JILL MORTIMER: Ukraine on our minds as we marked a year since Russian invasion

I was also pleased to meet up with Orinoco the Womble to show my support for the Great British Spring Clean – it’s so important that we all get involved and do our bit to clean up our environment!

When back in Hartlepool on Friday, it was an honour to join together at the war memorial with civic members, including our Mayor Brian Cowie and Mayoress Veronica Nicholson, to mark one year since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine with a minute’s silence.

As I hope you all already know, I stand with the Government in its unshakeable commitment to opposing Russian aggression.

While the ongoing war in Ukraine was on all of our minds, the rest of the day was taken up with meetings with constituents.

I had a number of surgery appointments to discuss issues one-on-one with residents, and it was also a pleasure to chat to students from High Tunstall school.

A group of local young people came to speak with me mainly about strike action and the impact this has had on Hartlepool as part of their citizenship project.

It was great to be able to discuss such an important topic with our bright youngsters and I wish them all the luck in the world ahead of their GCSE exams.

I was delighted to receive an invitation to the re-dedication of All Saints Stranton church bells last week too, along with our Mayor and Mayoress and other local residents.

Officiated by the Bishop of Durham the Right Reverend Paul Butler and assisted by Revered John Bell, I know how important this event was, and indeed the fact that the bells have been restored for us all to enjoy.

Finally, I was thrilled to learn that Ben Houchen’s Mayoral Development Corporation has received backing from Hartlepool Borough Council.

This scheme will bring further investment to our town, and with it good-quality high-skilled jobs and opportunities for local people.

I’m looking forward to seeing the benefits that this will provide for Hartlepool.