The Queen's Royal Garden Party

Well, Lara Gulp reminded me today that when she was 5 we all went to London to see the Queen.

It was almost a year ago now and was the last trip away that we had as a family prior to my returning to work after maternity leave. We had so much fun but the central reason for the trip was that I'd been given an invitation to the Queen's Garden Party.

It still blows my mind to think of it. I mean I was born and brought up on a Bradford council estate and it's just not something that you ever imagine happening.

I wanted to do Bradford proud by looking my best so I had a dress made me for me. It was just a cream cotton summer dress with a full skirt, from a 1950's style Vogue pattern, with red polka dots. I wore it with a pair of beige court shoes, a red hat and red soft jacket.

The day was unbelievably hot and as we were staying in Central London, near Broadcasting House in Great Portland Street, I decided to get a bus to the Palace so that I could stand and not wrinkle my dress:)

The other guests from Bradford were my ward colleague and the Lord Mayor and his daughter. We met up and had such an absolute blast, enjoying the most amazing finger sandwiches, pastries and tea. We then had a lovely walk in the grounds enjoying the heat of the day and the incredible sights, scents and colours of one of the most incredible gardens I had ever been in. We also took plenty of photographs of our day.

When we lined up for the entrance of the Royal party there was such an incredible air of anticipation that it was almost tangible and all that was running through my head was that I was about to be in the presence of Majesty, the highest citizen in the land. It felt amazing but didn't faze me at all. I also wondered what Oma (my grandmother would have thought). She was Canadian and a complete royalist so would totally have got a blast out of it.

There was a certain amount of jostling but at the sound of the trumpets announcing the Queen's arrival, a stillness descended. The Queen made her away along the line and stopped to speak briefly with selected people, Olympic athletes, charity workers and public servants of one sort or another and was for quite a while stood right in front of me at only slightly over 1 1/2 arms length or so.

I was struck by a couple of things, one was her height as she was so much smaller than I had expected her to be and the other was her incredible teeth. (Just as an aside, one of many things that I have been trying to do since I entered politics is to get improved oral health and access to dentists for all the people of the Bradford District. I've been banging on about it for 2 years but getting what I believe Bradford District needs is like pushing water uphill but I shall carry on working on this.) Believe it or not this thought about Bradford's oral health and access to dentists was in my mind as I looked upon the Queen and her immaculately straight, white teeth.

The Queen then went into the Royal tea tent while we enjoyed the afternoon and the pleasant atmosphere. We were served copious amounts of cold drinks as desired, and because it really was a perfect hot English summer day we were also served ice cream.

We all queued up again as the Royal party left and this time I found myself right at the very front.

The best part of the day was just the beautifully relaxed and dare I say, chilled out atmosphere. I've been to many events through work etc where there are many people who can be rather full of their own self importance, and seeking to ensure that others are under no illusion of what "their place" is and I almost anticipated that the Royal Garden party would be quite like that. Whereas, it was in fact, the total opposite.

We had a really grand day out at Buckingham Palace as guests of HM Queen Elizabeth and I enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea with friends.

Releasing Each Other

Last December, I was sat having coffee with a couple of other girls from work and we got onto the subject of marriage.

It was an incredible conversation and really refreshing. We'd each been married for around 5-9 years so during this time we had learned some stuff.

There are times within a marriage relationship when we really feel ourselves calling out to God for strength and I'm sure the guys feel the same way.

But, despite it all, I am so thankful that I married well. Being friends, and trying to make the time to just chill out and be friends is so important.

My husband is going away for a few days to serve a few thousand women who are all descending on Leeds for the Cherish women's conference. I'm going to miss him but I'm so glad that he's a gifted sound engineer, hard working roadie, and a tecky computer geek. I'm glad that he uses those gifts to serve others and releases me to serve others in my way too.

I hope he has a great time and enjoys time with his mates on the technical crew but I also hope that he looks forward to spending time with me when he gets back.

The Bucket List

There are so many things in life that I want to do and sadly, I put many of those things off thinking that they'd be great to do when I met Mr Right. However, when Mr Right turns up life gets busy and children land in your life which changes the priorities around a fair bit.

But, I still have those things I want to do and places I want to experience (not just visit) so in the spirit of the movie, The Bucket List, I thought I'd write them down and see how far I get.

1. I want to see real jewels - emeralds, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, pearls etc etc
I saw the Crown jewels in 2012 which were pretty impressive but I'd like to touch, not just look.

2. I want to climb a mountain - preferably something like Kili rather than Everest.

3. I want to go backpacking around India, spend time in Goa, Simla, Mumbai, Delhi and see the Taj Mahal and the Golden Temple in Amritsar,  and also visit the place my Mum was born in Pakistan.

4. Spend time on a Kibbutz in Israel

5. Eat pizza, drink wine and eat gelato in Italy. I want to see incredible art and visit Pisa, Rome, Florence and Venice.

6. I want to dig wells in Africa or at the very least be part of a Habitat for Humanity building project.

7. I want to get a motorbike licence and trek around South America in a Che Guevara Motorcycle Diaries style way and walk the Inca Trail in Peru up to Macchu Picchu.

8. I'd like to actually finish one of the books I've started writing and get it published.

9. I really want to build a prosperous District and be part of something far bigger than myself which will have a lasting, positive impact. I want to leave something behind which will be a great legacy.

