Sal Brinton

Sarah from DRUM shows Sal the puppets at the DRUM Exhibition

There are some very special community groups in Watford, and certainly DRUM are very special! I've been impressed with their work since I first saw it a few years ago, and yesterday confirmed how life enhancing this group is for its members.  Sarah, the DRUM manager, is a bundle of energy, and everyone there, from members to volunteers, say she is inspirational.

This year's exhibition has a wonderful range of various forms of art, from traditional painting, to collage, puppet making and pottery. The members of DRUM are all disabled, either from a life-limiting illness such as MS, a stroke, or were born with a disability. Their cheeriness was evident yesterday when  Mel and Jill arrived, dressed as Noddy and Big Ears (see photo!).

Noddy and Big Ears meet Sal at the DRUM exhibition!

I talked to Angela, who told me that her confidence had developed greatly since she joined DRUM, and that was also clear from her brilliant paintings. I loved the contrasts in her work: she had a pretty and traditional country cottage painting which contrasted with an almost abstract black London taxi at night. She also painted a  great view of the Houses of Parliament from the Lambeth side of the river at night.

Malcolm seems to specialise in portraits of famous pop starts, which are brilliantly executed. I particularly liked the one of Mick Jagger singing, which has really caught his character.

DRUM won an Audentior Award in 2005, and it was certainly well deserved. They are mainly funded by  Herts County Council, and  provide a real life changing support to people with disabilities.  Thank you for your welcome yesterday!

Malcolm talks to Sal about his paintings

Friday was typical of days on the campaign trail: very busy from start to finish. In the middle of the morning I was interviewed by two reporters from Dow Jones.com in London, who are writing an article to appear in the Wall Street Journal next week.

They were interested in both my local campaign, but also the uncertainty amongst voters, including core traditional voters of the two main parties, and that certainly is similar in Watford.   We were able to show them round our HQ, and they also talked to Candy Piercy, my very experienced Campaign Manager. Looking forward to seeing what they say!

Nick Clegg launches the Liberal Democrat campaign in Watford

Nick Clegg arrived at St Luke's Church, Langley Way, this afternoon to launch the national Liberal Democrat campaign in Watford.  He and I met around 60 young adults, many from the YMCA across Hertfordshire, but also from some local school sixth forms and St Luke's Church as well.

Nick answering questions from first time voters at St Luke's

Whoever says that young people are disengaged from politics should have been there today. The questions ranged from the size of the deficit and the economy, whether PFI is an appropriate form of funding for the public sector (especially our new hospital here in Watford); how we fund our universities; what Lib Dems believe education is for. After the formal Q&A session, Nick stayed on for ten minutes to take a few informal questions and photos.

We then left the hall to meet a fantastic crowd of Lib Dem supporters to cheer Nick onto his battle bus, which then took him on the first leg of his journey to Liverpool.

We had plenty of TV coverage, and when I managed to get home I saw the Twitter exchange during Nick's visit, especially from Elaine Bagshaw, Sara Bedford and Chris Whittaker.

A tiring but very satisfying day. Polling day in one month, with plenty to do before the polls open. Thanks to my team all their hard work, and for the next four weeks.

Victoria Derbyshire brought her 5Live show to Watford this morning, interviewing local residents and all six candidates (so far declared!), as well as callers and text/email messages.  We all met in The One Bell, at the bottom end of the High Street, thanks to the Landlord Bob.

There were three residents who chatted to Victoria first, expressing their worries about our hospital and the NHS, the slow recovery of the economy, and safety on the High Street late at night.

We were somewhat sidetracked  by Gordon Brown's trip to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament on 12 April, but it was definitely worth it to see the General Election getting under way.

It was interesting to try and have a six way debate - difficult, but I think it was managed without too much over-talking. It was, in the main, courteous and civil, and we parted ready to hit the campaign trail.

Great Action Day all day at HQ today, with plenty of people coming in to take deliveries of my latest leaflet out all over Watford.

We had arranged a briefing at 4pm, and the HQ was filled with the team, and visitors from outside Watford. It's an exciting week, with the launch of the General Election campaign tomorrow, as well as the Victoria Derbyshire show on 5 Live interviewing the parliamentary candidates at  the One Bell between 10 and 12. On Friday BBC London TV are coming up to meet the candidates and floating voters, and in between plenty of canvasssing and some casework.

Sal's birthday tea at Campaign HQ

My birthday was last Thursday (1 April - the most embarrassing day of the year to have a birthday!), but as I had a full day's campaigning, I ignored it. My team, however, laid on a birthday party this afternoon, with plenty of cakes, including gluten free cake for me made specially by Sara Bedford. There's even an embarrassing photo to go with it - see right - and many, many thanks to my wonderful team for the lovely surprise.

Dave Middlebrook thanking Ian Pankhurst as he leaves St Lukes

Ian Pankhurst, who has served as the Curate at St Luke's for over five years, gave his farewell talk at our Easter morning service this morning. He has been appointed Priest in Charge at St Andrews (the neighbouring parish), and they are getting someone really special!

