i'm Backing Gareth........Irene Adamson

Gareth, along with the other Standish Independents Cllrs , have done so much for the groups that I am in and also other groups in Standish. Whether it is funding or other help he is always there and I know the groups love him too. Good luck Gareth.

I'm Backing Gareth.....Howard Gill

A well-known ex-professional Standish Cricketer Howard Gill says, “For me both Gareth and the other Standish Independents Cllrs work hard all year round and over the years. What I have seen from the other candidates is that they copy them. I don’t want copy cats I want the original. They have done an amazing job for us on the Boars Head Central Reservation and other issues. Good Luck Gareth.”

Labour Cllr on £2,400 per Hour

People are outraged that a Labour Cllr attendance record is 33% and that means their pay is £2,400 per hour. What;s worse they have moved to Australia, which is fair enough, but they have not resigned as a Cllr and therefore getting full pay whilst they live in Oz.

This should not happen and they should resign their seat.

More turned off from the Major Parties.

With the Local Elections just over a week away now, candidates campaigns are entering their last stages - that is if they have done one! One thing for me on this campaign is that people are increasingly turned off from the major parties.

This is something that the 2 Main Parties candidates must have come across themselves on their campaign trails, as the Labour Candidate has begged people on social media not to not vote for her because of Jeremy Corbyn. The Tory Candidate has also done the same on his leaflet, saying don't punish him for being a Tory candidate and he is just for Standish. If this were true he would have entered the elections as an independent.

To be fair that is one of the reasons that we, the Standish Independents, are about, and that is representing Standish and it seems that the 2 main political party's candidate are now asking people not to look at who they are standing for - which is ridiculous because of course people will look at the ticket they are under.

The Tory Cuts are going to far and their policies are damaging to people's health and education. This is becoming more and more apparent and people are seeing it. The wealthy people are getting richer and the normal man getting poorer. The pay gap between normal workers and the rich is so disproportionate it is untrue.

Normally Labour would have been able to use this and hit harder against this but under the leader of Jeremy Corbyn it is not a case of their is no knock out blow but there is no blow what's so ever. With people I believe they will either not turn out to vote, more on that in a minute, or will vote for small parties or independents like myself.

Elections are normally quite - how can I say - more lively, but this election seems almost flat. This is something that Journalists and other candidates have said. Labour has only put out 1 leaflet. I believe this is because if the mood is flat then Labour hope that no one will punish them for their leader and they will just turn out to vote as normal and not think too much about the choices available. I have seen this strategy before.

The only real spice as one journalist said was the Labour and tory Candidates running to the police to object to my trailer. It goes to show that they offer not only little but nothing. The Tory candidate has put out some kind of campaign - all be it negative, lies and evil. Labour candidate has done nothing, well apart from start a blog. wonder where she got that idea from :-) .

Our last stage of the election will be a big one as normal and probably bigger. The amount of support that we are getting via email, social media and on the doorsteps is incredible and rather just sit back and think this is OK we use that to fuel us to keep driving forward and harder.

Thank you for the support so far but we will be campaigning right till the end as we do not take your vote and support for granted.

Standish High Consultation Results

So a few weeks ago I announced on this blog that Standish High was looking to merge with Southlands High School in Chorley.

Here are the results.

Standish High School is under Wigan Council's control. Do you want this to continue?

Yes	58%
No	25%
Unsure	17%

Should Standish High become and Academy in any form?

Yes	34%
No	57%
Unsure	9%

If you believe that the school should become an Academy do you think it should be with a School in Chorley?

Yes	19%
No	66%
Unsure	16%

If you believe that the school should become an Academy with another school in Wigan Borough instead?

Yes	17%
No	57%
Unsure	27%

Do you think the Conservative's drive to make schools become Academies make children's education better?

Yes	24%
No	70%
Unsure	5%

As you can see it is clear parents and residents do not want to have Standish High to join Chorley School called Southlands. 

When you look at the results it is evident that some people may be more open to an academy either on it;s own or with another school in Wigan. Whilst this is not the most desired outcome it is the more desirable for residents and parents than a school outside of the Borough of Wigan.

I knew very little of these kinds of structures before this process but i have learnt more and it is a form of privatisation of education and head teachers and the board of these schools can earn vast about of money, which should be a bad things in itself but it shouldn't be the driving force that seem to be clear.

Whilst I am no socialist in any form i do believe that some things should be run by the state and Defence, Health and Education are ones that should be run by National and Local Governments.

I will be sending these results to the board of governors and it is good to see, as you don't see it often, that the Labour Candidate has agreed with me on this matter too. Let's hope the Council uses it's influence and governors see sense and do not rush into this and hold back and look at this a bit more. 

Loss of Prince is a great loss

It was sad to hear that Prince had died. He was a music genius that is not often seen. We often get great artists, nands or songwriters but few are legends and seriously mega stars in their own right.

For me price was one of those. For those that know I went to the Leeds College of Music and studied Jazz, pop and contemporary music. So I studied many artist past and present.

We know the obvious songs that Prince made as a mega hits but he wrote for others too. One little known facts is that he was a huge Jazz fan and looked up to stars like miles Davis. In fact he even wrote a few songs for Miles Davis. Below is a clip of one of those songs that was originally called 17 but re-named Penetration and performed in Paris in 1991. Great track and performance and it is a shame that we didn't see them perform together.



His songs will go on and for decades to come he will be known for his music genius. Sad loss. RIP Prince.

