My Speech To The Deptford Ward Selection Meeting 3 March 2022

Everyone has their own story.

This is mine.

My mother was the illegitimate child, and I use that word deliberately because that is how it was described in the 1930s, of a itinerant Irish labourer who she never knew, and a waitress from Deptford.

She grew up on the Crossfields estate, experiencing the stigma that sadly came with single parenthood at the time.

My father was the product of a one-night stand which led to a shotgun wedding and a marriage that was characterised by domestic violence, alcohol abuse and neglect and ended in acrimonious divorce and bleak poverty.

When my parents first got married, they lived in a prefab in Berthon street.

I lived there for the first 3 years of my life.

It was so cold that ice used to form on the inside of the windows.

I ended up getting pneumonia and almost dying.

The local doctor told them that if they didn’t move straightaway, I would die.

So they moved to a small terraced house in Crofton Park.

My Dad was employed in poorly paid, white collar, non-unionised work well into his late 30s.

When I was married with a family of my own, he told me how money was so tight and the stress of this so great, that he would often feel very tearful.

The other part of my story is about having parents who met in the Church at the top end of Frankham Street by the High Street.

The were leaders in that church all their adult lives.

They devoted their lives to trying to help others.

I still meet people in Deptford who remember them and express their thanks for the help they gave.

For all this, my memory of growing up is of being in a loving family,

Where the values of work, honesty and respect for others were imbued through the power of example.

Try to do your best.

Be kind.

Do well for yourself.

Then you will be able to provide for your family

And be better able to help others.

I have been very blessed in my life.

A happy family.

A successful business.

A life of public service including 24 years on the Council.

I owe a lot my parents

But I also owe a lot to the NHS, a good state education, and state support for economic development.

I know the importance of good social housing.

Of secure, unionised work.

My life has shaped my politics.

For many people deprivation, disadvantage and poverty are life’s starting point.

But this doesn’t have to be a life sentence.

Our job is to make sure that it’s not.

If you select me to represent you on the Council, this will continue to be my mission.

Working together to build a better future for everyone.