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Conservatives in Strood (Medway)
I am expecting to move home to Rochester within the next few months, saying goodbye to "Chateau John" after more than twelve years. It will be a sad time in some ways, but if I manage to secure the flat I am after, off Shorts Way near Borstal Village in Rochester, I shall have an elevated view over the River Medway looking toward Strood.
I am expecting to face new challenges and to experience fresh adventures in the new location; but whatever transpires I shall be nearer to the heart of…
Posted by John M Ward on 11th June 2009 at 4:53pm — 1 Comment
Posted by John M Ward on 7th February 2009 at 11:32pm — No Comments
Posted by John M Ward on 5th February 2009 at 6:19pm — No Comments
Once more the festive season in Medway will finally kick off in spectacular style this weekend as the World-famous Dickensian Christmas festival sees the streets and precincts of Rochester play host to visitors not just f…Posted by Chris Irvine on 4th December 2008 at 2:01pm — No Comments
I keep getting confused when I'm typing in the web address for the site...anyone else having the same problem? Damn that Spike Milligan!
Posted by Chris Irvine on 2nd December 2008 at 9:02pm — 1 Comment
As a lifelong ABBA fan, I've avoided this film like the plague since it was released. Don't ask me why because you would have thought that I would have been one of the first in the queue to see the movie, but...I dunno, in the back of my mind, I had this feeling th…
Posted by Chris Irvine on 29th November 2008 at 11:34pm — No Comments
Whilst other local Conservative members where out braving the chill winds from the Medway in Strood, I had the relatively easy gig of helping out for local charity MASH (Medway Asthma Self-Help)* at their Christmas fundraiser in Rainham.
When the call came I was more than happy to help out for such a deserving cause. I've actually come to the conclusion that it might be a good idea if the next Government actually made it a requirement that everyone should parti…
Posted by Chris Irvine on 29th November 2008 at 7:17pm — No Comments
Anyone who has ever faced the threat of redundancy, as I have, can surely sympathise with the workers at Woolies today who will be worrying about what the future holds for them and their families. This will be further exacerbated due to the timing of Woolworths' demise during the run-up to Christmas. I can o…Posted by Chris Irvine on 28th November 2008 at 12:49pm — No Comments
I have now had cause to try Facebook — something I had successfully avoided since its inception. By comparison with Strood Conservatives, it does feel very 'clunky' and distinctly awkward in places.
There are lots of inconsistencies, it doesn't have the bold, italic and other text enhancement buttons, and it has the ghastly Captcha word verification method. Not only is that more-or-less illegible, and there are two words to enter, it also tends to pop up separately;…
Posted by John M Ward on 26th November 2008 at 2:47am — 2 Comments
Yup, thought that would get your attention. I am of course talking about losing my doorstepping virginity. A group of us hit one of the wards today to try and get some feedback from local residents on what were the local and national issues that matter most to them, and to hopefully get their opinion and feedback.
This was my first experience of approaching other members of the public directly in aid of the Conservatives, and I have to say I thought it went quite well. I must admit to…
Posted by Chris Irvine on 23rd November 2008 at 1:34am — 2 Comments
|Here's a little fun exercise for Strood Conservatives' readers.
A lot of blogsites use "word verification" to allow comments through, to make it impossible (as matters stand) for automated message-posting "robots", as they are called, to post spam messages. Without this manual input of a string of characters that are designed to be unreadable by Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, such sites would be flooded with junk. I know: I've seen it while being temporary admin o…
Posted by John M Ward on 17th November 2008 at 12:29pm — No Comments
"Members will be aware that the London Mayor, B…
Posted by John M Ward on 14th November 2008 at 1:01am — No Comments
I have, as usual, been following at least some of the Liberal Democrats' conference this week, and remembered that they as a political party don't usually bother much with Strood. Perhaps they don't consider Strood to be important.
Indeed, in last year's local elections they put up no candidates at all in Strood South and Strood Rural wards, and their candidates in Strood North ward gained only 400 or so votes, against the more than one-and-a-half thousand votes that the Conservatives p…
Posted by John M Ward on 18th September 2008 at 1:12am — No Comments
I attended the funeral on Tuesday of a dear man who had fought cancer on and off for years, going through treatment, stoic to the end. The service was held in “All Saints” church at Church Green, Frindsbury, a landmark part of Strood and viewable from many parts of the town.
…
Posted by Jane Etheridge on 30th May 2008 at 1:12pm — No Comments
Following a call from an alert resident a few weeks ago who had noticed a gate had been broken down and a building broken into, I alerted Council Officers to investigate. When the Warden arrived that morning, Travellers were in situ. The site was actually owned by Railtrack, but the building concerned had been some months before set alight and was not a safe place to be.
Strood station’s surrounding area (riverside), is not the most welcoming sites at the best of times and until the re…
Posted by Jane Etheridge on 1st May 2008 at 1:21pm — 2 Comments
A word of warning for all. Our car was parked in Staples in Chatham on a recent Sunday evening when the shop was shut. A company called G24 then sent a "Charge Certificate" demanding payment of £95 for a parking violation. This stated that I was liable to pay as the registered keeper.
