Gill Hill

I was born a liberal, as both my parents were very active Liberals. I was  active in campaigns, leafleting and so on, just as a part of family life, and was taken to hear Liberal leaders speak . I remember being taken to hear Jeremy Thorpe speak, and thinking he was a bit distant and cold. I was raised to read the Guardian and naively thought that everyone in Britain believed as I did. I did not actively work for the party when I was raising my family, but as things changed in the UK, I realised that the liberal viewpoint on life was not universal.

I joined the party when the Referendum campaigns made it apparent that extreme right wing views, fascism in fact, was sweeping across Europe. I felt I must act and stand up for my beliefs, and being a grandparent made that more important.

 I joined my local party and enjoyed the friendship of other liberal democrats very much. I was made membership secretary and enjoyed speaking to members on the phone. Many are elderly and do not receive emails but love to chat on the phone. During the Covid lockdowns all members of the executive telephoned members, just to check that they were alright and offer advice on how to get help with shopping, or anything. Two members of my local executive started community help groups at that time so we really did well reaching out to members.

I am interested in putting forward ideas which will persuade people, who I believe hold liberal principles, that they are in fact Liberal Democrats and that they should join the party and vote accordingly. We need to raise awareness of Liberal Democrat beliefs, how reasonable and just these are. Most people are not politically educated; they vote the way their parents did, unless they go to higher education and question their own belief systems. What is needed is a campaign which highlights our principles and

enables ordinary floating voters or perpetual Tory voters to break away and vote for us. I love words and write poetry; the poetry came from tweeting my anger and frustrations on twitter; you learn to cut out excess and give a message that has impact. I keep thinking about slogans. They work and we need them! One series of slogans could begin;
Liberal Democrats believe that…
Think Liberal Democrat?
Vote Liberal Democrat.

A good example would be to support human rights and the human rights Act, which this government would like to get away from. So it would read;

Liberal Democrats believe that every human has human rights.
Think Liberal Democrat?
Vote Liberal Democrat.

If several Liberal Democrats posted a series of these on Twitter, it might help our case. There are lots of other important issues to address such as freedom for peaceful protest, freedom of movement in Europe, our rotten first past the post system, reform of the House of Lords, transparency and honesty in public office, equality for gay and trans people, and also a big issue, the criminalisation of refugees.

We could also have a slogan which began;
Liberal Democrats work for;

These could be the big issues which we cannot solve over night but which are very troubling to so many of us, namely the war in the Middle East. A main liberal Democrat view is for a fairer, more just society, and that involves helping those who are vulnerable, disabled, poor. Most people, I think, accept this view.

I’m lacking in confidence to say whether I’m suitable for the role or not.  I lacked confidence to go door to door and canvass, and yet when I did it, in the company of good friends from my party, I enjoyed it. I am very gregarious and enjoy speaking to people, and exchanging views. I’m not at all happy about public speaking and would find that very difficult.  I’m happiest with the written word and see my strengths on that side, helping to write leaflets, slogans and just help in any way that persuades people that we need to be decent to each other, we need to respect the views and ways of living of everyone in order that we have the type of society in which we and all others can flourish. I have a strong Christian faith and my actions are guided by that. Around the time of the referendum I actually left one church as the people around me, some of whom I really liked and admired, swallowed the whole Daily Mail propaganda and spoke in unchristian ways about refugees. I joined a group which was a local Croeso group, set up to bring a Syrian family to Haverfordwest. The group was successful and I was given the role of teaching them English, which we did. I had taught for thirty years, in mainstream and special needs but had retired just before this. We had three teachers in the group and I organised them. We all had to qualify for ESOL teaching and teach a total of 8 hours of English every week. We did this for about eighteen months until our Syrian family were able to attend Learning Pembrokeshire for their English lessons. Now, five years on, I work for Learning Pembrokeshire teaching them to pass the Citizenship exam, and the family we brought over are settled, in work, and their children thriving. I really enjoy teaching some classes which are multinational and multi-cultural. Adults, especially those who have suffered war and displacement and grief, are so keen to embrace new things and we have lovely classes.

I hope to be part of a winning team to increase Liberal Democrat numbers in Wales, support our leader, see more Liberal Democrat S Ms elected, by sharing ideas and methods and learning from the skills of others in the team.

I hope to increase democracy in Wales and the UK by spreading the word and engaging more people into politics as people think politics is something alien from their every day lives. It is not. Politics is life. Life is politics!

I think probably my biggest achievement was in breaking away from a church which no longer enacted my view of Christianity  and joining a group which worked for my principles, ie of helping refugees. I felt that this was a positive thing which I could do to live by my principles. At the time we had to protect the Syrian family and did not advertise ourselves or their presence. Gradually things have changed in society at large but there are still many injustices which the refugee families have faced. I teach two classes- one is Driving Theory Test as they found this test, in difficult, complex English, was a great barrier to refugees passing the driving tests. In my rural county it is very difficult to get a job if you cannot drive. We set up the course and I have helped many groups pass the theory test. In the last year our families needed to gain their ‘leave to remain’ status so that they could take the citizenship exam. This exam is similar level to a GCSE in British history and Constitution. It takes six months of study to pass but my learners have done well. It's my biggest personal achievement to thwart the racist policies put in place by this government and has given me great satisfaction. Others will have to judge whether its relevant to this role or not!