Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting the new Kincardine and Mearns councillors at one of their training days in the chamber in Stonehaven.

My role was to tell them what it is really like to be a councillor. I was able to speak freely as I am no longer bound by the councillors’ code of conduct. There is more to the job than is apparent, though shockingly the legal minimum requirement is to attend only one council meeting every six months.

I took the opportunity to hand back all my IT equipment (laptop, printer, mobile phone etc) as well. Now the task is to shred or otherwise dispose of all the council-related papers I have acquired over 15 years. No rush though, as my time is now my own!

I see that the Liberal Democrat group on the council has chosen Councillor Anne Stirling to be the group leader. A sound choice as Anne has been not only the Lib Dem group leader before but also the council leader. More here: https://www.grampianonline.co.uk/news/turriff-councillor-elected-as-aberdeenshire-liberal-democrat-274672/?fbclid=IwAR0gUMLheXRgEZmrgNXmmdV1dieAeHXmKlYhRWRpjon7I-fAE66ENQSiwZg