Romsey Advertiser - 2 May 2008

Written by Sandra Gidley on Fri 2nd May 2008

Last Saturday I had a welcome escape from elections because I spent the evening at the Plaza. RAODS were putting on a production of Sweet Charity and it was up to their usual high standard.

The next day the abbey was packed as the local scouts and guides celebrated St George's Day. It was an extra special occasion as they were also celebrating 100 years of Scouting in Romsey. The event was followed by a tea (great cakes) which was very relaxed with a few short speeches and award presentations. It was good to hear that numbers of young people involved in scouting and guiding have increased.

We all had to be present and correct early in Westminster on Monday as the Finance Bill was under consideration and there were a number of amendments, some of them relating to the ten percent rate of income tax. Potentially the debate could have continued until any hour but I was back in my flat before midnight so it was not too bad.

On Tuesday morning I was up bright and early to chair a meeting on the Cancer Reform Strategy which was organised by the Westminster Food and Health forum. There was lively debate but also a certain amount of frustration that although cancer survival rates are improving the gap between us and Europe is staying fairly constant.

In the evening I attended the Good Egg awards organised by Compassion in World Farming. I support their events where possible but the added attraction here was that I had been told that Hampshire County Council had been nominated for an award. The event was unusually well attended by MPs and I couldn't help wondering whether part of the attraction was Joanna Lumley who was presenting the prizes.

As I was queuing up to enter I found myself next to Cllr Mike Woodhall who was there to collect the prize on behalf of the council. HCC had been given the award because all of the whole eggs it uses in its catering operations, including schools, are free range. Given that it is the largest County Council in the Country this is no mean achievement. Mike gave a stirring acceptance speech which turned into a short commercial for Hampshire food. The only thing he forgot to mention was the excellent Hampshire wine.

Things are tailing off towards the end of the week as there are elections in many parts of the country. Locally, there are elections in the Southampton part of the constituency so I am looking forward to the first weekend for a while which will not involve knocking on doors. Have a good Bank Holiday weekend!