Comedians and Pension Fund Meetings

A week in the life of a local councillor as told by Sam Hearn

Cllr Sam Hearn who represents the Riverside ward in Chiswick, is chairman of the Chiswick Area Forum. He has written this account of his week as a busy local councillor

Friday 12 th June: Picked up some canvassing sheets for campaigning in the Brentford By-Election. Downloaded and perused the agenda and a couple of papers for next week’s Pension Fund Investment panel.

Saturday 13 th June: To Brentford forby-election canvassing. We attended the wedding of political compadre, Celia Surtees, who is now Mrs Celia Charlwood in the afternoon. It was a full on traditional Anglican wedding with amazing singing and music. Confusion reigned for some because the bride’s father, Simon, is an identical twin. I think that I thanked the wrong man at the end of the evening.

Sunday 14 th June: Jongleur’s Comedy Night fundraiser for St Paul’s Grove Park using the marquee left over from the wedding. The master of ceremonies, comedian Marc Dolan, kept things rolling along. All the acts were different and great but the final “turn” John Maloney was side-splittingly funny. Strange to relate I managed to have quite a long chat with Mary Macleod between the acts.

Monday 15 th June: Trying to catch up on casework. Many of the issues raised do not have easy answers.

Tuesday 16 th June: An observer at a meeting of the Hounslow Pension Fund Investment Panel. As I arrived the Chairman left hurriedly muttering in explanation “We are a grandfather … for the first time”. The fund now has £800m under management so potentially these are some of the more interesting meetings at the Civic Centre. Members of the public were as usual noticeable by their absence. I guess the jargon and the acronyms can be impenetrable.

Wednesday 17 th June: Invited round for a “just few drinks and some nibbles” at a friend’s house within walking distance of home. It turned out to be quite a big event with lots of familiar faces.

Thursday 18 th June: In Brentford this evening for another canvassing session. North of the A4 near to Boston Manor. Distant memories floated to the surface of fighting the same ward myself long, long ago.

June 19, 2015