Consett North Liberal Democrats are proud to have TWO excellent local candidates who will make a very effective team if residents choose them to fill the TWO seats up for grabs.
Kathryn Rooney has lived in the Consett area all her life, including the years when she and her husband brought up their three successful grown-up children.
After an initial career in hairdressing, Kathryn re-trained as a teaching assistant. She particularly loved working with children with social and emotional difficulties, many of whom had Special Educational needs. When opportunity dried up in that field she became a youth support worker and also works at a local refuge. She says her most recent jobs have opened her eyes to the appalling difficulties faced by too many people in our community.
During the Covid crisis, she has been busier than ever, running a food bank and a toy appeal, as well as volunteering for both a vaccine clinic and lateral flow testing centre.
Kathryn believes in and is committed to, the strength of our local community. She found the proof of it when she went to the aid of a homeless young man who was living in a tent in a nearby wooded area. From the outset, people rallied round with warm clothing, and once she had helped find him a home she was inundated with offers of household items and furnishings. She still looks out for him to this day.
It’s no wonder, then, that Kathryn lists her three main aims in seeking to be a councillor:
• To be a passionate advocate for local residents
• to make a difference within the field of young people’s mental health services
• To be someone people they can approach confidently that she will follow through on their issues
David Bowerbank grew up in Stanley and moved to Consett as a young man looking for work. Having found it he decided to stay, bought a house, and got on with his hobbies of performing in stage musicals, plays and pantos. He also plays bass in a band.
David’s career has mostly been in environmental companies, working in a local environmental lab for a decade. After branching out briefly into ventilation, he is now a customer support specialist at an environmental lab within an international group of laboratories.
David has been a Liberal Democrat for a long time and was part of the young team which helped Owen Temple in his first successful election as your councillor in 2007.
David lists his three main aims in seeking to be a councillor as:
• To stop the Council (Labour controlled for so many years) ignoring local people
• To help Consett bounce back from the Covid pandemic
• To use his customer service skills for local people – resolving problems and delivering on promises he’s made.
This information was supplied by retiring councillor, Owen Temple, who believes these two younger people will continue the traditional Liberal Democrat role of looking after local people and fighting for the area’s interests.
