I was up at the crack of dawn, not intentionally, but I was! I guess it was adrenalin.
It was going to be a long day and night so I made sure I had a good breakfast. I then went to Headcorn Polling Station to thank the Returning officers and clerks, then I went to East Sutton, Ulcombe, Grafty Green and Hawkenbury to pay my respects to those Officers also. I stayed on for a while at Hawkenbury with my fellow other Council member, as it was in a pub, so we had a drink! I drank J20 Orange. I then went to my friend and prospective Council member in Staplehurst for a while so I could wish him, John Perry, the best of luck. Naturally whilst I was at the Polling Stations I engaged with many and felt that I was getting a warm reception especially from the many people I knew.
It rained a bit, I got soaked at one point, so I went home to change and have a cup of tea and some food.
I returned to the Headcorn Polling Station and met many more people I knew throughout the afternoon and shared cordial exchanges with many. The UKIP candidate also showed up and offered balloons.It was a cordial exchange and we both agreed that "we do it for the ward". He left whilst I seemed to be frequently engaged with the public. There was an absence of campaigners from the other parties however.
I kept this up for hours. I went home periodically for tea. and at 9pm I had a meal. I returned to the Headcorn Polling station at 9.30pm to see the last voters before I had a short rest and collected the other Council member, not up for election, for the ward and we went to the count for about midnight.
Very little was happening, other than boxes arriving and the votes being emptied out until about 1am. It was also a Euro election so there was more scrutiny of events and times, but nationwide. It was delayed until somebody in Southampton approved. Something to do with ensuring ballot boxes were in the appropriate places! It seemed ages before there was the go-ahead to count. Finally results were announced.
I was announced in the early stages. Headcorn is often last! It was a tight vote with a low turnout, but I got in. There were a few minor frictions during the night between rivals from political divides and despite that many of us shared experiences and concerns, especially with fellow Conservatives, but also with the opposition parties. It was all quite respectful most of the time. I stayed to support other candidates, especially the similar Wards to mine as they were declared far later and after me. It appeared to be a hung Council at the end of the night, with no overall majority. The Conservatives were only just the biggest party, but the Lib Dems were closely behind and with 4 new UKIP members plus 5 Independents and now 2 Labour, none of us could predict the future with any certainty. And we were all very tired and needed a rest. We then looked forward to meeting up to decide the direction of the Council and our own party.
It was going to be a busy time.
I needed some sleep, but clearly there was a lot of work to do.
It was going to be a long day and night so I made sure I had a good breakfast. I then went to Headcorn Polling Station to thank the Returning officers and clerks, then I went to East Sutton, Ulcombe, Grafty Green and Hawkenbury to pay my respects to those Officers also. I stayed on for a while at Hawkenbury with my fellow other Council member, as it was in a pub, so we had a drink! I drank J20 Orange. I then went to my friend and prospective Council member in Staplehurst for a while so I could wish him, John Perry, the best of luck. Naturally whilst I was at the Polling Stations I engaged with many and felt that I was getting a warm reception especially from the many people I knew.
It rained a bit, I got soaked at one point, so I went home to change and have a cup of tea and some food.
I returned to the Headcorn Polling Station and met many more people I knew throughout the afternoon and shared cordial exchanges with many. The UKIP candidate also showed up and offered balloons.It was a cordial exchange and we both agreed that "we do it for the ward". He left whilst I seemed to be frequently engaged with the public. There was an absence of campaigners from the other parties however.
I kept this up for hours. I went home periodically for tea. and at 9pm I had a meal. I returned to the Headcorn Polling station at 9.30pm to see the last voters before I had a short rest and collected the other Council member, not up for election, for the ward and we went to the count for about midnight.
Very little was happening, other than boxes arriving and the votes being emptied out until about 1am. It was also a Euro election so there was more scrutiny of events and times, but nationwide. It was delayed until somebody in Southampton approved. Something to do with ensuring ballot boxes were in the appropriate places! It seemed ages before there was the go-ahead to count. Finally results were announced.
I was announced in the early stages. Headcorn is often last! It was a tight vote with a low turnout, but I got in. There were a few minor frictions during the night between rivals from political divides and despite that many of us shared experiences and concerns, especially with fellow Conservatives, but also with the opposition parties. It was all quite respectful most of the time. I stayed to support other candidates, especially the similar Wards to mine as they were declared far later and after me. It appeared to be a hung Council at the end of the night, with no overall majority. The Conservatives were only just the biggest party, but the Lib Dems were closely behind and with 4 new UKIP members plus 5 Independents and now 2 Labour, none of us could predict the future with any certainty. And we were all very tired and needed a rest. We then looked forward to meeting up to decide the direction of the Council and our own party.
It was going to be a busy time.
I needed some sleep, but clearly there was a lot of work to do.
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