New arrival

In the photo is the latest welcome addition to the family - Michael, son of Andrew and Emma.This means I am now a grandfather. I personally think I am much too young to be called grandad - but others disagree.

At three days old Michael has already joined the Labour Party and is a Liverpool season ticket holder. As you can see from the photo he is blissfully unaware of having taken these these major steps in his life.

Another thought

One day you are 17 years old doing what 17 year olds do and the next minute you are a grandfather with the mind of a 17 year old.

I must stop reading these books.

Thought for the week

We imagine that waking-life is real and that dream-life is unreal, but there does not seem to be any evidence for this belief. Chuang Tzu, in the third century B.C., put it in an amusing way; having dreamed that he was a butterfly flitting from flower to flower, he stated that he was now wondering whether he was then a man dreaming he was a butterfly or whether he was now a butterfly dreaming he was a man. - Wei Wu Wei "Fingers Pointing Toward the Moon"

Beat it Team

The Beat it team will be coming to Ashton between 15th and 19th October. If you know of any area that needs tidying up please contact me.

Zebra Crossing on Bolton Road

Following complaints about the crossing on Bolton Road the local Labour Party organised a petition asking for the crossing to be upgraded. People's concerns were that because it is in a dip motorists are not aware of it and at night it is poorly lit. Over 300 people signed the petition which was handed to me by Ann Rampling - see picture.

This week I will be presenting the petition to the Ashton and Bryn township forum and the Council's Environment Panel for consideration.

Litter pick - Hilton Street area

The members of the local Labour Party carried out a litter pick last Saturday morning in the Hilton Street area. It is part of an on going scheme to keep rid certain areas of Ashton of litter. We intend to do more litter picks around Ashton over the coming weekends.

If you would like to help us or you know of an area that needs cleaning please contact me on 07981509709 or e-mail nigelash@blueyonder.co.uk

Working to win Wigan West

I have spent a lot of my free time recently in the ward of Wigan West helping the Labour candidate Phyll Cullen. Naturally very pleased with the result - Labour won by just under 400 votes. The result in full is as follows:

Phyll Cullen Labour 837
Trevor Beswick Liberal 464
Susan Mather BNP 264
Jim Carmichael Prince CAP 219
Syd Hall Independent 72
Norma Stout Green 60

After this excellent result we will be going on to Wigan Central to fight another by-election and are hopeful of similar result which would be a Labour gain