Let there be light

Have spent the week recovering from my operation last week. Frankly felt very poorly most of the week. I found that if I sat on the sofa and didn't move to the left or to the right I was alright. Any movement and....

Despite this the ward work still piled up. I was in Newtown of an evening and noticed a lot of street lights out of order, so this necessitated some calls to the council to get the lights fixed. Once I had started the lights seemed to be out everywhere, so lots of phone calls to get them fixed.

Monday evening we brought the PCSO petition to the Council. Kelly, the Labour Candidate in Redlands made a very good speech to the Cabinet about the importance placed by residents and students on the PCSO's. I couldn't stay to late to hear the whole Cabinet as I was feeling a bit sore. As you can imagine my wife is very supportive to what I do but she has pointed out that I am supposed to be recouperating. Monday evening I thought she had a point.

I got a phone call on Wednesday to remind me that there was a governor meeting that I needed to go to. A couple of painkllers later then I appeared at the Community Committee meeting and ended up as Chair. I have to say it wasn't the best meeting I have chaired I am looking forward to the work we have to do. The painkillers were really strong and I felt quite strange at the meeting. Then to bed.

By the middle of the week I was fading again and so reverted to my sofa to try and feel better.

Some People Really Get my nerves

Sometimes things really get you down. This week parents parking dangerously where I lollipop at Alfred Sutton school combined with the rain to really get me down.

Everyday I was on duty it honked down with rain, never nice and then on Monday, the owner of this car had the gaul to simply lock his car and walk away when I asked him to move his car so that I could man the crossing point safely.

To say I was cross was an understatement. I was furious. The driver looked so smug when he walked away.

So what do you do when you only have a lollipop stick to defend yourself with? My other main weapon of defence is my mobile phone. Not only was I able to take this piccy for posterity but I was able to ring my supervisor to moan about the problems. Last week a cyclist, with child on the seat at the back, road through the crossing while I was standing in the middle of the road.

My supervisor was on the case really quickly and on Wednesday I had visitors, a PC, 2 PCSO's and a couple of parking wardens. I felt very special and in general parents, drivers and cyclists behaved themselves. Believe it or not though there were still enough people parking illegally or cycling through the crossing to keep the forces of law and order busy.

I was pleased to see the support and a lot of parents told me how happy they were to see the Police and others taking the problem seriously. What the people who were spoken to by the Police say, unfortunately this wasn't recorded........

Richard McKenzie backs the PCSO's

Had a quieter week last week as it was half term. Still found time to work on the petition for the PCSO's.

This is a very important campaign and the University has now been presented with the petition that we gathered from around Park, Redlands and Church. I was amazed at how many people were happy to sign.

Strangely enough I bumped in to the Green who said that he wouldn't sign our petition on campus the other day. I mentioned to him that we were a bit surprised at his stance, but he didn't really have a good answer as to why a Green wouldn't want to sign a petition to support the PCSO's. Shame really.

Following the work we did in the Ward, we are still getting positive comments about our campaign and I hope that there will be further follow ups soon.

Enjoyed half term with the family, although I still had to work and study, I had almost every evening free during the week and it was really, really nice to spend time with Kath and chat round the things in our lives. Trying to get elected and having a family is a strain on all, however I does help to keep you grounded and in touch with real life.

Richard McKenzie spends weekend campaigning for PCSO's

Spent a lovely weekend with my children....oh but what about the campaigning?

Well they, strangely enough, wanted to come campaigning with their dad. What were we campaigning about? The Uni's decision to stop funding the PCSO's.

I am really pleased with the response we have been getting. We knocked on literally hundreds of doors and almost everyone wanted to sign our petition to save the PCSO's. Strangely enough the only person that wouldn't sign was a supporter of the Green Party, which was a shame.

On our way we also bumped in to some of the editorial team of the Student Uni newspaper, Spark and talked to them about the issue. So it was a very useful weekend. As is the way with any kind of street work we picked up lots of other Ward work which we will follow up in due course.

Of course the fight to retain the funding for the PCSO's goes on, you can still sign Anneleise's petition at: http://www.anneliesedodds.org/sign-our-petition-against-cuts-to-pcso-funding . I urge all residents and students to sign, no matter what political party you are. This is something that the Uni really should think again about.

No PCSO's Today

Have read in the paper that the Uni has withdrawn its funding for the PCSO's am exceedingly cross. Not only have they helped reduced Anti-Social Behaviour and the fear of crime in the area, they have been extremely helpful to me while I am lollipoping.

The PCSO's have worked with me to ensure that no one threatens me and also to reduce the amount of illegal parking which makes it dangerous for the children to cross the road.

I am writing to the University to demand that they review the decision and will also be writing to the Council asking them to support the PCSO's. I also urge all Park Residents to write to the Uni. The more people who write the more pressure the Uni will feel to take in to account locals' and students' feelings about the issue.

Please write to Vice Chancellor Prof Tony Downes c/o Reading University, Whiteknights, Reading.