Mike remembers his first election in 1970

WHEN Looking back was going through our old newspapers for Echoes of the Past recently we came across a small notice from April 1970, which had been placed by our regular contributor and former Loughborough councillor Mike Jones.

In 1970 Mike had just been elected for the first time as Leicestershire County councillor for the Hastings Ward and in true Mike Jones’ style he paid for a notice in the Echo to thank voters, adding that he was always available to help if anyone wanted to drop by his house, then in Albert Promenade.

Looking Back thought Mike might like a copy of his old notice and so e-mailed a photograph of the clipping to him.

And of course he repaid in kind and has sent a great account of his 1970 election experience and some photos as well.

He also added that the election was held eight years to the day, after he met his wife Marj at the

Essoldo Rock ‘n’ Roll Dance on

April 9,1962.

Here’s Mike’s 1970 election memories.

“I was conscious that three years earlier, Wyn Major, wife of the Loughborough Liberal Councillor, Des Major, had taken the seat by 691 votes to 630. Also, Mabel Bradley, the former Loughborough Labour councillor told me that she had once secured 815 votes, which was the highest vote achieved in the ward.

“As a result, I was pretty sure that if I could get 800 votes, that should be enough to win.

“I therefore set out to visit as many homes personally, as I possibly could, and seemed to receive a good response on the doorstep. However that being my first election, I had no real idea whether or not it would be good enough.

“I had lots of Labour window bills on display, but I knew that was no guarantee.

“On election day it was actually snowing so, having been told that Labour voters turned out in larger numbers when the weather was good, I was not in the best of spirits around 6.30pm when I walked into Albert Promenade, to start “knocking out” the Labour voters.

“What faced me, however, was quite remarkable. The street, which would normally have been deserted at that time on a dark, cold April evening, was almost full of couples and individuals walking down to vote at the King Street Polling Station. Many of them wished me all the best as they passed, and suddenly my spirits lifted.

“The rest of the evening, up to the 9pm close of poll, is a blur, but many people agreed to vote when I knocked on their door.

“My father, who had been very supportive from the outset, accompanied me to the election count at the Town Hall and the count began.

“As a “scrutineer” at earlier elections, I had acquired the knack of checking how many Labour votes were in each sample of 50 votes counted. I was thus able, to see at an early stage, that things were going quite well. I also knew, from the verification of votes cast, that the poll was much higher than three years previously.

“I recall that I went to the top table where the votes for each candidate were being collated and asked how the numbers were mounting up. I was told rather frostily by the person looking after that table, that I was not allowed to know, until the result had been confirmed. I was later to realise that this was the Conservative Alderman, Eric Oakland, whom I came to know well.

“Nevertheless, I tried to read the figures upside down, but told my father that I thought I must have got it wrong as there appeared to be a four figure number against my name. However, when the result was declared I had indeed received 1,081 votes against the Conservative candidate’s 473 and the sitting Liberal candidate’s 357.

“When this was announced, the applause was deafening, as Labour had not had many gains to cheer about, in terms of local election results, for some years.

“My first ‘duty’ was then, as the candidate with the highest number of votes across the town, to climb onto a chair and thank the returning officer and his staff for the efficient way they had conducted the count. I thus became a Labour county councillor and my involvement with local government began.”

• And as all of Loughborough knows Mike went on to serve, not just the county council, but Loughborough Municipal and Charnwood Borough Council with great distinction being made Mayor of Charnwood and Chairman of the county council.

He was made Honorary Alderman by the county in 2009, for his services to the authority between 1970 and 2009.

He was also honoured with Freedom of Charnwood Borough in 2008.

■ Loughborough’s Mike Jones’ first election card.

■ Loughborough’s Mike Jones’ first election card. He says: “This was for each elector to take to the polling station when voting. Note that the polling station was the Baptist Sunday School on King Street, now of course, the Mosque. Marj used to write all of these out.”

■ A small notice from April 1970, which had been placed in the Loughborough Echo by Mike Jones. He had just been elected for the first time as Leicestershire County councillor for the Hastings Ward.