Chaos and hope. Hope and chaos. Co-option results.

I started 2025 on this blog with an article titled “2025 – A Year of Hope.” After a full year of chaos, a carousel of Council Leaders, mass resignations, the Village Hall scandal, the Crematorium scandal, the Market renovation scandal, and quite literally nothing done by Shirebrook Town Council, completely absent Town Clerk, can we still finish this year with hope in our hearts?

I strongly believe – yes. Why? Let me list our wins: we protected the green space and Village Hall from a shady leasing deal promoted by the Labour “leadership”. We got rid of Kane, Harford, and Fritchley. We got eight new councillors – most of them not connected to the local Labour mafia. On top of that, the renovation of Market Square has finally been approved and has started. It looks bad now, but I hope it will look good after the process is complete.

As you can see, many good things have happened, and there is even more hope for the future. You must be mad to look at Labour and think they are doing a good job (the same goes nationally and locally). And that brings even more hope for the future.

CHAPTER: HOPE IS BACK ON THE MENU
More predictions from that January 2025 article came true, but today I want to focus on the most recent STC co-option meeting. Sadly, the new cohort of councillors didn’t change who is in charge. Labour is still in the driver’s seat. But there are new passengers on that bus who — hopefully — will not sit silently the next time Labour breaks the rules.

At the moment, we do not know how large Labour’s majority is, because most candidates at the co-option meeting did not declare any political affiliation. That will change soon — I will ask all of them directly, and even if they refuse to answer and hide behind some high-flown and vague excuses, we will have the STC Leader election. That vote will answer a very simple question: are you for renewal and a new style of leadership — or are you for keeping things exactly as they were? Under the carpet. Secret. Exempt. Labour-style.

Labour will push their candidate — either openly or under an “independent” flag. To decide who is who, we need to observe the votes of old-Labour councillors. That will reveal who is who. Hopefully the opposition will field their own candidate. I cannot accept a situation in which there is only one candidate for Leader. If that happens, we are truly screwed. Nothing will change until a Leader not connected with Labour takes over. I have no doubts about that.

LEADER WHO LEADS, NOT HIDES
Many people think the Leader of the Council is a purely ceremonial role. It is not. The Leader sets the direction for the entire town. And that so-called casting vote is the difference between Labour’s “degradation as usual” and actually doing things differently. Sorry to put it bluntly: the Leader needs to have the courage to do what is right for the town, not just what is convenient for their political party. The Leader needs the backbone to stand up to bullies, pressure, and allegiances.

He/she needs to know the Standing Orders like the back of their hand and use them for the common good — not the good of the Party. Is there someone like that on the council now? We will see.

WE NEED A LEADER, NOT A PARTY OPERATIVE
We need a leader who will put a council audit at the top of the agenda. All net-zero deals of Labour, all contracts, all employment quotas, the Town Clerk’s weird relationship with The Post and Labour councillors, her borderline criminal disregard for law, rules and procedures. Everything must go under severe scrutiny. The Council need to cleanse Labour corruption and nepotism, or nothing will change.

The “that will do” attitude of the old Labour Party has led us to serious problems; it’s high time we changed it. No more “it’s too much work” attitude when it comes to corruption and nepotism. We, the residents, are sick and tired of constant tax rises with NO INCREASE IN TOWN QUALITY.

CHAPTER: WHO ARE THEY? NO ONE KNOWS.
I will try to interview the new councillors for you. One of the newly appointed councillors has already spoken to S247 during the last by-election campaign. Oliver Kershaw-Dickson continues his mission, and you can read his views here: https://shirebrook247.com/2025/06/05/by-election-candidates-interview/

CHAPTER: “HOPE DIES LAST” — A POLISH PROVERB
We had high hopes for the new, younger generation of councillors. And yet, at the co-option meeting, not one of them was sitting in their seat. Not a single new councillor was in Chamber. Instead, the only STC councillors present were two members of Labour’s old guard: 92-year-old Brian Murray-Carr and equally veteran Fred Gobey. Everyone else in the room were outsiders sent by Bolsover District Council. The vast majority of them — Labour Party representatives.

CHAPTER: NEW GENERATION — KILLED OFF BY THE OLD GUARD
So where was the new generation? Some left the Council before completing their mission – they resigned and wasted everyone’s time. Others survived the wave of resignations, only to leave the room during the co-option meeting due to a declared “conflict of interest.” Councillors Martin Barber, Dale Smith, and Shaun Cheeseman all stepped out. I do not fully understand those conflicts, and I will not speculate. What I do know is that they chose not to risk the process failing again. They chose the lesser evil.

CHAPTER: CURRENT STC COMPOSITION
Deducing the current political composition of STC is somewhat tricky. At the moment, my calculation is as follows: four councillors were elected on the Labour ticket, but two of them left the room, which is a sign of something going on in the background. One councillor elected as Independent — he also left the room. Now we need to add eight new councillors.

