Sam Limbert: Why have you chosen Iain Rennie Hospice at Home as your official charity?

Cllr Brian Ayling: I chose them after quite some considerable deliberation because I had actually looked at three different charities. As deputy mayor, I'd had the opportunity to come to Tring to their headquarters three times in one year. The second time I was here, I asked Robert Breakwell if it was possible to come back a third time to see actually what happened rather than just be here, and it was at that third meeting that I had the privilege of meeting a nursing team at one of their weekly meetings. I went to their meeting room and sat and listened to what they did and how they prepared themselves and planned what they were going to do. My wife Pat was with me, and we sat in awe at the commitment, the dedication and above all the enthusiasm the nurses had for what they were doing. It just made up my mind. I knew when I left here after that third occasion, which was going to be my chosen charity and it was of course Iain Rennie Hospice at Home.

SL: How do you plan to help the charity?

BA: I plan to help the charity whichever way I can. I want to be involved in any of their charity fundraising events, I want to add that little bit of sparkle, i.e. the mayoral chain, to any event hopefully to get some more income for them and indeed to promote them outside of any fundraising event. At every opportunity, I say who my chosen charity for the year is and I tend to give the same sort of explanation that I've given in my previous answer as to why I chose them and why I think people should give generously to Iain Rennie.

SL: What events have you taken part in so far to help Iain Rennie?

BA: Most of the things that I try to have the charity face on have been things that have been organised by Iain Rennie. But one wasn't, but Iain Rennie were invited to be involved in, and that was the reopening of a MacDonalds along the A41 at Bourne End. I must admit, when I was asked to do that I was a little bit, reticent because I thought I'm going to have to eat a beef burger, and I'm not really sure that I like MacDonalds beef burgers that much. However, Iain Rennie were there. I wanted to support them so I went along and in fact yes I did; I ate a MacDonalds beef burger, and surprise surprise, I actually enjoyed it! I've been to a couple of their charity concerts, the wine tasting event last Friday evening, which I think has brought in a phenomenal amount of money which I'm very pleased about, and also this Friday I'm attending the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home quiz at Wycombe football ground.

SL: Another initiative you've helped set up is 'Recycling for Brian'. What is that?

BA: Recycling for Brian, colloquially know as 'Bag it for Brain'. I didn't go for the title very much to start with, but Robert seemed to cajole me into it and now I quite like the title because I think it says what it does mean, because the company that Iain Rennie uses, which is 'Cartridges 4 Causes', actually are the people that do the work on making and turning old print cartridges into money. The bag it bit comes from the fact that this company, C4C, actually send the donating people plastic envelopes, or larger plastic bags for bigger cartridges, to put their used cartridges in for recycling. It's a very clean, simple and effective approach and environmentally friendly that makes money for a charity, and in this case I'm only too pleased to put my name Brian into it and have 'Bag it for Brain'.

SL: That definitely sounds worthwhile.

BA: It certainly is.

SL: You've already explained that you came in and saw the charity before you chose them, but what did you know about them beforehand?

BA: I think I have to at this point admit that I was just a member of the public previously. I have had the good fortune not to have been involved personally or family wise with the need for hospice care. We have a friend who needed hospice care so I knew about that. Therefore really I only knew Iain Rennie Hospice at Home by name. I wasn't aware of what they did, and that's why I was so pleased to come here in my year as Deputy to find out exactly what they did and why they did it.

SL: Do you think you've been able to influence some other people to support the charity and tell them about the work?

BA: That's a rather difficult question to answer but what I would say is that hopefully the amount of marketing that I do amongst my peers in Dacorum Borough Council and thus throughout the rest of the voluntary bodies in the town, will have some influence on getting people to have better recognition of what Iain Rennie is about and what they do and hopefully that is going to pay off in the rest of my year and help us get more income for the charity Iain Rennie Hospice at Home.
SL: Why do you think it's important to support local charities?

BA: It's important to support any charity that you feel needs support. I'm not saying that there are charities that don't deserve support, of course they all do. I'm pleased to say that Great Britain is probably the leader in the world for charity giving; therefore, most charities get a fair income from people giving. Nationally, I support one or two, and I think therefore it's important to make sure that when one lives locally, that local charities should be supported and in particular obviously this year I have almost a mandate to make sure that I get and support as much as I can for Iain Rennie.

SL: Apart from supporting Iain Rennie, what else do you do to support the local community?

BA: To be a Mayor, one has to be an elected member of a council. To be an elected member means that you have support within what's called a ward in a borough. My ward is Apsley and Corner Hall in Hemel Hempstead, previously Apsley ward, but now it's been enlarged, and what I do I think for the community is that I listen to the residents of that ward, I take all their complaints and I do what I can to support them. I do that without fear or favour. If anybody has a problem, then I try and solve it. If in fact, it's a perception rather than a problem, then I will try and be kind and explain the difference between what people
think is going on and what is really going on. But if there is a definite problem, then I will take it up with the officers concerned in the council and try and get that sorted out for them. I am also a member on two residents associations, which are non-council functions, so I try to support the residents of my ward as much as I can and you can't really get any more local than your own ward.

