So now Gordon and his merry men are out of Downing Street and DC has become PM, what is there left to write about? It wouldn’t be so bad if I could switch attention onto the Lib Dems but they are now our partners so I can’t write anything about them either (plus they are all such nice people, of course).

Thankfully, Woking Borough Council fires up in six days with the first Muslim mayor of Woking, Cllr Mohammed Iqbal, being sworn in. I’ve known Cllr Iqbal for a number of years and he cares about his community. He has worked very hard to bring about positive changes in Maybury and Sheerwater and is a very approachable man with a great sense of humour and humility.

He will make a superb mayor – and it is about time that the Muslim community in our town should be represented among the roll of those who’ve served this town as council Chairman and later Mayor. I’m particularly proud that they should come from the ranks of the Conservative Party, though I know the other parties will share our enthusiasm for this development.

In addition, we wait to see what form the council will take this year. Although the election results produced no net change with 18 Con, 17 LD and one independent, our tenancy of the mayoralty this year means that the numbers are effectively 17-all with Peter Ankers having the casting vote if parties follow the whip. I have my doubts as to how healthy this situation is but perhaps more on this another time.

While I would obviously have preferred to have been sitting in the chamber around the benches on May 20, I was sworn in as a magistrate on Monday afternoon by the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey Sarah Goad, High Sheriff Robert Douglas and Mr Justice Critchlow at Guildford Crown Court in a short but memorable ceremony. I was particularly delighted that my parents were able to be there and I could see Mum welling up as I read the oath!

In all honesty, I have several months of quite intensive training and sitting ahead of me and it would have been ambitious to have combined it with the duties of a councillor. My father thought I was completely mad to have even considered it – perhaps he was right and some things happen for a reason.

That said, I have got a meeting of the Horsell and Woodham Conservatives this evening where I have to explain away our failure to win (joke, they are all extremely supportive) and we have got plenty to do in Horsell to make sure that people’s lives are improved and that they are represented well in council. As I said a week ago, councillor or not, the community is always there to be served.

Another furiously busy long weekend. I spent most of Friday working on campaign items, followed by a branch meeting of Horsell and Woodham in the evening. Yesterday, my other half and I spent most of the day in the kitchen – more of which later – followed by helping out and attending the Carol Concert at Horsell Village Hall. Today, we have presented the fruits of our kitchen labours at the Horsell and Woodham Conservatives Christmas Lunch, which as fundraising and membership vice-chairman, I have organised.

So another wonderfully “Horselly” weekend. The Mosaic Choir was absolutely fantastic yesterday evening and sung with great competence and wit. A number of their pieces were modern alternatives to traditional favourites and the version of 12 Days of Christmas was very funny. The event raised a great deal of money for Woking Lions and Horsell Village Hall and we have to recognise the efforts of Dorothy Smith, Penny Kramer and Roger Chamberlain from the HVH side, along with Janice Worgan.

Party events are perhaps slightly less worthy from a general point of view but raise funds for the political process, which however cynical one may be about it is at least better than no political process at all. My other half and I spent yesterday making various desserts to cater for the 35 people who turned up to support us today. Cllrs Anne Murray and Mike Smith provided the main course and Jonathan Lord attended a Horsell event yet again, showing his continuing commitment to support activists at every level as they support him. I’ve said before that I’m lucky to have a great branch behind my campaign – it can’t be overstated.

There isn’t a particular point to this post other than to note what a great pleasure it is to have such a full diary and meet so many good people who support these events – both political and non-political. Where you live is what you make it, something it is heartening that so people in Horsell understand.

How do we get the improvements we want for the village?

I spent around half an hour today speaking to a Horsell activist of another political persuasion who has in the past been successful in getting things done in the village. I won’t name her to prevent embarrassment (although if she visits the site she is more than welcome to post a comment confirming her identity). The reason I’m telling you this is because although it’s something I’ve thought about in the past – and committed to print as editor of The Resident - I wouldn’t want to take all the credit for this post.

We spoke about the responsibility of a community to take action to achieve the things it wants to get done rather than relying on the local authority to provide it to them. It’s not always a popular message – what on earth do we pay our council tax for, I hear you reply – but the truth is that if people have a vision for how their area should look, what services they want to see there and how these should be delivered, it is in these times up to them to do something about it.

I wrote in the The Resident that government would likely become ever more remote as councils merge and powers pass higher up the chain. I said that communities like Horsell would be left to take responsibility for their own care organisations, village facilities and for creating their own visions of the future. It was the latter point that we particularly spoke about today, especially in light of the Local Development Framework that I have written about before.

Should we simply stand by, answer the council’s consultation and allow the officers of the council, in consultation with the government and our elected members to map out our village’s future for us? Or should we rather create our own vision for what we want and task our councillors with fighting in council for that vision, regardless of convention perameters? And whose vision should it be – is it possible for Horsell residents to agree on enough to have a single vision of what we want our community to be?

We are blessed with good schools and shops in Horsell, as well as effectively our own town centre car park in Brewery Road. We also have a myriad of superb organisations from Scouts and Guides to allotments and amateur drama – all run and organised by generous, dynamic and selfless volunteers.

It’s not a question to which I have an answer but here is the heart of it – just how far are we personally prepared to go to make Horsell what we want it to be? It is often only when authorities are seen to make a mess of things that people begin to ask themselves that question and find a favourable answer. How much more could we achieve by asking it of ourselves on our own terms?

I’ve had a really enjoyable evening at the Horsell Village Quiz, which has raised around £1,000 for Horsell Village Hall through tickets and raffle. In particular, two of my fellow trustees of the hall, Dorothy Smith and Penny Kramer, worked extremely hard to organise the evening and I know their efforts were appreciated by everyone in the hall tonight – just shy of 100 people.

The quiz was compiled and presided over by Andrew Crisp, a former county councillor and someone who is still in my opinion set for a top-rate political career if he should wish to have one. Every year his questions get better and better and tonight was no exception. Without him, the village quiz wouldn’t be the same animal.

I’m delighted to say that for the second year running, we were the winning team – although this year it was a bit close for comfort as we won by just two points. I’m afraid that I get very competitive about quiz nights, as fellow team members who have to suffer my out-aloud calculations about various scoring permutations will attest. I just have to win these things, otherwise I can get a bit grumpy. Not an altogether attractive trait, admittedly, but perhaps a one that can be turned to an advantage.

Anyway, a superb evening out and another reminder that fewer sights are more heartening than a community turning out to support itself and its institutions. It’s just one reason that Horsell is such a great place to live.