Only one of them openly declared his Independent status (David Dowes). The rest did not declare their political affiliation, but the local Reform branch announced on Facebook that Reform members had joined STC. The post didn’t contain names or numbers, so I can’t officially confirm any new names.

I recorded the meeting so I could review it later and report as accurately as possible. But I need to be blunt: to understand the real balance of power, we must observe voting patterns. Words are cheap. They mean very little these days. Actions and voting are what matter. Ultimately, we must wait for the first votes to see who stands for what and who stands with whom. And yes, I will report on that. If Reform is serious about reforming the town, they will propose an audit of the Leisure Centre or even the whole Council. That should show everybody how empty those “working together” slogans are.

CHAPTER: SO, WHO IS WHO NOW?
For now, I will hold off on drawing the map of political borders in the STC Chamber. Yeah, yeah, yeah- the internet is full of declarations of “working together for the town”. I heard that before, and if “working together” means hiding corruption and nepotism, I would rather work on my own. I can promise you this — divisions should come to light before the end of January.

CHAPTER: TRANSCRIPT NOTES
Below, I will present what the newly co-opted councillors actually said in their speeches at the co-option meeting. I will skip only one speech — the candidate rejected by Labour votes (wink, wink). I use an experimental, open-source AI transcription tool. It works reasonably well when the sound source is close to the microphone (for example, an interview). Unfortunately, in the STC chamber, I cannot place the microphone directly in front of the speakers.

Please treat the “transcript part” below with a huge pinch of salt. This is not a verbatim transcript, but rather a rough version made by an experimental AI tool. There are better tools, but they are costly, and I cannot afford them. I decided to keep this rough, unedited version, but I also added my own commentary to each candidate’s speech. My commentary is based on the audio recording and my presence in the Chamber.

Again, fair warning: the “ROUGH TRANSCRIPT” sometimes sounds like gibberish — it’s a weakness of the technology and my hardware, not ill will. I’m adding it just because I feel it’s more fair to show rough text than no text at all.

I present the candidates in the order they spoke at the meeting.

CANDIDATE SYLWESTER ZWIERZYNSKI
Rejected by Labour. No point to review my speech. All I will say that I was only candidate to use all allocated time for speech. Didn’t help much 😉

CANDIDATE KERRY KIRK
MY IMPRESSION: The candidate clearly focused on safety. That was the only point raised in her short speech. My recommendation? Councillor, as soon as you can, go to the police and ask them how you can help them, what you should do to help them.

I did that after I won my seat in 2012, and the Chief of Shirebrook Police Station met with me and told me: CCTV on the market square, youth programmes, and better communication between the Council and local police. I focused on the first and achieved it. I tried the second and failed. I abandoned the third point after the first try: as the sole representative of the opposition, I had no say over STC policies and conduct, and Labour rejected all my ideas in this area. Luckily for you- STC is different now. Good luck, councillor!

ROUGH TRANSCRIP: The reason why I’m on the video is that I’m scared of the place, I’m scared to walk out of the show and walk in. I’m scared of the new people in this community. I’m scared of what’s happening out there in the parts of this country. You could have to meet the Shire Group. I want to make sure Shire can talk to people.

CANDIDATE DAVID DOWNS
MY IMPRESSION: Ex-Labour who left the party after a series of scandals and ran in the last elections as an Independent. Same as me — he failed his Independent run. Now he is back, and he wants to, quote: “put the community at the centre of everything we do.” It’s a vague statement and very politically correct — it’s hard not to agree, but it also says nothing. I remember this councillor as one of the most hard-core Labour defenders. No matter the scandal, no matter the evidence — he was their guy to fight me. But then he snapped. Something broke in him, and he started to see things as they were, as I saw them: corrupted, wrong, skewed.

Ultimately, he rejected the darkness in Labour and turned toward the light. Maybe this time, he will look at the evidence before he rejects it, as when I tried to show him an invoice with wrong calculations for pellet deliveries. Back then, he didn’t even look at the invoice with botched numbers that our Town Clerk and Responsible Finance Officer accepted and paid. Anyway, whatever your plans are, I hope you will be a force for good, councillor. Good luck!

ROUGH TRANSCRIP: Evening everybody. A quick bit by myself. My name is David Downs. Living in Shire Group. I call my life. Family lives in Shire Group. Always had best interest in Shire Group at all. I was previously a councillor, Shire Group Town councillor for eight years. I’ve also been a district councillor for four years on which I was part of the leadership team at Gonzaga. Yeah, I didn’t get on last time. I think I was independent, which is obviously sitting as an independent now. Things have changed a lot. The country’s changed a lot. It’s impacting communities that we live in. And I just want to be one of them that helps it, bring it back to where it should be, and put the community at the centre of everything we do. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you very much, indeed. Thank you.

