I’m really chuffed to have been nominated for the Tim Garden award – the annual award for the best blog from a Lib Dem holding public office.

The awards will be announced at Lib Dem conference next week.  Once agin, I’m up against tough competition – Peter Black AM (who won last year), Dundee’s Cllr Fraser MacPherson, by-election winner Willie Rennie MP and fellow Lewisham Councillor Pete Pattisson. 

My personal favourite is Fraser’s blog, which is always full of local news – and  shows how much hard work he does for his ward.  I was also pleased to see that Daisy Benson from Reading has been nominated in the best use of e-campaigning category – her blog is an excellent read and I’m really interested in her work on empty homes.

Every year (well, the last few), Total Politics magazine publishes a guide to UK Blogging.   They’re trailing the guide by publishing their top blogs of various types on their Party Lines blog  over the next few weeks.

I’m really chuffed to say I’m one of their top 30 councillor blogs.  I just scraped in at number 28, but this is the second highest ranking Lib Dem blog.  Congratulations to all the other councillors who made the list, especially fellow Lib Dems Cllr Fraser MacPherson (Dundee) who was the top Lib Dem and Cllrs Alex Folkes  (Cornwall) and Mary Reid (Kingston upon Thames), who also made the top 30.

You might remember that I mentioned about a month ago that my colleague Pete Pattisson was planning to run the London 10k for the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.  

Pete completed the run, and he’s asked me to thank everyone who sponsored him.  He writes:

“A huge thanks to everyone who sponsored my 10K run, in aid of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, a charity that helps people stay safe. I joined 27,000 others in the race through the streets of central London, raising £595. Too many people in Lewisham, especially young people, have become victims of violence recently, and so I was proud to do my small part to help others stay safe.”

Pete’s also too modest to point out that he finished the run in just 44 minutes.

I wandered up to Mountsfield Park this afternoon for People’s Day.  You may remember last year, the Lib Dems had a rather tame tombola  on our stall.  This year, some bright spark decided it’d be a good idea to stick our council group in the stocks and charge the public 50p a go to throw wet sponges at us!

So after Pete and Duwayne had been duly soaked, it was my turn…   

I have to say, being put in the stocks is one of the more bizzare things I’ve ended up doing since being elected – possibly even topping the Santa episode!   All in a good cause though – got to pay for those Focus leaflets somehow!

Having stuck his head above the parapet and offered himself for election as our local MP, you might have thought my colleague Pete Pattisson had taken on enough new challenges lately.  But no – Pete’s now signed up to do the London 10k run on behalf of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, along with his wife Jo.

The Suzy Lamplugh trust works to raise awareness of the importance of personal safety and to help people avoid violence and agression.  I know they do a lot of work with vulnerable lone workers (like housing officers) so it’s a great cause.

If you’d like to sponsor Pete and Jo, you can do so here.

I’m really pleased to say that Cllr Pete Pattisson has been selected as the Lib Dem candidate for Lewisham East.   Pete will fight the seat at the next general election - which must be held at some point over the next year.  Labour MP Bridget Prentice has already said she’s standing down at the election. 

Pete’s a local councillor in Whitefoot ward, a former local teacher, and well-known campaigner.

You can find out more about Pete and get in touch with him over at his (excellent) website.

Pete writes:

Our community and country are in urgent need of change.  We deserve representatives who listen, not lecture; that serve us, not themselves.  Only the Liberal Democrats can offer this change here.  I have spent my life in public service; as a local teacher, councillor and resident.  Please join me in helping change Lewisham for good.

Lewisham East has twelve Lib Dem councillors, compared to six Labour and three tory.  We’ve elected Lib Dem councillors – now we can vote for a Lib Dem MP – and in Pete Pattisson we’d have a great local representative.