SL: As the Mayor, what things do you do on a day to day basis?

BA: I was quite surprised when I took on the role of Mayor because I didn't realise that there was quite as much paperwork involved and I didn't really reckon on the amount of planning I would do with regard to the events that I go to despite other people being responsible for the actual events. The getting to them, the getting back from them, what I do when I'm there, the preparation, particularly those where I'm asked to give a speech, there is a lot of work. I'm very lucky that I have an office at the Civic Centre and it's called the Mayor's parlour. It is nicely appointed, nicely furnished, fairly big, I have a secretary, I have a chauffeur, who also acts as attendant and it's just literally a day to day office environment really, other than sometimes I put my chain on, and I go off to an engagement that somebody has asked me to attend.

SL: What ideas do you have to maybe change or improve Dacorum?

BA: As a councillor I have some ideas, as a Mayor there's not much I can do because the Mayor's office is actually non-political. I can't get involved in any committees within the council. But as a ward member, I have my ideas and the most recent, or the most recent thing to come to fruition, is that when I joined the council, this was only four years ago, I recognised that the market in Hemel Hempstead was in decline and I asked if that could be brought before the overview and scrutiny committee responsible to try and get it moved because we had then got a nice pedestrian area in the town. It's taken nearly four years, but in fact last Thursday was the reopening of the new market in the pedestrian area in Hemel, the Marlowes. Previously the old market had 44 pitches, about 10 or 12 of them were being used. Last Thursday, there were somewhere between 50 and 60 stalls in the town, and on Saturday, there was nearly 90. So that's the sort of thing that I like to try and get involved in. Once I take my backseat again, after next May when I hand over the ropes and the regalia, and I'm not Mayor anymore, then I will go back and see what I can do for the community and the residents.

SL: What would you say the best part about being the Mayor of Dacorum is?

BA: I think the best think about it is it makes me happy, and I don't think there's anything better than being happy in what you do. I guess the nicest thing about it is that I get to see a lot of people, a lot of things, I meet a lot of different people and I do many things for many people for all sorts of different reasons. I think the thing that makes me the happiest is the fact that I meet volunteers, I meet lots and lots of volunteers. It often strikes me that without the volunteers and without the charities and the organisations they are working for, society wouldn't be quite what it is today. So I always get very, not sentimental but very emotional about the amount of volunteering work that is done. The general public know that there are volunteers but they're not aware how much there is and how much these people do. That's what really makes me happy and that's what really is the best thing about being Mayor.

SL: What's the most frustrating part about being the Mayor?

BA: The most frustrating thing about being Mayor is the fact that as Mayor I am apolitical. I don't have any executive powers at all. I do, but I'll tell you about that in a moment, but generally, I can't be involved in what's going on around me, other than as a ward councillor when I have to step back and all I can then do is advise my co-councillors my thoughts, so that they can take them forward. A Mayor has to be seen to be totally stand alone, no favours or anything and is
not involved in any political discussions or debates whatsoever. I was going to say something earlier on. Now you're to remind me what I was going to say and I didn't.

SL: Was it executive powers?

BA: Correct. The only executive powers I have, and there are two in actual fact. One is that when I chair the full council meetings, which is one of the civic roles of being a Mayor, I have a casting vote. So if there is a debate and the number of votes for and against are equal, I have the casting vote. As a non-political office, I have to be fair and do what I think is right rather than take a whip line and do what a political party would want me to do. The other one is in cases of
emergency or when an urgent decision is needed, and there isn't enough time to get it before a full council for a decision. Then I have the right to be one of a team of four people, which is the leader of the council, the chief executive officer and myself with the help of the Borough solicitor. I am allowed to help make a decision as to what the council should do in that emergency.

SL: Do you think you will continue to support local charities, like Iain Rennie, when your Mayoral term comes to an end?

BA: Single word answer to that is yes, or absolutely. As I was saying earlier on, the fact I now recognise just how much voluntary work is done, and the need for there to be volunteers to help, then the answer to that is a resounding yes, I will continue to be involved with local charities, and maybe one in particular and I'll let you guess who that might be.

SL: Finally, do you have a message for the nurses, fundraisers and volunteers at Iain Rennie Hospice at Home?

BA: I do, and that's very well done, thank you for all you do. You do it with such style, you do it with such heart, good heart, good favour and I've got nothing but admiration for what you do and what you achieve and again I say thank you.

15th October 2007