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| Ealing Town Hall |
My UK public service career began here in 1970 as a pre-graduate experience placement. In 1974 I joined Surrey County Council, moving on to Devon County Council in 1975 and to Dorset County Council in 1978 where dealing with “Social Services” was the biggest challenge. I left for overseas life and work in 1985, going to St Helena; Saudi Arabia, Malawi and Rwanda before settling in SE Asia working mainly in Cambodia. My profession and training is in “organisational development” and “human resources” - how to obtain the best performances from people. I retired from full-time work in June 2016, only to encounter maladministration at Northumberland County Council.
Update June 2022 - it seems I am not the only one to have misgivings about the way Northumberland Council was operating. Belated Vindication? Please see this article, latest update below and links to reports. The main report makes graphic and sad reading.
Please see the sequel to this blog and my website entry - the case for better public service everywhere also published here.
Bournemouth Dorset 1984
Mr Ricketts couldn’t believe his luck. He’d asked for a pay rise and got twice as much as he’d asked for. His trade union representative Mr Watson beamed approvingly: “Never” he said ”Never has his union won a pay upgrade by two whole grades”. Mrs Bicknell chairing the Appeals Committee addressed all three of us. “We don’t care what the rules are supposed to be. We are correcting an injustice and that is our job as elected Councillors.”
