As I write this, there are only 14 days left of being a candidate. From the initial call to ask if I’d be interested in standing (all the way back in early summer summer last year) through the Lib Dem selection process, sooooo many hours of online group training and one-to-one mentorship from Cllr Ian Mollison, to these last weeks before polling day, it’s been quite the experience!

Here’s a wee rundown of what I’ve been up to in just the past week.

Thanks to some brilliant volunteers (and my husband and kids), we got 5000 Focus leaflets delivered in Portlethen and Newtonhill by Easter Monday.

On Monday I attended the North Kincardine Rural Community Council meeting on zoom. I’ve been going along to these for months and really enjoy them – well run, efficient and very friendly. Cllr Mollison has written up an account of the meeting Focus on the rural area | Ian Mollison (mycouncillor.org.uk)

Wednesday evening was the in-person Newtonhill, Muchalls and Cammachmore Community Council meeting in Skateraw Hall. Again, you can find an account at the meeting here Spotlight on Newtonhill area | Ian Mollison (mycouncillor.org.uk) . Another friendly meeting, though I was slightly discombobulated by the recently-returned Chair (who hadn’t met me before), initially refusing my request to speak on one issue, as he knew I was a candidate. Rest assured, no sales pitch ensued! I shared my experience as a parent in Portlethen of having ‘two schools in one building’ in the run up to a new school being opened. The problems in Portlethen were solely down to the delay in getting the go-ahead to build Hillside School, meaning Portlethen Primary became massively over capacity. Having Hillside School ‘grow’ inside the Portlethen Primary building actually worked really well. The plans for a primary school in Chapelton are well in hand and I foresee a similar, positive experience of sharing premises for Newtonhill and the fledgling of Chapelton when the time comes.

During the Easter holidays other candidates, helpers and Alex Cole-Hamilton came to Portlethen for a morning of knocking on doors and talking to people. From those chats, I’ve then been investigating various issues for people this week – putting them in touch with the right people to help, investigating an issue over dropped kerbs, having face to face chats to see what else can be done.

Also this week:

• Had a response to my letter to Stagecoach about accessibility issues, redirecting my queries to another department. Updated resident.
• Helped at the Fine Piece Cafe on Wednesday, then spent time chatting to folk who had some questions for me before voting day.
• Wrote more literature to go out to some voters in the next week – including to first time voters, telling them what the Liberal Democrats stand for and where to get more information.
• Signed up for the NEAT spring clean coming up on the 30th April.
• Attended a multi-party support session for women standing in these council elections.
• Continued to keep an eye on social media for interesting and/or informative posts to share on my Facebook page (1) Mel Sullivan, North Kincardine | Facebook

This is what I’ve been up to the past week, hope you’ve found it a useful indicator of how I’d be as a councillor, if elected.