If I wasn’t feeling Christmassy at the start of a busy constituency day on Saturday, given the mild weather and fact that it is only November, I certainly was by the end of it, having opened the Rotary Christmas fair at the Shoreham Centre and then joined the masses at the Lancing Christmas market. Well done to Rotarians Val Trevor, Alison Boram, Liz Box and their team for an excellent selection of Christmas attractions in aid of St Barnabas and the Independent Living charity.
The Lancing Christmas market organised by the Parish Council was a triumph and the lengthy queue to see Father Christmas in his rather splendid caravan worryingly merged into my own street surgery queue. Over 250 children in total had a chat with Santa and quite a few of their parents with me! Next week I will have the usual street surgery with councillors at Shoreham Farmer’s Market from 10am but I can’t promise Santa will be there as well.
It had been an early start the day before with a 7.30 Ropetackle breakfast for the Worthing & Adur Chamber of Commerce and plenty of questions on the recent financial statement amidst the excellent eggs and bacon. Plenty of interest too in the Chancellor’s plans for R&D investment in the high tech, life sciences and green industries and especially in Adur becoming something of a hydrogen hub.
Then it was on to an even livelier session with more than 80 Politics and International Studies sixth formers at Varndean College, where I was certainly helped by my appearance at the Home Affairs Select Committee earlier in the week where my questioning of the Home Secretary on safe and legal routes for refugees seems to have gone viral. I certainly seem to have recruited a few fans on the back of it!
