`Community Spirits`

An occasional series about the lives and work of those who work in the community. Representatives from the medical, educational, spiritual, social and political professions have been approached.

No.4. The Policitian's Story

I met Sue Waddington, the member of the European Parliament for South Leicestershire and parts of Lincolnshire, on behalf of the Kibworth and District Chronicle at County Hall in Glenfield. It was not an auspicious day, as I arrived at a neo-sixties grey concrete and glass building on a rainy afternoon in January. It brought to mind bureaucratic, grey people in far away places making policies - it seemed very removed from real life. However, this impression receded on meeting Sue. Here was I talking to my MEP, without bringing a problem to solve. I suddenly realised, do we only contact our MEPs or MPs as a last resort when something has gone wrong? It was refreshing to find that our MEP feels it is important to make time to talk to you.

So what about Sue? She was born in Norfolk at the end of World War 11. As her father was in the Air Force, she and her sister spent much of their childhood moving from one environment to another, thus changing schools far too frequently. This constant change, although not to her liking has, obviously, given her the ability to live and work in constantly changing circumstances. "As a child" she told me "I read avidly almost anything I could get my hands on and this prompted me to do some serious thinking". She became a member of the Labour Party at a very early age as she could see, looking about, that there was a lot of injustice and poverty in the world. "Why should some children go to school in tatters, when others were well heeled?" After passing her A Levels at a Norwich Grammar School, she arrived at Leicester University in the mid-sixties to read Social Sciences, where she gained a 2.1. - and has lived in Leicester since.

Sue has had a very interesting career in politics. She was formerly a councillor for Spinney Hill Constituency for 19 years at County Hall and spent the years 1982-1984 as the leader of the Labour led County Council. Her main experiences have been, besides working in Adult Education as a tutor, in community education in Leicester, Derbyshire and Birmingham .

She was in Leicester on this particular day to attend Leicestershire's European Day and to give a speech on the work of an MEP. She has a tremendously busy work schedule - normally spending two weeks of each and every month sitting on committees in Brussels. She then spends another week each month attending the European Parliament in Strasbourg (this is a nine in the morning to midnight job), followed by yet another week back in Brussels attending political groups. Weekends, which can include Friday and Monday, but not always, are spent doing constituency work here in Leicestershire.

Sue now sits on three committees in Brussels, Environmental Issues, Social Affairs, and Women's Rights. She is firmly of the opinion that the people of Leicestershire have benefited, albeit indirectly, from the European Union. "There has now been a stability in Europe for the last 50 years, since the end of the Second World War. It is our job to ensure that peace, prosperity and social justice is enjoyed by all, throughout Europe". And to do this, the European Parliament sits from 9.00 a.m. through to midnight - to me, this seems very exhausting!

However she says it is enjoyable - especially meeting and sharing ideas and friendships with Myopias from other countries. Some of the irritations she described were luggage going astray, which has happened on five occasions in as many weeks, and sleepless nights in noisy hotels in Strasbourg.

Sue's major project for 1996 will be the Year of Life Long Learning and she is to act as Rapporteur for this, on behalf of the European Parliament.

When I met Sue, on 26 January, she had just given her morning speech to conference and, after speaking to the Chronicle, she was hoping to catch up on some correspondence with her full-time secretary, Pauline. In the evening, she was due to give a Health Seminar to students at Loughborough University. The following day's schedule was equally hectic. It included a seminar at Leicester University in the morning, more correspondence and, in the evening, meeting people from Ketton concerned about the pollution which they believed was caused by the nearby cement works. (Days, it would appear, are always crammed full. It took six weeks of planning to arrange my interview with her).

Europeanness must run in the Waddington household, for Sue's sister lives in Munich, Germany, whilst her daughter, who speaks five languages, is studying how countries are coping with people's disabilities.

So when does she have time to breathe, especially with all the travel involved? I didn't exactly find the answer, but Sue likes to take, for relaxation, long walks in the Leicestershire countryside. A chance to reflect on the past week's/month's activities and consider the next steps forward?

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