Peter aims to build bridges between the generations (From Northwich Guardian)

Peter aims to build bridges between the generations

5:30pm Tuesday 15th December 2009 in News

WEAVERHAM Parish Council has welcomed its youngest ever member.

It is hoped the appointment of 23-year-old Peter Hampson will help the council reconnect with the younger residents.

The former Weaverham Forest Primary School and Weaverham High School pupil has just been announced as the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for Weaver Vale, but he said he also hopes to make a real difference at a local level.

The Wallerscote Road resident said: “This is a great opportunity for me to give something back to the village.

“I got so much out of growing up in Weaverham, it’s somewhere that I really care about. “My main interests for the area will be regeneration and building the link between the parish council and the younger residents of the village.

“I think a lot of the younger ones are disillusioned by local politics, so I would like to help build bridges and get more youth projects going.

“I’m also a big environmentalist, so I would like to look at perhaps making Weaverham greener.

“I’ve been watching closely what they have been doing over at Ashton Hayes in making it the first carbon-neutral village, so maybe something similar could work here.”

Clr Hampson joined St Mary’s Church as a bell ringer at the tender age of 11, before leaving to study law and economics at the University of Aberystwyth.

He then travelled the world, before taking a job behind the bar at the White Barn, in Cuddington.

Parish council chairman, Clr Pam Shingler, said everyone was thrilled to welcome him.

She said: “We are delighted with his appointment – it is a wonderful thing for us to have this young man.

“He is young and will probably identify with a lot of young people in the village.

“But obviously he is the Liberal Democrat candidate, so we just hope that he won’t be whisked away from us too early.”