Success!
Success!
Success!
I'm in - Automatic Parish Council seat - Uncontested.
Uncontested place is because only 6 people put in the paperwork and there is lots more seats avaliable.
I’ll take the uncontested seat as a success.
I have a creative team helping with some advertising, they may have gone a bit too far.......haha
Back to the serious stuff - Polling day is here!!
Last attempt at getting a few extra votes.
Harassing people isn’t my thing. But wearing a slogan T-Shirt and standing at the entrance is something I am happy to try.
Fellow local Candidate John Phipps joins me, from what I know of him so far, he’s a connected fella and made his name in the builder community. He saw me earlier and it’s good that he’s copying me, more the merrier. John’s also running as TRUE independent. I’m not sure of the difference yet.
Overheard gossip says that some independents are running to spoil and split the independent votes for the benefit of a bigger party? That’s quite a tactic and not nice for people to say if it’s untrue. I have no idea about this but starts me on an education of potential political tactics. I’ll cover more about this later.
Two very angry people call me ‘ageist and rude’.
Poor John didn’t know where to look. They didn’t like my leaflet and did not want to talk, and got even angrier when I asked if they had gone onto my website. The reaction was, “I’m not bloody looking at websites” and stormed off. Neither had looked at my website. I don’t expect that they are the last who feel this way. Respect to them for at least telling me how they felt. Oh well, I really hope they will look at this website, see my earnest motives and see that…….
…….in a way they are right.
I am asking young people to take responsibilty and get involved.
I stayed until 8.30pm.
I think standing in the dark would have been slighlty creepy.
Off to the local pub for a well earned pint and scratchings.
Nothing more I can do. The count starts at 8.30am tommorrow (5th May).
Whatever the total,
I have started.
Amazing, I have had good effect.
First time voters!!
These great people came and voted because of my leaflet. They like my drive for young people!
You can make a difference on your own, you don't need to wait for others to give you permission.
Ok, Ok....maybe too far....ha
8.30 the doors to the counting hall open. You need to line up and get your entrance band using your ticket from the council. I’m on my own today but others have teams with them to support and do some unofficial statistics counting at the verification stage.
Get Ready, Get Steady, Take your corner, Let the Count Begin.
Verification is where the boxes are opened and the papers are intially filtered to check they are correctly marked.
No pictures are allowed to be taken, so this next bit will be hard to explain.
At this stage swarms of party counters stand and monitor the bits of paper being checked and make an unofficial tally of what they can see has a cross against a name. The people checking the papers put them into piles of 20. This is just to get the total number of votes.
Making sense so far? I will make this clearer on my ‘How to’ guide.
This hive of busy party tallyers help work out the footprints of success/failure. It helps them work out what areas need more work or have been good for them. This is because the official overall totals do not breakdown votes to this level of detail. Mainly, it also gives a fair assesssment to who is going to win.
only 33% of people voted
The verification statement is then made official (if this picture is not allowed then please tell me!!!… I believe it is ok because this was an official notice and the count is now over so nothing can be affected + loads of other were doing this, one getting told off all getting told off). I will do an artical on this and the voting numbers. It will be interesting to compare the previous election and investigate why only 33% of people vote.
Looking over there shoulders and at there tally boards…………
I am a soild 5th place.
I am starting to see some concerned candidates. Some have a lot riding on this. The lead up to this day is very important for them, a lot of personal effort has been put in, regardless of their political allegiance, they are good people, that care and are trying to give people options, that’s not easy and have my respect.
And now the official counting starts.
The initail flourish of excitement has melted, the count begins and now the wait for results.
Each district is called and the candidates go to see Paul Walker (Retuning Officer) to get told the result before it is announced.
The COUNT
Tea, Coffee and team photos. Main Party MP’s and organisers seem to be the centre of attention.
Lib Dems go out en mass for a team photo.
MP’s Jesse Norman and Bill Wiggins are here to support their candidates. Fair play, they speak to everyone and at the end of the day it’s supporting the democratic process, not just their own party.
Also a well deserved chuck up to The Green Party. Happiest party by a mile. Keep smiling!
The WAIT
The RECOUNT
A big fella, from the Lib Dems, blunders past all of us and storms, rather uncouthly, to the front.
Exciting, I’m in a recount!! Not for me I’m afraid.
Lib Dems have called for it. The race between them and the Conservatives is very close, and there’s murmurring about result getting out on social media earlier than the official announcement.
Paul Walker smiles politely and accepts the order for a bundle recount. Why not a full recount?
This feels like another political tactic. Either way, being barged out the way by the sweaty fella, from the Lib Dem’s, was unpleasant.
The Skill of Names.
MP Jesse Norman has a cracking grasp of this. I have met him before, I asked him for advice about how to become an MP and he was really forthcoming with advice and personally phoned me after my enquiry email. This name skill was on full display when he saw me and, without blinking, said “Mark, how are you? what are you doing here”.
“this was your advice”
Hats off, this is impressive for someone who has only meet me a few times and who meets 100’s of new people every month. Either that or my fat head has a certain memory marker.
The first amusing bit is that it was Jesse himself that advised me to get involved with the local Parish and County Council. The surprise that I was running was great, the new awareness that I was running against his own party’s candidate was priceless. At the time I was stood with 75yr old fellow candidate, Frank Cornthwaite, the well known local biscuit maker. I felt that Frank was little a surprised of the situation and that I, the wild card entry, knew Jesse in such a mutual friendly way. I say ‘mutual’ but this is another social skill Jesse has, he made it feel that way. Jesse seemed to ignore that Frank was there, or remember Frank’s name, and he’s the Conservative candidate….ha…ha…..
95% TRUE STORY.
I’m sure Jesse fully recognised Frank, and he knew in an instant that my vote tally was not going to be a concern………….but I like my version…..
The RESULT
I did 100% better than last year and up by 7%..........
7% of votes*
Thank you!
51 stones that will be built on.
Fantastic Start to my political journey and fine accomplishment.
All from 3 days of doorstepping and standing outside the polling station. 7% of votes*, I have used the Polling Station total because I was unable to canvass before the postal vote, and affect it. I think that’s a fair use of math, albeit self-promoting a higher number……no one else is promoting me so I think can be a little indulgent….ha
Seriously though, and I really mean this.
I have full respect for every single candidate who put effort into standing. I thank every single voter and please believe me when I say this. I have a deep feeling of honour that 50 people, in some way, trust me to do something for them. They may all have different motives for ticking my name and see something different that they like. Everyone has to start somewhere and this is my start, and they ticked it! My advice to anyone is to get stuck in rather than wait for permission. I hope more do.
I promise, your vote will be used respectully and creates the first footing. 51 stones that will be built on.
And I hope the other good people that have voted for the same don’t end up with the same. I hope Frank, the Conservative candidate that was elected, does something with this backing, from the people, and gets the improvements those voters are asking for. I hope the issues in Holmer & Hereford don’t stay the same for another 4 years.
The Journey Continues,
next is the Parish Council,
then the General Elections!
