Mia Molinaro

I am a Parish Councillor for the North Mymms Parish Council (NMPC) which is part of the Welwyn Hatfield Borough. My particular ward is that of Brookmans Park within NMPC and I am on the Amenities subcommittee. My role as Parish Councillor is to meet once a month for a council meeting regarding the day to day business of the Parish, to meet once every three months with the Amenities committee and to attend various civic services/events during the year. Until recently our Amenities committee was enjoying arranging a big Tea Dance celebration for VE Day for our elderly parishioners. Sadly due to the lockdown, all our plans for a 40’s style party which was to host about one hundred people had to be cancelled. This year has been busy with events and meetings around; the reduction of services for our nearest 24hr medical centre, attendance of Police surgery to hear the concerns of local residents and attendance at Green Belt Society meetings regarding local government plans to build significant numbers of new dwellings. Most recently two fellow Councillors and I attended a meeting hosted by Grant Shapps at one of our local schools to take part in heated discussions between the school and the residents over serious parking issues. Due to being in full time employment I do not have the same availability as most of the other Councillors however, I feel honoured to be part of such a hard working and dedicated Parish Council. In view of the fact that the work of the Councillors is unpaid and always open to criticism, I have been struck as to their professionalism, concern for their Parish and their sacrificial giving of time and expertise to their community. Our youngest Councillor took it upon himself to set up with his North Mymms Youth Group a 24hr answerphone service to help the vulnerable members of our community during lockdown. With a volunteer team of about 50 people he has facilitated help for shopping, delivery of prescriptions etc. I have been part of that team since it started up but because we have so many volunteers the jobs have been spread very thinly among us! I am Chairperson of the Hertfordshire For Britain branch with Phil Palij as Branch Secretary.