10. I want to go horse riding again, in the surf. I did it in Cuba and it was amazing.

So technically, I've already done 1 (seen jewels but not touched) and 10 (ridden through the surf in Cuba) but there's no reason why I couldn't do them again to the next level. And I'm working on 9 and 5 but 9 is taking most of my time currently so I may have to delay some of the others a bit. But, it's interesting that once goals are written they become part of a plan and will happen so I'm looking forward to ticking these off eventually.

Remembering Baby Gulp

It's a weird feeling today. I've got a whole day (the first in months) to spend with my family because the elections are over. I'm really looking forward to it.

But, it's also in my mind that 8 years ago yesterday my heart broke. I found out that my first baby who was due on May 27th 2006, had died in utero i. e. the baby's heart had stopped beating.

He was born 8 years ago tomorrow - May 25th, which is also my step-dads birthday and my Oma's birthday.

I cried every day and every night. I sobbed in church. I stayed in the house mainly because when I left the house people would ask when the baby is due. It was a horrible time. I scribbled in my journal furiously to try and download some of the emotions of anger, pain, grief, loss and finally acceptance.

I still miss my little son, like nothing else and I still feel his loss. But, I have been amazingly blessed by my church family, friends and Almighty God. He blessed me with more children. Two more heavenly babies but then my gorgeous, beautiful, funny Lara Anjali came into the world in 2008. She is such a joy to my world. I count my blessings and thank God for her often.

Before she came I used to sing a worship song called Forever Faithful written by Lara Martin which says, "Some things in life that happen, I'll never understand but I have this assurance, my life is in your hands, so I will praise you in every season of life. I choose to praise..." and I just kept on praising and honouring Almighty God.

I now get to sing that very same song with my little Lara and the feeling is intense. I praised God right through the pain and loss and have been immeasurably blessed.

She knows that she is God's gift to me and that she made us happy when she was born.

I thought life was complete with her but then in 2011, the incredibly comical, sensitive, kind and cute, Sophie Grace was born.

Then in 2013 we were blessed with Rebecca Abigail Jesse who came with a couple of extra challenges but nothing we can't handle.

I should focus on those wonderful blessings and not on my loss but a mothers heart always has room for all her children and Joshua James has never left my heart.

Local Election 2014 aka Election Fever

Hopefully you won't have failed to notice that the whole of Europe is going to the polls on Thursday 22 May, and in most of the UK ( I believe) there are Local Council elections.

It's only 2 years since I was elected and although my agent (who was and is, utterly superb) made me work hard especially as it was the first time I'd stood for election, I didn't actually know how hard I'd have to work once I got elected.

So, I've already got my plate full so to speak,
- working hard at my day job, which as a debt caseworker is intense but I love it,
- working hard to be a wonderful wife to my longsuffering and brilliant husband and
- working hard to look after my 3 gorgeous girls, aged 6, 3 and 1, and
- working hard to keep up with casework for residents of the ward I represent,
- keeping up to date with reading reports and papers for committees, I'm on so that I can effectively represent all residents across the BMDC district etc etc

But then a colleague who is up for election asks if I'll be her agent. I ask what's involved and get told oh not much just signing the papers and filling in the election expenses forms at the end of the election. I think, well I'm not sure as I don't think I've got the time to commit to it etc but check with the guy who was my agent.

Just as an aside, this would have been the moment where I wish the guy who was my agent in 2012 had said "Well, while you were swanning around the ward, meeting residents and listening to their concerns, even though I made everything look effortless, I was working like a dog behind the scenes!"
That is what, for most of this campaign, I wished he'd said. But no, he's like yeah fine.

So, I go headlong into this thing, with helping to write the ward spring newsletter and worrying about how to afford getting it printed and delivered before the election expenses started (back at the beginning of April). We then have loads of letters to write, prepare and deliver for people who are postal voters. The election leaflet itself and out cards for posting through peoples doors if they're out when we call round.
I've got to be honest, it has been hard work and I've not spent a whole day with my family in weeks. We usually like to keep Saturdays as family days, aside from my Councillor surgeries and meetings and events in the ward that is.

But, yesterday, 2 days out from Polling Day itself, I think election fever took hold. I wished, we could have another few weeks of it as I finally feel like I've got into the flow and rhythm and almost know what I'm doing.

Tomorrow is polling day, and I've worked hard across a number of wards to ensure that the people of our brilliant Bradford District will continue to be served by Labour party councillors:
- who put serving their communities first,
- working hard to bring prosperity to our District in spite of savage cuts (1/3) to the budget we get from the Government),
- ensuring that we increase recycling to keep down costs of waste going to landfill, especially as landfill costs including tax continues to be raised by the Govt,
- working hard with Health colleagues to get debt advisors in doctors surgeries because of the impact of such things as bedroom tax and work capability and DLA assessments on residents,
- working hard to reduce health inequalities across the District,
- working to improve all schools across the District so that our children and young people can attend good and outstanding schools and get the very best start in life,
- investing in improving skills and delivering on the Get Bradford Working programme so that young people and long term unemployed can get the help and support they need to get into work,
And so much more. That's the trouble with lists, I'm bound to leave out a lot because there is so much work to do and so much work being done by hardworking Labour councillors.

So, in short, elections are hard work but I've only done it because I want the very best for the residents of this wonderful District where I was born, where I live and where I'm raising my family.

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