Swindon People.

So interview number two is with former Labour MP for Swindon Anne Snelgrove.

I believe she is set to stand for Labour again in 2015 and get her Swindon seat back.

She lives in Swindon and has been on the political scene locally for a good few years now,i thank her for the time she has given in doing this interview.

Question one

CAN YOU TELL US ON THE FORUM A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF AND HOW YOU CAME TO LIVE IN SWINDON?

I was born in Bracknell,Berkshire and lived on the Priestwood Estate which is identical to the Parks Estate in Swindon.
I trained as a teacher and returned to live near my parents when i started teaching.
My dad was keen that i continue with my education as his finished when he was fourteen,as did my mothers.
I come from a large extended family and i have forty five cousins at the last count!
We live across the country now but we used to live within twenty miles of each other that made Christmas time a noisy time but great fun.
I moved to Swindon in 2004 prior to being selected as Labour Parliamentery Candidate to succeed Julia Drown MP.
However i moved from Bracknell a few years prior to take up a job with BNFL as there Community Relations Officer.

2

DO YOU WATCH SWINDON TOWN,AND IF SO HOW OFTEN?

I have to confess that football is not a great passion of mine,and my time on Saturdays is usually taken up with constituency engagements so do not get to the County Ground very often.
I am glad to say that they usually win when i do attend.
On match days i can hear the roar from the Town fans from my house in Eastcott,and always hear a goal going in from the sound of the chanting.

3

WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT THE TOWN OF SWINDON ,GIVEN THE CHANCE?

I guess that i would like the Town Centre improvements finished and the Mechanics fully restored and open to the public again and also a better road system.
But one thing i would love to change is people's attitude towards the Town of Swindon.
Too many have the same stereotype of the town and its people,so far from the truth there should be a law banning it!
There are great things in the town including good communities,excellent shopping and some great places to eat.
There are also lots of open spaces and really we should blow our trumpet a little bit more.

4

IF YOU WAS NOT A POLITICIAN,WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD BE DOING CAREER WISE?

I am sure i would be in education.I'd become an Education Advisor for a local authority before i left teaching,so i would probably be in adult education and training by now.
But now what i wish i had done was Garden Design!
Sadly this was not considered a good career when i left school and did not get interested in gardening until i was in my twenties.

5

DO YOU THINK THERE WILL BE ANOTHER WOMAN PRIME MINISTER?

Yes,there are some excellent woman MP'S in all parties and it is only a matter of time before one is selected to lead them.

6

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK...AND ALSO YOUR FAVOURITE CHEESE?

It is hard to choose so true to form i have given you more info than you have asked for.
My favourite childrens book was Alice in Wonderland,this is probably the reason i feel so at home in Parliament!
The best adult books are Middlemarch by George Elliot,South Riding by Winifred Holtby and Great Expectations by Dickens.
Mt favourite cheese is Stilton,the one from Colston Bassett is fantastic.
I also like goats cheese with a really good one with black pepper sold in Swindon at the Sunday Market.

7

WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES WHEN NOT WORKING?

I love gardening and have been know to garden by torchlight if i am busy in the daylight hours.
I also like to read the newspapers,play Sudoku and go to the cinema.

8

HOW CAN LABOUR WIN THE NEXT ELECTION,AND WHAT WOULD YOUR OWN PERSONAL MESSAGE BE TO US?

This government is making the wrong decisions.Tax breaks for millionaires while increasing taxation on hard working families.
Ignoring one million young people out of work and the 50% who cannot go to University while at the same time imposing a wasteful and expensive top down restructure of our HHS Staff that has cost us the jobs of over 4000 nurses.
We want to take people with us and change Swindon for the better,to build a country where everone has a stake and can play a part.
People should vote for me and vote for the Labour Party if they want a say in decisions being made and see a reversal in damaging changes to the NHS.
If they want here children to have a choice of direction once leaving school,if they want banks that serve he country,not a country that serves the banks,also that the people that work Monday to Friday have some money in there pockets still.

9

WHO IS/WAS YOUR HERO/HEROINE?

I liked to read about Queen Elizabeth 1 as a child and i think she must have been an amazing woman to have survived and ruled for 45 years at such a turbulent time.
She brought the country together and with it stability.
Another hero is William Tyndale who first published and translated the First Testament and was burnt at the stake for doing so.
My other hero's are a group of people The Tolpuddle Martyrs who were farm workers and formed one of the first unions that protested about wage cuts.
They were transported to Australia on trumped up charges but were returned after a public outcry.
The principle of workers fighting for there rights were thus born.

10

FINALY,IT IS YOUR LAST DAY ON EARTH WHAT WOULD YOUR LAST MEAL BE...AND WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO EAT I?

Ideally my last meal would be cooked at home by both me and my husband Mike.
I would make the starter and pudding while he would do the main course,my starter would be Salad with pear,stilton and walnuts.
The main course would be chicken thighs with lettuce and peas complete with Royal Jersey potatoes.
Pudding would be my famous(amongst friends) lemon meringue pie with home made pastry and filling.
I could then go to a better place happy and very full!