Richard Baum

April saw the election campaign reach fever pitch. We were canvassing every night, and I thoroughly enjoyed the chance to meet hundreds of local people. It’s only the lucky few of us who get the chance to meet so many great people, and I was truly humbled at the support I was getting from complete strangers pleased with what we were trying to do.

APril was Passover for Jewish residents, and we welcomed the Council’s move to increase waste collections in certain areas at this time to cope with the increased demand.

There was more good news when the Council confirmed that our request to make the St Ann’s Road / Bury New Road junction safer had been granted.

I was joined on the canvass trail by Chris Davies MEP, who joined me in meeting some residents in Rainsough. And as the closure of Metrolink loomed, I kept up the pressure on GMPTE to provide more information and assurances to local people that replacement buses would be appropriate to the needs of both travellers and residents.

I was involved in a planning application for parking restrictions on St Mary’s Roadand consulted with local people through a residents letter. Voting in the elections actually began, with postal ballots sent off in the weeks before polling day. And I began my countdown to the most important day of my life by reminding the people of St Mary’s of the contrast between years of Labour neglect and what I hoped would be a bright future with the Lib Dems.

Rick