Edward Heath MP helped secure hostages' release
Edward Heath MP helped secure hostages' release

Up early to get ahead on a warm and blustery day to complete my chores and liaise with my officer fitters and decorators before two big meetings. At the first I am collected by furnisher Jim Brittain for lunch to address the St Neots Rotary on the topic of "Representing the Community" and then this evening for the HDC Finance and General Purposes Committee where the burgeoning collection costs of the Poll Tax was contentious. Ex-premier Ted Heath's humanitarian visit to Iraq is delayed until later in the week

It was going to be a busy day at the start of a busy week and so I was up early and doing an hour's work before breakfast. My desk had become quite cluttered whilst I had been working outside in the last few days and, with the office equipment people coming to complete the remedial work, I had to get the surfaces clear. After breakfast, I carried on working in my office until the fitters arrived about mid-day, preparing a lunchtime speech for the St Neots Rotary Club. I had forgotten this until looking at my diary this morning and then chose the topic of "Representing the Community".

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The Rotary Club consists of local business leaders meeting for mutual self-help and companionship; but also to actively support charities and community projects. I attempted to bridge the gap with local government and appeal to all local community leaders to help in the re-juvination of St Neots; introducing my idea of it having its own District Council which went down quite well. The St Neots Rotary is quite an old one and there is St Mary's which is newer with younger and more active members. The average age of this one is very high with many of its members retired and they seem in need of an infusion of new blood. I was collected and dropped off by Jim Brittain (the St Neots Furnisher) and got to know him very well. He used to live in Little Paxton and appreciated my history of the village. Then to go back home where the fitters had finished but the house painters were still working away. They have been here for over two weeks and are desperately trying to finish off and get away. It was only then that I realised that I had not tended my conservatory etc and then I had to get down to preparing for this evening's meeting of the HDC Finance and General Purposes Committee.

There was an impossibly thick wad of papers to go with the agenda, almost the depth of a telephone directory, and they took some time to read. I telephoned the leader of the Labour Group, Jim Lomax, to compare notes and we also discussed the proportionality of committees. A meeting has been called for Jim, I and the Tory leader to agree a more satisfactory allocation of seats on the various bodies. Tea, and then to this evening's meeting which was long, and contentious in places, as the main items were the burgeoning collection costs of the Poll Tax and the restriction of spending on council services to compensate. Home latish and to bed after watching the news. The pound is slipping from its higher levels and there is no prospect of further interest rate reductions whilst this continues. Ex-premier Ted Heath's humanitarian visit to Iraq is delayed until later this week and he is coming under mounting pressure from the hawks and tabloid editorials to abandon it but he is his own man. Today stayed fine and warm but was quite blustery.