A week of exercise
At the start of this week I started running. I did three runs in total of approx 3km each along the River Kelvin. I tracked each run using GPS and SportyPal, so I can see if my times and pace improves over the summer. I was pretty sore after the first run, but the second run sorted me out – a much better pace.
On Saturday I played some lawn bowls at Kelvingrove Park (this counts as a sport, right?). It was free, and pretty good fun. I took some timelapse photos – which I will put together once I have freed up some space on my laptop.
This afternoon I played badminton at Kelvinhall. It’s been at least 10 years since I have played, but it was good to get some different exercise. I’ll try and find some time to go back if anyone wants a game?
Winning: Jo Swinson re-elected
After several years of hard work, Jo Swinson was re-elected as the MP for East Dunbartonshire. I was proud to have been the Constituency Organiser for this campaign. It was a good result for us here – as Jo was returned despite a tough fight from Labour across Scotland.
The full results were:
Jo Swinson (LD) - 18,551
Mary Galbraith (Lab) – 16,367
Mark Nolan (Con) – 7,431
Iain White (SNP) – 5,054
James Beeley (UKIP) – 545
Majority 2,184
Turnout 75.2
Thank you to everyone who came forward to help during the campaign. Hundreds of volunteers gave their time and money to make sure that East Dunbartonshire kept their strong local champion. It was hard work, but worth it!
Queen Margaret Union – the book
I am please to have been able to contribute to the book Ladies First: A History of the Queen Margaret Union of the University of Glasgow
The book is an excellent look at the history of the Union in a series of articles written by the Presidents and Board Members of the Union from the 1940s onwards. I contributed an article on ‘Freshers’ Week’, focusing on the team spirit in the Freshers’ Weeks I ran in 2003 and 2004.
Bearsden South By-Election
Ashay Ghai has won the Bearsden South by-election for the East Dunbartonshire Lib Dems.
The final vote after redistribution of the Labour and SNP votes was: LD 1770, Con 1499.
You can see further coverage on Lib Dem Voice, and in the Bearsden Herald.
It was great to be organising for such an enthusiastic team of volunteers. A lot of work was put into the victory, and I’m sure a lot more work is to come over the next few years.
Bishopbriggs South By-Election
The Bishopbriggs South by-election results are in. The Lib Dems have moved from 6th in 2007 to 3rd at this election. We were only 21 redistributed votes away from being second.
The first preference votes were:
- SSP 96
- Cons 500
- SNP 837
- Lib 736
- Lab 1401
On the third redistribution we had 928 votes to the SNP’s 949.
We were the only party to increase their actual number of first preference votes since 2007, and our vote share rose by 9.5%.
It was good to work with our candidate, Alastair McPhee, who ran a positive and energetic campaign. These results look good for the future of our Council Group.