Legally, any claim which they have is contractual and not criminal under the Road Traffic Act. As such, it is only the driver or person who was in control of the car at the time who has a potential liabili…
Posted by Paul Oakley on 31st March 2008 at 1:03pm — No Comments
Now that the question of a new Academy school in Strood -- to replace and add to what has already been achieved at Chapter and Temple Schools in Strood -- has been settled (yesterday evening), it is perhaps time to look back at how we got here. I shall not go into detail, but some of that is contained within my own writings on the matter on my own 'blog:
Posted by John M Ward on 18th March 2008 at 3:54pm — 1 Comment
There is so much negativity around Medway from some quarters, especially the "Medway knockers" (Councillor Alan Jarrett's name for the LibDems), that I thought we all need a bit of a boost, especially at this season of the year. I have therefore collected together a selection of short videos on my blog that remind us of some of what is already happening right here on our doorsteps. There is so much mo…
Posted by John M Ward on 14th December 2007 at 6:05pm — No Comments
This blogging business, that is.
I recently created a "Blogger/Google" account, to show that what I wrote on such sites as Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes was really from me -- there have been forged posts purporting to come from other contributors. This account creation was a fairly elaborate and lengthy procedure, so I thought I might as well gain more benefit for all that effort than merely having a…
Posted by John M Ward on 13th December 2007 at 2:39pm — 2 Comments
This is the name now given to the ongoing stream of donation irregularities coming to public attention in respect of monies given to the Labour Party. Oh, the journos have got their investigative teeth into this one now! Despite the best efforts of Labour MPs and Ministers, and their "good buddies" in much of the mainstream media to keep this down (including various diversionary tactics), there is no way this is going to be left alone now!
To some extent, this saga is being driven by th…
Posted by John M Ward on 2nd December 2007 at 12:16pm — 1 Comment
Is it just me or anyone else having trouble understanding the way Medway Council runs their council tax payment system. I am upto date with my payment, I know because I spoke to someone in September as there was a misunderstanding then I paid October give or take two to three days late and my next payment due on 24 Nov. But guess what no letters or anything for the past two months then suddenly today I get a summons to go to court in December with a £60 excess....... Anyone knows what's going on…
Posted by Harish Betchoo on 16th November 2007 at 5:04pm — No Comments
The news coming out of the troubled nation of Pakistan in recent days has been worrying, though not entirely unexpected. Militarily-run countries always have difficulty coping with any kind of challenge to their absolute authority, and their natural recourse to any such perceived threat is to apply the only remedy they know, which is a military solution.
Thus we see what has happened in response to the desire by civilian political parties to hold a truly democratic election in January n…
Posted by John M Ward on 4th November 2007 at 1:10pm — No Comments
We are all aware of the decline in behavioural standards in society in general, ever since the reduction in disincentives to crime and other behaviour issues during (mostly) the past ten years. Society was not perfect before then, and some aspects have improved since, albeit only slightly. As usual, it is not a black-and-white story.
However, what I wish to address today is the standard of conduct of elected representatives -- councillors like me -- who should be setting examples for ot…
Posted by John M Ward on 31st October 2007 at 4:10pm — 1 Comment
Many of the problems we have with opposition groups on Medway Council (and I'm sure it must be much the same elsewhere in the country) is that they are stuck in the past. This is especially true of long-standing (or should that be "long-sitting"?) Labour members of the Council.
They tend to be the most reactionary, opposed to just about everything -- including, funnily enough, much of what their own Government is proposing, for which we get compliments from Ministers for implemen…
Posted by John M Ward on 24th October 2007 at 12:58am — No Comments
Cameron's conference speech - from "I'm not sure to, I will fight for that man".
Click onto this to see my blog on Medway's own edition of the Kent on Sunday. If anyone is interested in getting a platform, get in touch.
http://editions.pagesuite.co.uk//PageSuite3.aspx?page=1&s…
Posted by Janice Small on 10th October 2007 at 10:01pm — 1 Comment
Adding some photographs here a few hours ago reminded me of just how few of my activities as a Councillor have in fact have been thus recorded.
Why is this? Because I am the one with the camera! Therefore I am generally the one taking the pictures. I am not often in photos myself. Thus the handful of photos I have uploaded represent only a tiny fraction of the activities in which I ha…
Posted by John M Ward on 15th September 2007 at 2:45am — No Comments
Posted by Martin Macdonald on 8th September 2007 at 11:35am — No Comments
It's amazing the diversity of issues and campaigns I get involved in as a councillor. Back around 2000 I got involved in bringing an idea from the community (Cuxton) following a meeting with Roger Savage for a country park with a difference. The idea meant that it wouldn't be man-made and would respect the natural countryside. At the time Roger was a Cuxton Parish Councillor and resident of Cuxton. Roger was someone with so much enthusia…
Posted by Jane Etheridge on 20th August 2007 at 5:54pm — No Comments
I became a Councillor because I was asked to stand. I had always been interested in people and involved in Party Politics and the community. I was particularly keen on issues affecting young people and had person…
Posted by Martin Macdonald on 13th August 2007 at 3:00pm — 1 Comment
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