Dear Sir,
My name is Joanne Jones and I am standing as a candidate in the Newton Aycliffe Central Ward Town Council elections.
I am a married 41 year old, my husband and I have 4 children, 3 cats and 2 dogs. Life is crazy! We love our life in Newton Aycliffe and we want everyone else who lives here to love it too.
I am Aycliffe born and bred and spent 12 years of my childhood as part of the Horndale Stars Jazzband, entertaining the townsfolk as part of the Aycliffe Carnival. Summer days were spent at Simpasture Park, playing sports, on the go-karts, having a picnic and buying 10p mix-ups from the park sweet shop. I miss those days and so do a lot of people.
I work as a Practice Nurse at Bewick Crescent Surgery and help support the local Covid-19 vaccination centre. On weekends I spend some of my time as a personal assistant for a young girl with cerebral palsy.
Over the years my husband and I have helped raise funds for lots of worthy causes, one being Katelyn’s New Wheels, which raised enough money to buy two tricycles, for two Aycliffe girls with Cerebral Palsy.
We also helped raise money for the local victims of the Manchester bombing and helped form a charity organisation called ‘Community Spirit’ and raised funds to help the local community by organising discos and craft fairs. We even supported other charities such as Junction 7 and Rotary Newton Aycliffe, raising money as Mr and Mrs Claus, working closely with Newton Aycliffe Police organising seasonal events.
Last year during lockdown I arranged the drive through Santa event in Tesco car park as I wanted to put smiles on faces and hope in our hearts.
In 2019 Nev and I won the first Syd Howarth Community Award – the award was such an honour and we donated the prize money to other local charities!
I want to continue helping the people of Newton Aycliffe, build a stronger community after lockdown, starting with the basics, like fly tipping, parking and anti-social behaviour. We need to fight for more investment in our area, rather than the Councillors fighting each other – we need to work together, plan things for young and old alike, make life fun, and put the great back into Aycliffe again.
Joanne Jones
Lib Dem Candidate for Central Ward