His talk this morning was absolutely typical of the man - ever the practical teacher - by asking why we had Easter Eggs, but no chocolate crosses. He then demonstrated his "welding" skills, producing a cross made of chocolate. He invited one of the children to crush the chocolate cross with a hammer (less messy than it might have been, as it was in a plastic bag!). He wove the message of the joy of the resurrection crushing the despair of the cross in his delightful style, lightly wearing his deep felt theological views.

Ian officiated at Tim and my Silver Wedding renewal of our vows two years ago, and we were very honoured to have him guiding and supporting us then and afterwards.

His friends at St Luke's will miss him, but we are reassured that he is not far away at St Andrews.

I had the privilege of joining the night shift at Shady Lane yesterday between 5pm and 3am, to observe their everyday work. I particularly wanted to see the impact of paperwork on the officers, and also to witness the High Street late at night as the pubs, clubs and bars eject clubbers in the early hours.

My faith in the commitment and consistency of work of the police was very much reinforced by what I saw, and by all levels of  staff. Their carefulness and humour provided a cheerful but very human response to all the incidents I observed, whilst upholding clear standards of work and the law.

What shocked me was the level of paperwork that each officer is required to carry out. I asked to be able to follow one incident through with the arresting officer, including the all the paperwork. From the call out up to the point the individual was charged and put in the cells lasted around 70 minutes. The arresting officer then spent three hours on completing a large number of  forms - including having to complete the same form in both paper and electronic form at the same time! There would have been further forms to do later on for later stages of the processing of this case, further removing officers from front line duty. It does seem astonishing that in the second decade of the 21st century we still have police officers handwriting their own statements and reports, and then having to scan those documents themselves to add to an electronic files. There's some good use of new technology but it's still way behind what most of us are using day to day, and it could significantly reduce the time they spend on paperwork. This centralised reporting, instigated by government, creates an astonishing bureaucracy which holds our police back from being out on the front line, and really needs to be addressed.

Observing police officers on duty on the High Street at 2am

After 10.30 I joined a team out on the High Street, managing public order as thousands of young people enjoyed an evening clubbing. It was, by the police officers' comments, a fairly calm night, but they were still busy most of the time. The influence  of alcohol and drugs on behaviour was evident. The couple of times that I saw officers having to intervene their team work was impressive, as was their calm demeanour in handling difficult situations.

They work very much in partnership with the bouncers at the clubs, the parademics and A&E at Watford General,  the Street Angels and the taxi marshalls to keep Watford High Street and the thousands of young people having an evening out safe and well.

Thank you for letting me spend a fascinating evening with you.

On Saturday morning I joined the team in Oxhey to knock on doors, and we had a very positive response, including a great poster site overlooking Pinner Road. After the downpour the previous day, it was refreshing to be out in the sunshine.

Cllr Iain Sharpe was very concerned about the state of Sherwoods Road. As this photo shows, they are deep, and getting worse. He's reported a number of them to Herts Highways.

I remain concerned that the temporary patch operation that Herts Highways have been using isn't effective. I've spotted a large number of newly mended potholes crumbling round the edges, and long before the snows of January and February this year. It does seem to be a very short sighted way of repairing potholes if the fall apart so quickly.

I had a call late this morning from Channel 4 News who are talking to people in the Market about the Economy, and particularly about the Conservative proposals to cut National Insurance contributions.

Sarah Smith from Channel 4 interviewing Sal on Goodwood Ave

We met up at the corner of Courtlands Drive and Goodwood Avenue, where I was with my team, delivering leaflets in the pouring rain. I said that residents had told me that they knew the deficit was very large, and that cuts were coming, and they wanted to know what each party was proposing. A number of residents had also told me that they didn't trust the NI cut, as it seemed like an election offer that would just mean more cuts later on.

It's always interesting to see which bit they use, and to hear the views of the market traders who they interviewed when it was broadcast on the news. There's clearly a major difference of view between the 30-odd big business people who have decided to back the Tories, and the traders who represent the majority of businesses in this country - either sole traders, or employing less than 10 people. The business people I know here in Watford remain frustrated that the banks aren't lending, even when their business proposals are solid, and that they are stuck in endless bureaucratic red tape, which has got much worse under the present Labour Government.

Christ Church was full this morning before the two walks set off, one to ASDA and the other to the town centre. It was, as ever, great to mix with colleagues from other churches. We met more people at the Bandstand and heard a couple of readings and some songs.  It was very cold, but at least the rain held off!

We then walked down the High Street to Charter Place, where we met more people, sang again and heard another reading. Finally we walked through the Harlequin, and met outside John Lewis, where we had a short service. I meet Becky, one of my former Sunday School pupils from twenty years ago, now teaching, married and living here in Watford.

at the Walk of Witness in the Harlequin on Good Friday