Another thing in the papers I was throwing out, was a letter from a member of the public praising a retiring councillor. I can remember being a bit surprised by this letter at the time (May 30th again) because very few normal citizens even know the name of their local councillor, and even fewer actually know anything about them.
This letter, about Ben Clay, says how he was a councillor for over 36 years (this is Gordon Seekings’ cue to say that he was not a councillor for some of those years) and lists all sorts of achievements:
It ends like this:
Come on Crawley let’s not forget Ben and all the work he has done for us, let us campaign for some sort of recognition, a road, a building, a monument? You choose. Send your thoughts and ideas to the Crawley Observer and hopefully let’s get Ben the recognition he deserves.
I was quite impressed at the time, as it is not normal for councillors to attract that sort of glowing praise and hyperbole from their constituents, or to attract fans who would know what committees and groups they have been on.
It was only later that someone mentioned to me that the Sue McNaughton who wrote the letter is actually Ben Clay’s daughter… ho hum.
So far I am not aware of any flood of letters to the Crawley Observer suggesting Saddam-style statues to be erected in the Memorial Gardens or anything like that.
“(this is Gordon Seekings’ cue to say that he was not a councillor for some of those years)”
And right on cue I can say that he was defeated after 16 years in Northgate by me. He re-stood in Northgate 4 years later and was again defeated by me. The following year he was elected to represent Ifield where he was for the remaindr of the 36 years.
I’ve had many run ins with Ben over the years and I’m sure if he was still on the Council there would be many more.
Over the years however I think he, and me, have both mellowed and we did find ourselves agreeing on many issues in the last few years. Not sure if either of us were pleased at that though….. :-((
“(this is Gordon Seekings’ cue to say that he was not a councillor for some of those years)”
I’ll bite.
Ben was defeated after 16 years by me in the Northgate Ward. He re-stood four years later and was again defeated. The following year he was elected in Ifield where he remained for the rest of the 36 years.
Ben and myself had more than a few run ins with each other in those years. I would say though that in recent years he, and me, must have mellowed as we found ourselves agreeing on more than a couple of isses – much to our mutual embaressment. :-((