2023 Review - This will be more Therapy than Theory

Ok I tend to look forward rather than back, challenges for 2024 rather than challenges of 2023 for example dealing with something at the time and moving on quickly. So I’m starting 2024 differently...and will park 2023 in a week and move on.

I’ll start with the end (December)...the oven went bang on New Years Eve, well more pop than bang, so last year when out with a pop, I spent Christmas Day through to New Years Eve in bed ill with a virus so that was some way to end the year. I’ll take the positive we ended 2023 with a mini disaster rather than started 2024 with one. December 3rd saw the passing of an ex-colleague of the best part of 20 years, someone who I spent many hours bouncing ideas and thoughts off (my sanity checker). Unfortunately, that was followed up by the passing of my younger sister on December 7th after a two-year battle with Terminal Cancer, I’m not typically a person who has regrets but I might be carrying a few on this however I now don’t wake up every day thinking is this the day we get the news (sadly and selfishly it’s negative baggage to carry around and it does interfere with your thinking).?

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Now to rewind right back to the start, I knew I had a challenging year ahead, I underestimated how challenging some things I knew were?coming and others I didn’t.?

In Council life as Chair of the Council we appointed a new clerk replacing our previous clerk of 20 years who retired, it’s a bit of niche job and every time the clerk does something it’s pretty much the first time and therefore needs support and guidance,?I didn’t really have that time in my life so they aim was to just give it the best shot I had until the elections in May and then step down as a Councillor. What I unfortunately didn’t see coming was several other Councillors had also seen it as a convenient time to stepdown due to their personal circumstances, so in the run up to May I was made aware 5 councillors were stepping down and unfortunately in addition my Vice Chair Mike who’d been ill since the beginning of the year passed away in April, Mike’s passing was a wakeup call, he was a community champion a great bloke but put all this before his own health. Just prior to the May elections I got a mercy call from a wise and respected Councillor and previous Mayor of Stockton asking me to reconsider my decision to stand down...my papers were hastily submitted on the day of the deadline for applications. Yet another unfortunate was the lack of people willing to give up their time to support the community means less people putting themselves forward as councilors and thus we had an uncontested election filling only 6 of the 13 seats, so leaving those elected members having to work twice as hard with a new clerk and me as the second longest serving councillor with just 6 years' service (it’s not an ideal equation). I exceeded my term as Chair so had to step?down in that role, and immediately got voted back in as Vice Chair to support our new Chair who is our third longest serving councillor with just over two years under his belt. ?

In personal life the eldest child had her final year at college to navigate with the intention to move on university, a stressful time for most students but somewhat more unpredictable when your child is Autistic so we knew as parents it was going to be an interesting time. What I didn’t see coming was the impact of Train strikes, although I applaud anybody with regards their right better pay and conditions this impacted people's life on a scale I don’t think is appreciated, you could plan for the strike days but the knock-on effects to other days wasn’t something we could plan for. I’d regularly get a call during the day from a stressed child having an autistic meltdown because of a train cancelation prior to an exam or a day when important prep for an exam was required. I’m sure these train strikes would have impacted life more than the majority of us understand. We knew even once we got through the exams we’d carry the stress of waiting for the results and then the big challenge in September of living independently for someone who might not cope in the real world and a big City.??

We’d also had a health scare in the household which was also something of concern, there was definitely a pressure cooker building through the back end of March into June, it certainly wasn’t sustainable, and something had to give. The sliding doors moment was stepping away from paid work and putting the career on hold, not looking and saying no to offers. ?

And now the positive. So, from August onwards I’ve had these extra hours and it’s been great, I do miss the work and the people but to some degree I’ve been able to replace the time and be a tad more relaxed. ?

The daughter made it out the other side of the exams, with the results needed, and off to Northumbria University she went, we moved her into her flat in September her first food shop and attempt at cooking was interesting, and me having time to be on stand-by certainly helped (but in all honesty the bat signal hasn’t gone up). So she’s settled and loving life which is a massive relief. In the summer I got cracking on the neglected DIY work and replaced half my roof tiles, removed several 40ft conifers and replaced them with a very long high?fence, repaired my big drive gates, and painted lots of things amongst other tasks, also had time to cook and make sure we had a decent meal on the table ever night. ?

And finally, the council work, I’ve had chance to push my digital agenda, we’ve implemented new tools and digital processes, we’ve given the hardware a refresh, updated the Website and built a strategy around using it, we now use digital forms and surveys to consult with our residents, we are just about to launch a cloud based Asset Tool to manage assets we’d only previously managed on paper, we’ve now got 1 year 2, year, 3 year business plans where previously we worked year to year. We’ve got some fantastic new recreation equipment coming to Egglescliffe and Eaglescliffe in 2024 and beyond, we are back up to 7 sitting Councillors. All the mechanisms are now in place to make the council work a little bit more of a lighter touch.?

If you are still with me obviously the year hasn’t ended on a high with December being particularly dark, as I finished all my projects and the daughter was successfully dispatched to Uni my favourite pub closed its doors, so from November onwards?I realised I lost my social circle...I’m spending too much time at home on my own and it’s not healthy.?

I’ve strangely developed a renewed passion for writing process documentation and whitepapers. I clearly just needed a reboot, I’ve been over processing, and my memory has been buffing.?

So as we enter 2024 it’s a clean slate, I’ve cleared my backlog, I’ve got some closure, and I’m mentally OK, refreshed and ready to go again whatever opportunities arise, however I am very bored so if anybody wants a catch-up coffee or beer just for the hell of it or to pick my brains, please reach out I’ve got the time, even a volunteer tea boy (sorry you'll have to provide tea bags). I have no idea what this year has in store for me personally but I’m not looking back, I'm taking that popping of the oven as closure.