Wigan Council back Labour in Local Elections - ILLEGALLY

I have often said that Wigan Council is biased towards Labour and their Cllrs and often their Chief executive says they are not.

Here we have overwhelming evidence of illegal practice that in this years' Local election Wigan Council are putting out Press Releases in support of Labour Cllrs and also getting photo opps with them too.

It is under English Law that as soon as an election is called Purdah Rules apply. These basically mean that Wigan Council has to be none bias and not show support in either way for or against Candidates.

As you can see from the news paper article this law is clearly being broken with a officer from the Council with a Labour Candidate and also press statement too.

We have reported the matter to the Police now as this is a criminal offence. Also we are calling for the sacking of the officer concerned as he is clearly backing a Labour Candidate. We are also calling for the sacking of the Press Officer that put out the press release and finally calling for Donna Hall to be removed as the Returning Officer as she is no longer able to be neutral.

We have reported the matter to the electoral commission and they will no doubt take issue with this matter and so they should as laws are there to be abided by.

What is also needed is the Local Election in Aspull to be stopped and a by election called and Wigan Council Chief Executive to apologise to ALL NON LABOUR candidates for this bias.

It is also shows that Wigan Courier does not abide by the rules and laws and shows their bias too.

Missing Amber the Cat

Yesterday we had a slip posted through the door asking if people has seen this cat and if so to contact the owner.

Amber is a well kept and not too large cat. Lives in the Bradley Lane area of Standish but cats can move about so can we ask if you see Amber to contact the owner?

Thanks and let's hope Amber is returned soon.

Standish is closer to a new car park

So many have called for Standish to get a new Car Park. Local Businesses are upset that trade is being effected and shoppers are upset that cannot park and shop. So it is beneficial to everyone that we get this much needed car park.

We, Standish Independents', did a recent news letter and in there we talked about the parking issue and how we are working to get the issue resolved. Any way I am pleased to say that over the weekend I have had talks with a landowner that has some spare land in the centre of Standish that can hold approx 40 car parking spaces.

The Owners are a family and they have said they are happy to have talks with the council about them either purchasing or renting the land for a community car park. It is only right that the council and the land owners talk about this and agree terms but we are happy that we are pushing this forward and getting results.

Some people like having meeting and talking I like do and making it happen.

Vote Gareth Fairhurst

Standish Independents

Representing you and your views.

Wigan Council Chief Executive pesters Police

You can tell it's the election time. Every year the Council's Chief Executive gets on to the police and says go and get Fairhurst. Bless her she tries.

So this year just 2 days into the election period she pesters the police on a Saturday. And when I say the police I am talking the top brass on their day off, complaining that my advert doesn't have an imprint on. Most of you wouldn't know that on advert and other election material you need to put on who prints it and more importantly who is the promoter.

So because she is email and ringing the top brass of Wigan Police they say OK we'll go and see him. So they sent a DCI, that's right a DCI, out at 7 am on a Sunday Morning to check the my great trailer banner and as they knew already, it is legal and they were sorry to have come out but because of all the fuss she was causing to the top brass yesterday.

What this yet again demonstrates is that she is political biased and in an email she threats to remove the banner, even though it is legal. It also shows how petty she is and waste police time and your money. Fancy pestering the police top brass on their day off to send a DCI round at 7am on a Sunday - you could't make this up.

But to the public they will see her and this as wasting police time and political motivated and think she needs to get out more. As some one just said she needs to get her facts right before she runs to the Police. She even asked the police to seize it as evidence and take it down so no one else can see it. It will be making many trips around Standish.

The visit by the police as they returned this morning at around 10am to have a chat about it was jolly and plenty of laughs were had. Shame that Donna Hall doesn't believe that the Police have better things to do with their time, especially after all the hard cut backs that they have had to endure.

Anyway I guess they like my trailer. Should any one want to read more about how this woman even lied about being if a famous pop band on the BBC is here too.

Launch of my election campaign

Today I have launched my re-election campaign. It is always difficult when you are the sitting Cllr as business as usual takes priority and I have resisted till the names have been announced for the Local Elections.

So with the launch I am pleased to announce the my re-election campaign with a big banner that i will be taking around the ward during the election period. Hope you like it.

Candidates announced

Now the deadline for the Local Elections has passed we can now reveal our candidates and for which perspective wards.

The first seat to be announced is myself standing for Standish with Langtree Ward.

Next is Janet Brown for Shevington with Lower Ground. Janet has been an excellent helper and candidate in the past for us and is keen to get in the Council and represent the people of Shevington. With 4 great Parish Cllrs and the work that they do we firmly believe that this is the year Labour will lose Shevington for a while. Also she is the only female candidate in the election and Labour have 3 male Cllrs. It is time Shevington had a great Cllr and another great woman Cllr too.

Finally we are also pleased that another former candidate for us as returned and standing for us for the Orrell Ward. Paula Boyham has stood for Orrell in the past and has a long association with the ward in numerous ways. Keen to help the people of Orrell and rid the ward of scandal after scandal she is sure to be well received in the ward.

The Local Elections are held this year on Thursday 5^th May and if you want a postal or proxy vote either contact the Council or ourselves to get the appropriate forms.

If you want to help or get involved please let us know too.

ALL PICTURES ARE COPYRIGHT AND CANNOT BE USED WITH OUT THE PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER, WHICH IS GARETH FAIRHURST.