A Busy Winter

With the rain and the frost, in every walk of life comes more activity. I have been busy launching a Social Action Campaign to keep the place clean and tidy. Along with a number of volunteers we cleaned up the playing fields in Starcross which was very much appreciated by the Parish Council and local residents. Andrew Mitchell MP was there to launch my campaign. It was good to be able to make a real difference.

On Halloween I spent time out with the Newton Abbot police. PC Cayless was very informative as we drove about the town dealing with quite a wide variety of issues. The police take pride in what they do and PC Cayless explained that the reason he had joined the force was to be able to help people. The young need help and advice and the approach he tries to take is to protect them.

We saw some underage youngsters on their way to a Halloween party. They were stopped and the cider and beer they had poured away and the cans crushed. The police diet that night was varied but included a blue light run to attend to a suspected school break in, dealing with a shoplifter and a vagrant and a number of other alcohol related crimes.

I have also been spending some time with the business community. I was made very welcome at Drake's Tooling. While there is a very severe downturn it is clear there is a real opportunity for the engineering sector. This view was reinforced at a meeting I had with the Clydesdale Bank who are looking at a 40% growth in business in this sector. This is something we can build on.

And of course there has been a full diet of meetings and events including a Trafalgar night dinner in Shaldon, Law Day in Newton Abbot with the Court Leet and the Newton Abbot Town Ball and Newton Abbot Civic Service, the Exe Estuary group and a Halloween event in Mamhead to name but a few!