JILL MORTIMER: Attending conference allowed me to put town on the map

Many of you wrote to me asking me to attend the Alzheimer’s Stand, and I was delighted to drop in, as well as meeting representatives of many other stands in the Conference Hall, such as the Association of Convenience Stores.

As many of you know I have adopted Miles for Men and Walk for Women as my chosen charity and I was delighted to spread word of the amazing work they do while at Conference. I took a team to a charity bingo event hosted by The Bingo Association one evening, and I am so pleased to say that we managed to win £600 between us – this will be winging its way to Micky Day’s charity.

While Conference allowed me to put our town on the map and engage in conversations about Levelling Up and getting the investment we need for Hartlepool to prosper, I was happy to be back here getting on with the job. I recently attended the launch of Kellas H2NorthEast Blue Hydrogen Project – the plans would enable further decarbonisation of the Tees Valley Industrial Cluster, taking advantage of the East Coast Cluster Carbon Capture and Storage Infrastructure. Although not based within our constituency, this project will bring over 1,000 jobs to the Teesside, and undoubtedly help to provide skilled work for local people. It is developments like this which will enable Hartlepool to move towards greener industry, while similarly providing the jobs our workforces are eager to fill.

Finally, I would like to invite Primary School age children in Hartlepool to enter my Christmas card competition. Letters will be coming out to Primary Schools this week, and you will be able to see more details about the competition on my social media shortly. I am looking forward to engaging with people across Hartlepool as this festive period approaches, and I am pleased to say I already have my first Christmas event in the diary – Burn Valley Community Centre Christmas Fair! Please do get in touch if you would like me to attend a Christmas event you are involved in.