As Christmas approaches and 2015 draws to an end we would like to thank all our members for their support throughout the year and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
We also wanted to thank all those who recently helped Kerry Ennis (our candidate for the Derwent Ward By Election held last Thursday) in her election campaign – unfortunately Kerry was pipped to the post by Mike Potter, the Liberal candidate, by only 5 votes- very frustrating after all the hard work she and her team put in.
The full result was as follows:
Darren Allanson Liberal Democrat 81
Toby Barran Yorkshire First 32
Kerry Ennis Conservative 278
Mike Potter Liberal 283
Stephen Shaw Independent 124
Spoilt votes 4
Looking forward to 2016 we have several fundraising events already in the planning including:
Burns Night at Steam and Moorland, Pickering on Friday January 22nd
A Night with Rishi Sunak MP at the Golden Fleece, Thirsk on Friday February 5th.
An Association Trip to the House of Commons including a tour and tea with Kevin – possibly April/early May.
Thirsk and Malton Golf Day at Sandburn Hall – Friday 20th May – with a Speaker Dinner in the evening.
The highlight of the year for the Association was of course the General Election back in May and the election of our new MP, Kevin Hollinrake. On the political front in 2016 we will be looking to select our candidates for the County Council elections which will be held in May 2017 and will start campaigning in earnest with the selected candidates for those seats we do not presently hold: Malton, Norton, Pickering and Filey.
The Police and Crime Commissioner election will be held on Thursday 5th May – the Conservative candidate for the North Yorkshire region is the current PCC, Julia Mulligan.
The Association AGM will be held in March – date TBA – and a reminder to all branches that Branch AGMs must be held in February/March please as well.
Thank you again to you all for your support in what has been an eventful year and we look forward to being in touch again in the New Year.
Best wishes
Melanie and Gilly
PS Please note the office will be closed over the festive period until Monday 4th January 2016