A slightly different letter this week as it is from the campaign trail, which mercifully has been mainly blessed with sunshine.  

If there is a really positive to a snap election in July it is that it is a great deal warmer than December. 

This week we commemorate D Day and the service and sacrifice given by so many to allow us our freedoms today. I have marked the day in Romsey and in Charlton, which comes into the constituency at this election, along with other villages further up the Test Valley, including Shipton Bellinger, Abbots Ann and Thruxton. It makes it an enormous constituency geographically, but fortunately new areas that I know well following my 12 year service on Test Valley Borough Council.

I am very much looking forward to a scheduled visit from the Security Minister in the next few days, Tom Tugendhat doesn’t just have a crucial job in Government, he is a great friend and shares my views on a wide range of subjects. Sometimes high profile visits in elections degenerate into stunts and gimmickry, you don’t get that with Tom, thank goodness.

After the average 20,000 steps (over 10 miles) I am walking every day on the campaign trail I was delighted to be offered a nurokor device by a local company, which apparently will help solve some of the aches and pains in my back / hips / knees etc. I sometimes forget that in 2001 when I first stood for election, in the Swaythling part of this current Romsey and Southampton North seat, I was not yet 30. My aching old joints are not coping with the miles as well as they once might have, and I have already gone through one pair of trainers, hence some interesting footwear choices until Sunday when I might get a chance to go shopping for a new pair! 

Caroline Nokes,
Conservative candidate for Romsey and Southampton North