North Yorkshire born and bred, raised by police officers, and now in the ambulance service myself, serving my community is at the heart of everything that I do. I truly believe that the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members… and working from a local ambulance station, caring for local people in their hour of need, I know that our towns and villages are not immune from the social issues that we often naively attribute to further afield.

With our young people being driven out of the area in order to access opportunities not available or affordable on their doorstep, we must ask what more we can do to ensure a future for our vibrant town.

The spirit of Easingwold must be celebrated. In order to watch it blossom we must invest into her people, rise to challenges together, champion initiative and refuse to compromise on accountability and humility. For too long (both nationally and locally) the emphasis has been placed upon what the many can do to better the lives of the few. It’s now time that somebody asked the people of Easingwold what can be done for them.