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Local Government
Rochford District Council
Rochford District Council
Cllr Joan Mockford
8 Broomfield Avenue
Rayleigh
Essex
SS6 9EJ
01268 781 028
Rayleigh
Essex
SS6 9EJ
01268 781 028
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Talking with Councillor Joan Mockford, Chair of Rochford District Council 2012/13
(Mon 16th July 2012)
(Mon 16th July 2012)
Rochford Life: May we start with your earliest days of being on the Council? You’ve been a Councillor since 2005 I believe?
Joan Mockford: Yes, and prior to that I was a Rayleigh Town Councillor. My husband was a District Councillor but unfortunately he died suddenly; he had a massive stroke, and looking back I don’t quite know what I was doing at the time but I was subsequently talked into taking his seat. At the time I wasn’t even sure of what I was doing, but I am really pleased that I did because I’ve always had people around me and it really helped. I have three children and I come from a family where I am the eldest of four children, so I’ve always people around me, and when my husband died suddenly I found myself on my own, which I found very, very difficult to cope with at the time. I think I was very vulnerable but because I did know a lot of the councillors through my husband, I just found it absolutely amazing; it gave me a focus in life and I just love it.
RL: Before that did you have a career?
Joan: I worked for the Bank of England for eighteen years and retired from there. My husband was in the Police and I was able to take early retirement when my husband retired and that’s when we came to live in Rayleigh. I’ve always been a very busy person. Both my husband and I have done a lot of voluntary work through our lives, mostly with young people. When we lived in south London, my husband helped start up, and became secretary of, an amateur boxing club called the Robert Browning Boxing Club which is very well known now. I used to help my husband in the back room when they put on boxing events. Then we moved to Loughton and I became very involved with the Parent-Teachers Association and my husband became involved with a very large Community Centre and became Chairman of that before we left there. Again I was in the background helping him there, and then we moved here to Rayleigh and that’s when we became involved in local politics. We’ve had a very busy life, including bringing up three children.
RL: Was it your background in the Bank of England that led you to eventually be on the Council committee for policy and finance?
Joan: Yes, possibly so, and then I was also Chairman of the Audit Committee. Funnily enough when I left school the thing I wanted to do more than anything else was go into nursing. I was never interested in maths whatsoever, and so I did two years of nursing and although I enjoyed it I knew it wasn’t for me somehow. I then got a job in a little office where I was really just checking invoices and things like that, and from there I have been in accountancy-type work ever since.
RL: I also see the words ‘housing’ and ‘environment’ have come up in respect of you on the Council web-site.
Joan: Ah yes, that would be on the Committee for Rochford Housing, that’s social housing
RL: OK, I notice the word, ‘social’ there. If I may say, reading your bio on the Council site, you convey a very good image of social concern. For instance I also note that you were or are a “Champion for the Elderly’, you’ve been a Vice-Chairman of Fund Raising and a Governor of Our Lady of Ransom School.
Joan: Yes, I’m still a Governor of Our Lady of Ransom School. I don’t know how I got involved with the fund raising but going back to my husband’s days we used to do a lot of fund raising and so I was just involved in our Ward doing it. In respect of the Champion for the Elderly, to be quite honest I never did an awful lot for them. I used to do quite a lot for Chignal House which is actually in my Ward, flats for the elderly, and a lot of it came under Rochford Housing, so I was able to help quite a lot of those. I was there if the elderly wanted me for anything. So I’ve gone from the young to the elderly!
RL: The Chairman always has a number of charities. What will you be aiming to help this year?
Joan: Well unfortunately my daughter has just been diagnosed with cancer so my main charity is going to be Cancer Research but then for local charities the Mushroom Theatre Company will be another. It’s a group for the able and disabled people. In the past they have come to Rayleigh for the Switch-on-the-lights time. The work that they do is amazing. Another will be the Talking Newspapers for the Blind, and hopefully for the church as well. Those are my charities as they stand at the moment.
RL: I suspect in this year ahead you are going to be given tremendous insights into the community as you fulfil this role.
Joan: Yes, indeed. I have lived here for over twenty years but just in these couple of months, already, with the things I’ve seen, I find them amazing. I’m very flattered that I’m able to see it and do this.
