Former baker and ex-football chairman competing in Church Stretton Town Council election
A former baker and an ex-football chairman will battle it out at a town council election tomorrow.
Independent candidates Niall Morris and Mark Redhead are standing in the Church Stretton North seat, with the election taking place on Thursday (October 9).
Mr Morris, aged 23, has lived in the town all his life, attending St Lawrence C of E Primary School and Church Stretton Secondary School.
His first job was working part-time on a Saturday at Mr Bun the Baker, which he said helped him develop into the person he is today. After that he did an apprenticeship doing classic car restorations in Wall Under Heywood before working at Britpart, a wholesaler of Land Rover and Range Rover parts and accessories based in Craven Arms.
Mr Morris has also been a Cub Scout leader for five years, and helps with events such as the annual fireworks show and the Longmynd Hike, for which he is part of the committee.
“My main ambition is to help the youth and find out what they would like in the community and to try and get them more involved,” said Mr Morris.
“I feel the youth don’t appreciate the lovely area that they live in and sometimes feel left out and not important. I know that I did when I was growing up here.
“I hope that I can give the council a new opinion and a new set of eyes with the challenges and needs of younger people. I feel that a lot of the people that live here do not know a lot of what is involved in the council, and I would like the community to be more involved and make people feel part of how Church Stretton is.”
Meanwhile, Mr Redhead has lived in Church Stretton for the past six years having moved to the town from Surrey, where he was chairman of Guildford City Football Club.
Now retired, Mr Redhead was a busisess development manager at an engineering firm, while also serving as a board member at a small IT firm and working as a managment consultant for over 20 years. The latter involved him working in the UK and abroad in IT, financial services and several government departments and local authorities.
Since moving to Church Stretton, Mr Redhead has volunteered at the local rotary club, and been a steward at Carols in the Square and the Christmas lights switch-on. He was also a first aider for the Stretton Arts Festival for three years, while also volunteering at the Much Wenlock Olympiad and for West Mercia Police.
“If elected, I will collaborate with other councillors to fight to maintain the services which we rely on using the local knowledge I have gained from living and volunteering in Church Stretton and from my knowledge and experience of managing and solving problems while working in senior business roles for over 40 years,” said Mr Redhead.
“I believe that we need affordable housing in Church Stretton, and will work to ensure that more is created in locations which are appropriate.
“If elected I will not align myself with any party or group and believe that we need strong voices on Church Stretton Town Council to ensure that we do what is right for the town, not fall in line with decisions taken by the county council leadership.”