CANDIDATE ANDREW STEVENS
MY IMPRESSION: The most fleshed-out presentation, touching on many aspects of recent problems: lack of public consultations, HMOs, public safety. He piqued my interest by saying: “I do think we’ve got a lot of problems that probably haven’t hit us yet.” I would be very interested to know what he meant by that: what problems he sees in the future and what STC should do to prepare for them? It’s a sign of deep intelligence to see future problems before they occur, and this town would benefit from a Council that is able to listen to people who are brave enough to flag the problems.

ROUGH TRANSCRIP: Can I just say thank you to everyone that’s turned out tonight to make this possible for the old councillor for giving you time off? Thank you. I’ve lived in Shirebrook since 1992. I’ve lived in the Bolsover District all my life. I’ve seen lots of changes. I’ve seen Shirebrook commiting. Shirebrook has got so much to give. I would like to join Shirebrook up with a lot of the other districts and work together. We’ve got lots of things going on in Shirebrook, like Bolsover. I’d like to see people start sharing them. And as a unit, obviously, we need to start promoting it. I’ve come to all the meetings. I’m very interested in what’s going on. I want to make Shirebrook a better place by making it safer. I do think we’ve got a lot of problems that probably haven’t hit us yet. And I’d like to link up with the police and you. HMOs, socialising and places like that and ask them to go into contact. So when these things do start to happen, we’ve got good people that work together to stop it from happening. So when you’re talking about Shirebrook itself, I think the people in Shirebrook are amazing people. They’re very resilient. And if you can get the people who Shirebrook behind you, they’ll support you for a long time. And that’s what I would like to do. I’d like to restore trust. I think a lot of people have lost their trust. Very easy things can bring trust, is being honest. You know, when people come to the meetings, let’s make that information available at all levels, no matter what you’re doing, whether it’s digital. Come to a meeting, host it. We can do better. And one final thing, that when we’re voting on big things in Shirebrook, I would like to see the community properly consulted. And I’d like to make sure that the council does that we can kind of make that happen. Thank you.

CANDIDATE OLIVER KERSHAW-DICKSON
MY IMPRESSION: The candidate focused on leadership and the recent failure of it. I think he has a very idealistic view of the Council and will have a hard time overcoming Labour’s “do nothing” attitude and approach. One meeting with Fred Gobey in the room and he will understand… In his interview before last by-election he mentioned need of audit, but in front of Labour dominated room he skipped that issue which suggest that he read the room correctly and avoided things that terrify Labour operatives. I know he is up to hell of the fight to convince Labour majority to audit. Still, I wish you all the best, Councillor. Good luck!

ROUGH TRANSCRIP: Thank you for all the guys for making this possible. So, my name’s Oliver. The reason I’m standing for the town council is I do care to hear you about the future community. And I believe that having practical skills, honesty and strong work ethic are going to be essential to moving the town forward.

I’ve spent, you know, I’ve spent significant time in both the engineering sector and the customer service sector. Maybe the courage to be able to see who you can see us.

We’ve never looked at us. So, the way I look at it, my engineering background is talking to how to think logically, managing complex issues and work effectively as part of the team, which is what I think the town council needs. We need to work back a well-oiled machine. One back probably in that machine and everything falls apart.

Obviously, in contrast, working for customer services is branding and traumatic, to listening to people. That is the primary job of what the council should be doing. We need to listen to our residents, see where the problems are, see what we can do and see how we can fix them.

So I want to become a council puritan because I think Shirebrook deserves a strong, transparent and forward thinking leadership and that can only come from the council. If we don’t do that, residents lose faith in what we do. And that’s what I want to try and help bring forward is faith in the community. Really where that starts is from us. I think Shirebrook’s got incredible potential. I think it’s an untapped resource and I want you to serve the people Shirebrook. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you.

CANDIDATE NEIL BRADBURY
MY IMPRESSION: A very short presentation that didn’t tell me much. The candidate mentioned that he worked for a “council” but didn’t specify which one. Still, this kind of experience can provide a unique point of view on STC proceedings. Good luck, Councillor!

ROUGH TRANSCRIP: Thank you everybody for coming and listening to me. I’m Neil Bradbury. I’m born and bred in Shirebrook. I live here all my life. I work for the council. So I do know a lot. And I have a lot of people come to me asking me now. questions so basically i’ve been sorting people out with my things and i have respected old people i’m a charity way in the local charity and that now the people of Shirebrook are not in this for myself, I’m in this for the people of Shirebrook. Thank you very much.

CANDIDATE RICKY HOLLAND
MY IMPRESSION: The candidate focused on who he is and said basically nothing about why he wants to be a councillor. Stating that: “I want to be part of the team that’s going to take Shirebrook to the next level” is very idealistic and ambitious but says nothing about his concrete goals. Maybe that was a winning strategy: saying nothing but talking a lot? Still, it’s a very exalted goal that I cannot disagree with. Good luck, Councillor!

