Members of the local community came together last week to form the Greasby Flooding Action Group. Supported by hundreds of members of the community the group was officially formed.

Residents in Greasby have been particulalry badly hit by flooding, this year and last, when there has been heavy rainfall, even though they do not live in a flooding area.

In the most recent incident last month firefighters had to pump 2000 litres of flood water from the back of properties after torrential downpours.

Myself and Wendy Clements, our local Conservative candidate in Greasby, are working with residents to find a solution to this matter. I believe we need a long term strategic plan for the drainage to be sorted, but we also need an immediate action plan so homes are not flooded. The problem as we see it at the moment is that no-one is being held accountable and there are too many fragmented bodies dealing with this, such as Wirral council, the Environment Agency and United Utilities. It’s time all these bodies were brought together and held accountable for this situation. Myself and Wendy will be working with local residents and the newly formed Greasby Flooding Action Group to ensure this happens.

Led by Councillor Tom Anderson and Geoff Gubb, Upton Conservatives raised funds for the RNLI. A Sunday lunch was held with profits and raffle money going to the cause and local artists sold their work with a percentage going to the charity too.

I was delighted to be asked to open the new quad bike track, ‘Pathan Park’ on Leasowe Road.   Pathan Park has been developed by Neil Molloy and his wife Melanie and it is sited to the rear of Molloys Garden Centre on Leasowe Road. 

The Park gives 6 to 13 year olds the chance to experience quad biking in a safe and supervised environment – it also caters for lessons in quad biking and parties.  7 Waves community radio were also at the opening broadcasting the launch live and members of the local police were also there celebrating the opening of a much welcomed community facility.

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Pictured above; the Lord and Lady Mayoress of Chester officially opening the event with some of the women exhibitors.

In the words of Annie Lenox and Aretha Franklin ‘Sisters are doing it for themselves’ – Over 1,000 women in business attended the first Winning Women Business Exhibition that I organised and arranged at Chester Race Course last Thursday.  There really was a vast array of women from a broad cross section of businesses from flooring to finance, accessories to actuaries. Not only was the cross section of businesses vast, the cross section of experience was too, from those just setting up to those who had successfully floated their companies. Dawn Gibbons OBE was there with her new company, having successfully sold her old one (her OBE was for her contribution to manufacturing) and Rachel the MD of MoneyPenny was at the event too having just received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise. It really was a wonderful collection of  Northwest business women.

Above: A Gathered Crowd Listening to Jean Taylor the organiser of Today’s march.

Today at 11.30 people gathered outside the Casa Bar, 29, Hope St, to take part in the ‘Life Means Life Rally’. Family members of murdered children who felt they hadn’t had justice for their murdered children marched from Hope St to the Liverpool Law courts. Once there, underneath the statue of Queen Victoria, family members told their story.

Jean Taylor, who’s beautiful daughter Chantel was murdered, organised today’s march and invited me to take part and say a few words. 

 Among the murdered children honoured today by their families were: Eugene Ogunboro, Kevin Lavelle, Stephen Croft, Andrew Jones, Liam Culshaw and Ryan Dugdale

You could not but be moved by those who spoke – the terrible heartache they have suffered and the dignified manner in which they have lived through their ordeal.  The brutality inflicted on these murdered children and the small sentences received by the perpetrators moved many in the audience to tears.

Above: Pete Price, radio Presenter and journalist who started today’s rally and helps support these families and me, marching to the Law Courts.

I hot-footed from the charity abseil to the Conservative Party Conference held this year at the ICC in Birmingham.

It was a ‘good, optimistic party conference’ to quote David Cameron, but the mood was ’sombre’, reflecting the financial crisis we’re all facing. Approx 15,000 people attended the party conference from an array of backgrounds; business, education, political, media – the buzz of new ideas and the energy of the Conservative Party was palpable, but as DC said  in his main speech, the mood of the country, and that of the conference, was subdued as we all ponder the economy and future state of world finances.

It was a busy few days for me as I met with fellow candidates from right across the country, the only time we really all get to meet one another, I met with business associates, charity representatives and key organisations. I had a meeting with William Hague and interviewed George Osborne for Granada TV. I met with Theresa May too, shadow minister for women, primarily to talk about women in the party and how to increase the number of female MP’s in the House. It’s interesting to note that the first female MP was a Conservative, Lady Astor, the first female PM was a Conservative, Margaret Thatcher and the first female Chair of a Party was a Conservative, Theresa May. Surely that goes some way to prove that the Conservative Party truly is a party based on equality and meritocracy – and although our opponents might say opposite, the facts stand for themselves – other parties lag some way behind on promoting women to the top job!

I came home from the Conference buoyant and optimistic that our party really is the party with the ideas, the courage and the competence to run the country and get the econony back on its feet again.

This is the ‘team of 10′ who abseiled off the Royal Liverpool to raise money for Meols Park.