SUCCESS FOR MY WILSTEAD BUS CAMPAIGN

After a long campaign I have persuaded Bedford Borough Council to improve the Wilstead - Ampthill bus service so that Wilstead residents can travel to and from their doctor's surgery in Ampthill, with a long wait for a return bus. With no mid day Ampthill-Wilstead bus people were stranded people in Ampthill for hours.

Bedford Borough Council has agreed to give a special grant to Grant Palmer to run 3 more daily buses so that my Wilstead residents can travel to and from the surgery in half a day. The new bus service started on Tuesday 26 May on a 3-month trial basis. I announced the good news today at Wilstead Methodist Church's weekly coffee morning to a group of pensioners who were very pleased with the success of my long and determined campaign.

Urban residents enjoy better bus services and amenities than village residents. We have a high percentage of elderly residents in Wilstead, many without cars who suffer from mobility problems, so it is very important that they can have good access to their chosen doctor and many have doctors in Ampthill.

I am taking 24 hours off from my election campaign to spend with my 4 grandchildren Today I helped my daughter Sarah organise a cooking party in her Watford garden to celebrate Emma's 7th birthday. We made pizza, biscuits, 'chocolate aliens' and a fancy cocktail with 10 little girls who had a great time. Tomorrow I am meeting Sarah and my younger daughter Helen with all 4 grandchildren - Emma, Jessica, Oliver and Thomas - at Gulliver's Land in Milton Keynes. I worked throughout the Bank Holiday weekend, so it will make a nice change to have a family day and escape canvassing for a day.

MOTHERING SUNDAY

Today is Mothering Sunday, a religious festival celebrated in Christian churches all over the world - all the mothers are presented with small posies of spring flowers by their children. Mothering Sunday is very commercialised but at least people are encouraged to remember the loving care provided by their mothers. Sadly my own mother died 34 years ago but my 2 lovely daughters always remember me on Mothering Sunday and we generally arrange a family reunion.

This year I enjoyed a family lunch in Watford with my daughter Sarah, Gary her husband, 2 of my grandchildren Emma, 6 and Thomas, 3 and Gary's mother, father and grandmother. We went for a lovely spring walk after lunch in the nearby park where the children climbed on the new play equipment which Gary campaigned for as Chairman of the local Residents' Association. He also persuaded the Council to plant lots of daffodil bulbs which are now in full bloom.

When the sun shines in England and the spring flowers are in bloom there is no finer country to live in. It's a pity that the sun does not shine a bit more often, because it cheers us all up when we are emerging from a long, grey and cold winter.

Last night I stayed with an old friend Valmai in Pirton, near Hitchin in Hertfordshire where I lived for 15 years and represented Pirton and Offley villages on North Hertfordshire District Council. Valmai was born in the Welsh valleys and loves to sing, dance and play the recorder. She was performing in an excellent Music Hall Show with the Pirton Players, a very active amateur dramatic group which puts on excellent shows several times a year.