LIFESTYLE-Magazine-Winter-2016

GETTING TO KNOW

...Hyndburn MP Graham Jones

LIFE :STYLE Howdo you take time to relax these days? GRAHAMJONES I love to travel. My gran always said travel was education. I still backpack around parts of the worldwhen I have time. I walk for miles. LIFE :STYLE The challenges of the borough of Hyndburn are fairly plain to see, but what are youmost proud of achieving in your time in office so far? GRAHAMJONES There’s a long list of physical things. Great Harwood health centre, the rail link to Manchester, themaster plan forWoodnook, keeping a promise that Labour would allow new social housing to be built, geing a £1.25million CouncilTax rebate fromDavid Cameron, changing the law to get rid of all metal thieves on our streets, changing Hyndburn's outlook to being business and jobs focused, workingwith young people on various training and back to work initiatives, saving theMary Hindle Centre, seing out our successful policy to save our old buildings, promoting social enterprises across the borough, cut rates for cricket clubs and WorkingMen's clubs, greater public involvement and transparency.That's probably scratching the surface.The biggest achievement is geing people towork together and to believe. A fantastic Hyndburn Labour Party now thrives and the numbers of community groups and social enterprises has increased. People in civic society can see up close the decisionmaking and the outlook in Hyndburn has completely changed. One individual can't change Hyndburn but I hope I have helped to create an atmospherewhere hundreds of people can change Hyndburn. LIFE :STYLE Tell us about your work breathing new life into derelict buildings in the area? GRAHAMJONES This was a big issue. I stopped being Labour leader on the council just as we took power but my successorMiles Parkinson took forward our ideas; to restore some pride and bring back our old buildings. It's a hidden story but I am really

LIFE :STYLE Graham, ifWikipedia is to be believed you had a quite an unusual start to your political career. You studiedALevels at college thenworked in refuse and then as a care assistant? GRAHAMJONES My family broke up, jobs were few and far between and I ended up living in a bedsit on my own. I don’t have any aunties and one uncle in the USA.The brutality ofThatcherism was crushing. I underachieved inmy A levels though I had a place at North Staffs University.Things got worse. I hadmy housing benefits taken away and I became homeless. I slept onmy friend’s sofa but that couldn't last. I slept in places I don't want to remember. I then went to live at my gran's on the condition I took this job in the parks in summer and on the bins in winter. She'd seenme struggle andwasn't having anymore of it. So that's what I did. Aer 18months I not only le, but frustratedwith the lack of job prospects I went travelling around Egypt and Israel for about 5 weeks. I came back home tomy gran. She's someone I will always love. I hadwrien hundreds of job applications, 300 or 400. Nearly all didn't reply.To have been near the top of the class in exams through school it was all depressing. A friend of my dad's offeredme a care home job. I'd been doing some causal part time work for social services. I must have signed on the dole somany times in between, they knewme personally and I could fill in the forms inmy sleep. In such a dark period now someone actually wanted to helpme, so that was that. I took the job and it gaveme a stable platform. I was clearly underachieving but when you’re down at the very boom you accept any offer of help.

I still backpack

around parts of the world when I have time

Top: Graham Jones MP. Top right: At Ramallah, North Jerusalem. Bottom right: In the House of Commons.

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