What a start - late for my own declaration!

BELIEVE it or not, I missed the declaration of the Blackdown ward result – in fact, I missed the whole day’s counting of the votes in hall at the Blackbrook Pavilion today.
By the time I was about to drive in there, I received a phone c all to say it was all over, the dust had settled, and the fat lady had changed and gone home.
Being self-employed, I have to earn a living for myself and my family and I had a work project which had to be finished today, which meant slaving over the computer all day until it was done.
Having had only three hours’ sleep the night before last, and one-and-a-half hours last night, I was also not in the best of shape for an election count.
I would like to say that it was my dedication to getting out and pounding the beat in my ward to canvass for support which meant I did not have time even for sleep – but that would not be true.
It was actually the same project which kept me away from the count.
However, that is now out of the way and I have had time to reflect on the election results.
For those who do not know, I won the Blackdown ward with 480 votes to the 280 which Sarah Wakefield received for the Lib Dems.
I hope that Sarah does not think I did not attend the count out of any cockiness or intended any slight toward her.
I would have spoken to her and offered commiserations and then looked forward to working with her as one of my three parish council chairmen - in Pitminster – to get things done together for the area.
Brian Simpson was remarkably quick off the mark today, very impressive. The Churchstanton Parish Council clerk had emailed me with congratulations barely moments after I had heard the news myself by phone.
He was not just congratulating me, of course, he was landing the parish’s annual meeting paperwork on my desktop for me to attend on Wednesday – it’s straight down to business now.
I’ve already had a call to sort out the formalities with the chief executive and secretary and solicitor, and there is an induction day coming up shortly after the Bank Holiday.
It’s all downhill now, as they say.
Although I missed the count myself, my ever-supportive and patient mentor, Chris Robinson, a former councillor for the ward himself, was there and flew the flag for us, as was our divisional chairman Ian Irvin.
I would like to say a big thank you to them both, and to Pamela Hankey, for each of them placing their trust and confidence in me to carry the Conservative torch – well, that little green squiggly tree thing as it now is – and to succeed in the election.
Thanks go also to all of my other supporters who have been out there delivering leaflets, putting up posters, raising funding, and generally encouraging others to vote for me, many of whom I have still to meet.
We will be organising a little ‘thank you’ reception for them all very shortly and invitations will be going out in the post soon.
My only sadness was that the Conservatives did not retain overall control of Taunton Deane Borough Council, as some of the seats slipped away from us.
Here is not the place to go into the reasons for what happened, no doubt they will be examined carefully in the coming months and any lessons will be learned.
For now, I look forward to four years of working to preserve and enhance the communities and environment which make up this beautiful and diverse Blackdown ward.