1989 began with a by-election in Richmond, Yorkshire. This was to replace a Conservative who had resigned following his appointment as a vice-president of the European Union. Our former constituency chair person was chosen as the candidate for the new party and I joined many others campaigning hard for her election. There were eight other candidates, including a Liberal and one from the SDP, as well as Labour and Green.

The election was won by a young William Hague with 37% for the conservatives, the SDP candidate receiving 32% and ours 22%. A bitter disappointment that could have been avoided if the SDP leadership had accepted the decision to merge the two parties. The new party was now in debt and facing council elections and a European election.

It became obvious that the four Liberals on Humberside County Council would be unlikely to retain their seats at the May election. Were any of us to do so, we would have much reduced roles and it would be necessary for me to return to full-time employment. When the election came, only one of the four was re-elected, joined by two others. My vote reduced me to third place on the ballot for the Cleethorpes division I had represented for the preceding four years.

By then each of the other three had separated from their wives/partners, at least in part as a consequence of the heavy workload, mostly self-imposed. Only one of our number went on to achieve a modicum of success in politics – our leader. He moved to London where he quickly got elected to Camden Borough Council, a position he held on to for many years.

When I say the workload was self-imposed, it was the inevitable consequence of our insistence that we must play a full part in the work of the council. Four of us chose to attempt to undertake the same amount of work as that shared between 30+ members of each of the other parties.

There were recruitment panels, such as that already mentioned for head and deputy headships in Grimsby, but extending also to a new Assistant Chief Constable, a Manager for the Airport, and various other vacancies that occurred from time to time during the four years. There were disciplinary appeals panels organised as a final tribunal for staff members who contested a sanction imposed in response to unacceptable behaviour. There were several meetings each summer to dispense discretionary grants for third level education.

One of the more pleasant duties associated with membership of the Education Committee was school visits. In particular, there was a national award for the “best community school” given to the school that demonstrated active involvement between school and community. A small panel of councillors and education officials sifted through the various applications from our area, visited the ones whose initial presentation seemed most promising and selected the one that would be put forward to represent Humberside.

The winning school was located in a picturesque East Yorkshire village. The school was clearly at the heart of the community. The primary aged children were encouraged to participate in many activities beyond the traditional curriculum, with a section of the playground given over to the creation of a small farm with chickens and small animals.

I can’t recall now if that school won the National award, but I do remember attending the award ceremony at a prestigious London venue. Interestingly, I see that there is now an annual Community Education Award in the UK but, according to the website, it has been in existence only since 2011.

At that time the late Paddy Ashdown was Education Spokesman for the Liberal Party in Parliament. He invited each of us who were members of local government education committees to submit a report on the state of education in our areas. My report featured the importance of community within the ethos of Humberside Schools. Subsequently an organisation promoting community education asked permission to publish my report as an article in their magazine. A version also appeared in Liberal News.