Out and about

I HAD a great time getting out and about over the Jubilee break. I held constituency surgeries in Ide and Exminster. I opened an LPG fuel facility at Kennford. Converting your car to LPG will save you half your fuel bills.

I visited three primary schools – Copplestone (their Head dressed as a Mad March Hare!), Lapford (who let me ice a cake!) and Haywards School (where the children performed a wonderful song).

I met Smoke Free South West to discuss the problem of the effect of secondhand smoke on children and I met briefly with supporters of Ashburton Rollers to discuss how I might be able to help raise funds for the very imaginative new Skate Park they plan.

I spent a very pleasurable evening at a 60-year retrospective exhibition on the local history of Moretonhampstead at the new Green Hill centre in the town.

I enjoyed attending a number of fetes and exhibitions, including a local art exhibition and a food and farming event in Chertion Bishop followed up with a visit to the Crediton Farmers' Market — thriving as ever.

In North Tawton I visited the flower show at the local church with its exquisite representations of the crown jewels, the races and Windsor Castle. At Down St Mary I opened their jubilee fete and toured the flower display in the local church. I said a few words at the Colebrooke fete and much enjoyed meeting everyone. I bought a gardening apron from one of the stalls and this saw immediate service in our rather rainy garden.

As a family we attended St Andrew's in Ashburton for the Sunday jubilee service and viewed the magnificent flower displays within the church. A wonderful occasion in which the sense of local community was as ever powerfully present.