ON a nice spring evening there’s nothing better than delivering election leaflets – well, for the first hundred houses or so!

During the past week I have turned out to help a couple of candidates in the local elections.

However well you think you know the valley, once you start walking around you begin to discover houses and ginnels you never previously knew existed.

I love the valley and its rugged beauty. However, at the same time, I’m appalled by how grotty some areas can become. I am bewildered by how thoughtless and careless my fellow citizens can be with litter.

Take Marl Pits as a prime example. Viewed from a distance it’s an oasis of pristine greenery, but look beneath the surface and it’s awash with discarded plastic sports drink bottles and other such rubbish.

Last year the council’s new chief executive made much of the Rossendale in Bloom initiative. This year I’ve not heard a peep.

Why don’t councilors walk their patch and compile lists of the grot-spots that take the shine off the radiance of the valley? Councillors shouldn’t just walk their wards at election time.

I HAVE always admired Brian Boys as a businessman and local fella well met. Now I take my hat off to him as a political strategist too, because it seems he’s decided to support both main parties in what can only be described as a classic case of ‘a foot in both camps’.

On the one hand, he’s publicly endorsed Janet Anderson’s candidacy, as revealed in the Lancashire Telegraph earlier this week. However, he is also pictured prominently in Tory candidate Jake Berry’s campaigning leaflet!

Like Brian, I too am uncertain as to how the election will go on. When asked, I trot out a quote from the late Roy Jenkins, who famously remarked, ‘predicting this election is like trying to catch a fish in a barrel with your bare hands’.