RL: How do you come to be lined up to be Vice-Chair and then Chair of the Council?
Joan: Well you are voted in by your fellow councillors. They do ask if you are interested in doing it, because it really does take a year out of your life.
RL: Does the year of being Vice Chair prepare you for being the Chair?
Joan: To be honest, it depends on who the Chairman is. Simon Smith was a very active young man compared to me, and so there weren’t many things that he was unable to attend. If the Chairman is unable to attend for any reason then we ask the Vice-Chairman to step in. I personally didn’t do an awful lot as Vice-Chairman. My Vice-Chair is Barbara Wilkins from Great Wakering, and she’s great.
RL: Remembering that you told me previously that you have had both a knee and a hip operation already, how do you feel about doing this job? It is an amazing commitment isn’t it?
Joan: Well I’m going to have to have the other hip done sometime in the future and I just take painkillers to see me through when I need them, and hope I’ll be able to see the year through. I had the knee operation a year ago and I can walk all right with it, so I’m hoping it will be all right.
RL: Do you see this year as Chairman as an opportunity to serve or to influence?
Joan: I don’t think it is so much to influence. I am very honoured to be Chairman, but I think it is more to serve. It’s lovely to go and meet people and they are so grateful that you’ve come along. In turn I’m also so grateful at being able to see what they do. If you talk to any Chairman they all say the same thing, because you’re not even aware of a lot of things in the community, and it’s only when you are invited to these things that you see these people who so often help so many other people. The volunteers that we have are absolutely incredible. There was one case I came across, actually before I was chairman, where this woman five days a week cooks a meal for elderly people in Rochford, about thirty or forty people every day. Another place where I’ve been to, there was a little girl there whose father was deaf and she was sign-languaging to him and for him, and she has obviously learnt that from a very young age as a small child, so she’s really talking for him. Such people are really unsung heroes, they just get on with it, they don’t ask for any accolade, and it’s just wonderful that you can meet this sort of people.
RL: But it’s still a load though, isn’t it.
Joan: Yes. I have to admit that last couple of weeks have been very busy and this week there’s been something every day, and some days there are two things on. But it’s not just here in Rochford District, it also involves going round the County. Recently I went to Finchingfield to the inauguration of the new High Sheriff of Essex, then I’m going to the Lord Bishop’s Civic Luncheon in Chelmsford, on Wednesday, then the Queen’s Award for Trade on Thursday, the High Sheriff's Luncheon on Friday, so it does literally mean going all over the County. I’ve also got a visit to the Talking Newspaper and a Cancer fund raiser coming soon. I was at Barleylands for the Essex County Council last Friday and also went to the Chelmsford Civic Service about a month ago.
RL: Locally though, I believe you also go into schools, among your many visits to community events?
Joan: Oh yes. Only recently I was in a local school watching them receive their awards, and sometimes they ask you to make a speech for the occasion. Speech making doesn’t really come naturally to me but it was one of the things they warned me I would have to do. I suppose it gets easier the more you do it. Sometimes it’s just dropped on you. Recently I attended a voluntary organisation and they simply turned to me and said, would you like to make a speech, and you can’t say no.
RL: Anything else we haven’t touched on?
Joan: Well another thing I’ve been involved with on the Council is the Waste Management, and that is really because of my husband, because he was on the committee that started up, looking at how we can recycle more. When he died I went on the same committee. It’s been a fantastic achievement with the highest recycling rate in the country. We also have a very, very good record with the way we spend our money, we’re debt free. Although we’ve had to do cut-backs I don’t think mostly the public realise that we’ve really done any. We’ve also had to look at other ways of making money and I think our accountants here are absolutely amazing. I’m very proud of Rochford District Council, not just because I’m part of it, but when I look and see what they’ve achieved, for a small council, I think they’ve done brilliantly.
RL: Well Joan, I’m almost overwhelmed by the task that you have taken on. The more I hear about it from each of you who have been the Chairman, and the more I have thought about it, the more respect I have for each of you doing it. I think most of us just don’t realise what it entails, so on behalf of the unknowing public, may I take this opportunity of saying thank you for being willing to take it on - and may the hip allow you to see the year through! Thank you again for giving me this time in your very busy schedule; it’s been lovely to talk with you.
