Romsey Advertiser - 4 June 2008

Written by Sandra Gidley on Wed 4th Jun 2008

My diary last Friday combined health and local interests. A visit to a clinic run by the British Pregnancy Advice Service was followed by a quick visit to Romsey Hospital at the behest of a retired midwife. She had heard that the antenatal rooms, allocated to the midwives, kept changing and was concerned about the future. I am happy to report that the midwives will have a permanent home shortly and will be able to unpack some of the packing boxes.

I was also told that the new midwife led unit at Ashurst will be open on the 1st September. Hopefully there will be no further delays although I have since heard doubts expressed that the unit will be ready on that date.

On Monday I moved my surgery forwards so that I could take part in a very special visit by the Queen. The occasion was billed as a reception and lunch in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen on board the QE2. The QE2 is, sadly, going to Dubai so this was something of a farewell occasion and the Queen unveiled a picture of the QE2 which will be presented to the people of Southampton.

It felt like a very special occasion but it was soon back to reality. A mad dash back to Westminster and the gym followed by an evening trying to reduce the size of the inbox. At the moment I try and respond to everybody personally but the volume of e mails has increased dramatically over the past few years. This is not a problem when it comes to constituents but technology makes it easy for an individual to copy every single MP in on their letter and this is becoming an increasing frustration. Mind you - I do not want to resort to the situation used by some MPs in which their researchers print out every e mail. This does not seem very sustainable to me.

Most of the week has been divided between the office and a series of portfolio related meetings. There was some light relief on Wednesday afternoon when I entertained some constituents who had bid for "tea on the terrace" at a local charity auction. Unfortunately it was pouring with rain so we had to make do with the Pujin room. The compensation was that they do a much better tea.

I am staying on for the Private Members business on Friday as I want to support the attempt to lower the voting age to 16. This is party policy but I think it is a good idea anyway. What has surprised me is that when I have visited local schools in the past I have been surprised that many young people are not entirely enthusiastic about the idea. When questioned they say that they do not know enough about the voting system. I ask them whether they will know more in 2 years time. Most of them laugh at that point as they realise that they will probably be little the wiser. At that age they are adult enough to marry but apparently not adult enough to vote and have a say about those who will influence their everyday life. It did occur to me that if 16 year olds can vote then schools could have a positive influence in encouraging people to take part in decisions which will ultimately have an impact upon every sphere of their everyday life.