The run-up to Christmas is a ridiculously busy time in my constituency office. As well as the usual seasonal engagements, there is the official Christmas card to be designed and printed along with my Annual Report to constituents listing what I’ve been up to both here in Reading and in Parliament. As it is my last report, I asked my staff to dig out some retro pictures of past campaigns and, to my horror, they uncovered a photo from 1987 of my first Parliamentary election with me sporting a “pudding bowl” haircut. I included it because also pictured was my good friend and Whitley councillor John Cook, who sadly died shortly after I was first elected to Parliament in 1997, along with the late Doris Lawrence, the former Mayor of Reading.

In those pre-internet days, I liked to bring a carnival flavour to my election campaigning. In my own council ward, I had specialised in hanging banners, usually made out of old bed sheets, from the windows of particularly enthusiastic Labour supporters bearing party colours and slogans. We took this approach into the general election campaign and covered large areas of the constituency with the message “Martin Salter Lives Here”. This was to emphasise that none of the other wannabe MPs lived in the constituency. Unfortunately it left some people a little confused and to this day there are those who swear blind that I used to live in their street on the basis of an old bed sheet flapping in the wind some 30 years ago.

Like many people I was saddened to hear of the death of another former Mayor, Bob Green, who passed away last week. I was only speaking to Bob a short while ago his mind was as lively as ever even though his health was failing. Bob was an absolute gem and a pleasure to work with as Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the Council. He was intelligent, kind, caring and lacked the pettiness of many local politicians. Bob would work across the political divide for the benefit of the town and for the causes he cared about. I suspect there will be a big turnout for his funeral on Monday as a measure of the respect that so many of us had for this lovely man.

Despite the nostalgia of doing all sorts of things for the last time as an MP from turning on the Theale Christmas lights to speech days at local schools I remain excited and optimistic about the future. On a personal level, I’ve got some great projects lined up for when I step down in April and politically, with the opinion poll gap closing, it seems that the next election is no longer the foregone conclusion those smug, complacent Tories would have us all believe.

Have a good Christmas!