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John Sheldon is one of the three Conservative Councillors representing Hersham South Ward.

Since being first elected in 1995 I have been associated with housing and welfare provision within the Borough, successively on the Housing Committee and the Community Affairs Overview and Scrutiny Committee. I was Vice Chairman of the former Age Concern Elmbridge, and remain Chairman of its successors, Elmbridge Older Peoples Advisory Body, and the Elmbridge Trust for Older People. As former Social Portfolio holder I continue to uphold the Council's outstanding Community Support Services, comprising seven centres for retired people, meals on wheels, frozen meals, carer support, subsidised transport, telecare alarms, a gardening service, issue of bus passes for the over 60s, and Children's Centres.

Community involvement

I have been a governor at two local schools, and in 2000 helped in the self-build of the independent Hersham Young Peoples Centre, becoming Hon Secretary of the registered charity Hersham Youth Trust, fundraiser, and the Council's representative. I am a member of the Hersham Residents Association, and am usually rounded up for the Hersham In Bloom working parties co-ordinated by my wife Mary. Both as a Ward councillor and through the North Area Planning Sub-Committee I actively sought to remove the travellers illegally residing on land in Pleasant Place, until under Human Rights legislation they were permitted to stay. I am proud of helping the trustees of Whiteley Village, in the teeth of resistance, to develop a small portion of their land so as to secure funds vital for survival of this unique institution.

Background

After Cambridge County High School I joined the Royal Naval Scientific Service, completed National Service in the RAF, and graduated in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College, in that order. A career embracing pure research, operational research and engineering began at HM Underwater Detection Establishment, successively taking in GCHQ, Post Office Research Station, Admiralty Research Laboratory, Royal Military College of Science, the NATO Undersea Research Centre, Italy, and MoD HQ in Whitehall. From there I left the service to become Technical Director of Bendix Ocean Systems Ltd.

Our family home had been a cottage in Weybridge, but during the four year stay in Italy our two young daughters had been joined by a baby brother, necessitating a move to the house in Hersham where we remain to this day.

In 2005 my wife Mary became the first Conservative for many years to take a seat in the Hersham North Ward, to be followed by two others, Ian Donaldson and Doug Packer, in the following elections. Between us all we make a team offering a united and better service for Hersham than ever before.

Interests

Music, cooking, literature, rowing, gardening, inventing