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Lib Dem councillor Margaret Little |
Back to the job she loves for battling Margaret
Lib Dem stalwart returns to fray after
cancer and hip operation
SITTING in her Hampstead living room as she recovers from
a hip operation, Margaret Little is working her way through
a hefty stack of Town Hall papers.
At the age of 77, the Lib Dem councillor, who was diagnosed
with cancer four years ago, has decided to finally stand down
at the Town Hall elections next month, after a 12-year stint
representing Hampstead ward.
But despite battles with her health – she has been relying
on crutches since the hip operation as well as having regular
chemotherapy sessions – she is determined to keep on working.
She said: “I was sitting in the hospital room after my
operation surrounded by council papers. I have been told I should
be able to go back to council meetings next week so I have a
lot to catch up on.”
The former teacher, who has lived in Hampstead since 1947, was
first elected to the Town Hall in 1994 after becoming politically
active following divorce from her banker husband.
She said: “My husband was in the City so I was rather stuck
with being a conservative because of the social links. But when
the SDP started in the 1980s, I was divorced and the politics
of it just suited me very well.
“I suppose as a Hampstead teacher I am the archetypal Lib
Dem member. It’s about a particular emphasis on liberty
and egalitarianism and inclusion, which I have always believed
in.”
As well as sitting on the planning committee at the Town Hall,
Cllr Little also took a special interest in education issues.
She is a governor at Maria Fidelis School in Somers Town and
a trustee of Hampstead Wells and Campden Trust.
She said: “The best thing about being a councillor is being
thanked by constituents for helping them. The worst is not having
enough time for a lot of things I might want or need to do.
“The Town Hall drives you mad at times but luckily we are
a nice councillor group so we can ring each other and grumble
if we have to. There are very seldom disagreements on the Lib
Dem group.
“Being re-elected at the last election in 2002 with a very
high personal vote was terrific. It was a wonderful compliment
that people were voting for me and the work I had done.”
While she plays down her illness – she says she will continue
to be involved with the Lib Dems for as long as she can –
Cllr Little admitted that worries about her health had played
a role in her decision to retire.
She said: “I don’t know how well I am going to be
in the future. I have had treatment and then improved and now
I am in remission.
“But it might be that I am not able to do my job as a councillor
and it’s important that I do my job well and I can go to
meetings.
“If you take the job on of being a councillor, you have
a responsibility to do it well.”
She added: “Also, I am getting older and the public appreciates
seeing young energetic faces. There’s a whole crop of young
ones out there that are just extraordinary.” |
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