Jesse Norman has expressed his delight at the news last week that his historical novel The Winding Stair has won the 2024 Fiction/Non-fiction Parliamentary Book Award at a ceremony in the Palace of Westminster.

I write to mourn the loss and celebrate the life of Sir Colin Shepherd, who has recently passed away, shortly after his 86th birthday. 

Helping to place an elderly woman with dementia in a suitable local care home. Getting a driving licence for a lady who had been isolated in a rural location for five months waiting for DVLA to respond. Arranging suitable compensation for constituents cut off without water for almost a week.

George Orwell once brilliantly remarked that “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.”

Our new local university project, NMITE, continues to go from strength to strength.

Last week the Herefordshire Museum and Art Gallery Lead Damian Etheraads and I had the chance to meet with the top brass at the National Portrait Gallery in London. 

I had the honour to be among a throng of people going to celebrate the launch of Hereford's new cycle track the other day. 

Local MP Jesse Norman has hailed the opening of the new Hereford cycle track as “a massive boost to the county and the community”.

I will never forget my feelings of amazement and awe when I first entered Central Lobby in the Palace of Westminster. And little wonder: it's a dazzling sight, a towering stone hall built in the Gothic renaissance style, its ceiling encrusted with mosaics showing the saints and symbols of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.