ROUGH TRANSCRIP: Thank you. My name is Ricky Holland. I’ve lived in Shirebrook, I’m 65 in January next year which is not too far away. My parents and my grandparents lived in Shirebrook. I still work full time. I left school on a Friday, started working for British Columbia.

I went to Shirebrook on Monday, unfortunately got a redundant in 1993. I worked at Denver Pottery for a period of time. Then went to Sheffield University, studied as a mental health nurse. I’m currently working as a mental health nurse. I’m an operations director this month in time. I work both for NHS and the private sector. I seem to go and glad on both sides of the business. I’ve got a good background in managing budgets, multi-million pound budgets, etc. and fixing and turning poor running hospitals around. I’m registered with NMC, which is a midway for council, I’m also registered with CQC, and like I said initially, I was born and bred in Shirebrook. Over the years the council has tried to do its best, and as always we can do better. So I want to be part of the team that’s going to take Shirebrook to the next level. That’s agreed by the other members. So yeah, that’s me. Thank you very much indeed.

CANDIDATE MICK YATES
MY IMPRESSION: His presentation focused on who he was, not on who he wants to be. For me, he is a typical representative of “old Labour” (retired, wealthy, part of local Labour machine for decades). His wife is a BDC councillor, and he was on STC before when corruption, tax rises, and nepotism were business as usual. But maybe I’m wrong — maybe he will ask about corruption and nepotism? Maybe he will propose innovative solutions to old problems? Maybe he won’t block audits, reviews, and discussions about problems? I hope so. I wish him the best. (note: AI completely botched most of the names mentioned by this candidate: my apologies, please ignore that)

ROUGH TRANSCRIP: I’m 64 years old, I’m a lifelong resident of Shirebrook. I’m retired, I’ve got plenty of time on my hands to give to the position of councillor if I’m chosen. I currently volunteer at the Temesolvus Business Centre working in the CAF. I retired as a train driver in 2015 after 37 years. During my employment on the railway I was a member of the train drivers union, Adler. For five years I was the works of depo branch chairman and also the elected union rep with a nationally recognised qualification in employment law. For 20 years I worked as a non-executive director for a national healthcare company called HealthShield Friendly Society of Liberty which was based in Peru. While acting as a non-executive director I gained qualifications in risk management. I was also the chair of the risk management committee and I was spelled as chair of the order committee. I’ve also been a director for five years the chair of the Two Shires Credit Union which was based in Works Off. In 2022 it was amalgamated into a big credit union based in Sheffield called TransAid. I’m a member and current chairman of the Model Ways Residents Association at Mace Montevergate. I had previous experience on the Shirebrook Town Council from 1985 until 2000 and then from 2015 to 2019. I worked the chair of the market committee during my last thing at the Shirebrook Town Council. I’ve also served as a county councillor on the Derbyshire County Council representing Bolsover North. I feel my past working and experience as a council would be a big help to Shirebrook Town Council. What I want to do is I want Shirebrook to become a great council and I want to emulate what Bolls Over North and Town Council has done and win some awards. Which I think is quite capable of doing with the right people and the right attitude. That’s what I want to be to Shirebrook. Thank you.

CANDIDATE SHELLEY ARAPI
MY IMPRESSION: An unusual candidate. She has never lived in Shirebrook, but has worked on Market Square for decades. Her experience with Market Square can provide the Council with a unique set of skills and point of view.

Market Square was hardly mentioned so far by any of the previous candidates, so I think having her on the Council can bring valuable input on operations around that area of town activities. It’s an important niche that was, until recently, one of the most important aspects of the town’s life but has suffered degradation due to behavioural pattern changes. She could be an incredible asset in the fight for the revival of our Market Square. Good luck, Councillor.

ROUGH TRANSCRIP: Hi, I’m Shelley Arapi. Unlike everybody else, I’ve never ever lived in Shirebrook, however, I have worked here for the last 35 years, choosing to work here after I discovered Shirebrook on a driving lesson. And I’ve visited Shirebrook and I’ve been here, among other members of my family, I’ve been training here for over 35 years on Shirebrook Marketplace. So I see first-hand many of the residents that live in Shirebrook and I hear a lot of the issues that they have. I’ve also seen many of the decisions that have been made regarding Shirebrook Marketplace and how it affects this town as a whole. So that’s kind of not the only perspective that I’m here but it’s one of the main ones is the fact that I’m actually working first on a Shirebrook Marketplace. I believe it’s an important part of Shirebrook and it needs a voice for people to hear what’s actually happening on that marketplace and what needs to happen and what improvements need to be made. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you.

THE END
Next week? Predictions for 2026.

Sylwester Zwierzynski info@shirebrook247.com