Joan Mockford: Yes, and prior to that I was a Rayleigh Town Councillor. My husband was a District Councillor but unfortunately he died suddenly; he had a massive stroke, and looking back I don’t quite know what I was doing at the time but I was subsequently talked into taking his seat. At the time I wasn’t even sure of what I was doing, but I am really pleased that I did because I’ve always had people around me and it really helped. I have three children and I come from a family where I am the eldest of four children, so I’ve always people around me, and when my husband died suddenly I found myself on my own, which I found very, very difficult to cope with at the time. I think I was very vulnerable but because I did know a lot of the councillors through my husband, I just found it absolutely amazing; it gave me a focus in life and I just love it.
RL: Before that did you have a career?
Joan: I worked for the Bank of England for eighteen years and retired from there. My husband was in the Police and I was able to take early retirement when my husband retired and that’s when we came to live in Rayleigh. I’ve always been a very busy person. Both my husband and I have done a lot of voluntary work through our lives, mostly with young people. When we lived in south London, my husband helped start up, and became secretary of, an amateur boxing club called the Robert Browning Boxing Club which is very well known now. I used to help my husband in the back room when they put on boxing events. Then we moved to Loughton and I became very involved with the Parent-
RL: Was it your background in the Bank of England that led you to eventually be on the Council committee for policy and finance?
Joan: Yes, possibly so, and then I was also Chairman of the Audit Committee. Funnily enough when I left school the thing I wanted to do more than anything else was go into nursing. I was never interested in maths whatsoever, and so I did two years of nursing and although I enjoyed it I knew it wasn’t for me somehow. I then got a job in a little office where I was really just checking invoices and things like that, and from there I have been in accountancy-
RL: I also see the words ‘housing’ and ‘environment’ have come up in respect of you on the Council web-
RL: OK, I notice the word, ‘social’ there. If I may say, reading your bio on the Council site, you convey a very good image of social concern. For instance I also note that you were or are a “Champion for the Elderly’, you’ve been a Vice-
RL: The Chairman always has a number of charities. What will you be aiming to help this year?
Joan: Well unfortunately my daughter has just been diagnosed with cancer so my main charity is going to be Cancer Research but then for local charities the Mushroom Theatre Company will be another. It’s a group for the able and disabled people. In the past they have come to Rayleigh for the Switch-
RL: I suspect in this year ahead you are going to be given tremendous insights into the community as you fulfil this role.
Joan: Yes, indeed. I have lived here for over twenty years but just in these couple of months, already, with the things I’ve seen, I find them amazing. I’m very flattered that I’m able to see it and do this.
RL: How do you come to be lined up to be Vice-
RL: Does the year of being Vice Chair prepare you for being the Chair?
Joan: To be honest, it depends on who the Chairman is. Simon Smith was a very active young man compared to me, and so there weren’t many things that he was unable to attend. If the Chairman is unable to attend for any reason then we ask the Vice-
Joan: Well I’m going to have to have the other hip done sometime in the future and I just take painkillers to see me through when I need them, and hope I’ll be able to see the year through. I had the knee operation a year ago and I can walk all right with it, so I’m hoping it will be all right.
RL: Do you see this year as Chairman as an opportunity to serve or to influence?
Joan: I don’t think it is so much to influence. I am very honoured to be Chairman, but I think it is more to serve. It’s lovely to go and meet people and they are so grateful that you’ve come along. In turn I’m also so grateful at being able to see what they do. If you talk to any Chairman they all say the same thing, because you’re not even aware of a lot of things in the community, and it’s only when you are invited to these things that you see these people who so often help so many other people. The volunteers that we have are absolutely incredible. There was one case I came across, actually before I was chairman, where this woman five days a week cooks a meal for elderly people in Rochford, about thirty or forty people every day. Another place where I’ve been to, there was a little girl there whose father was deaf and she was sign-
RL: But it’s still a load though, isn’t it.
Joan: Yes. I have to admit that last couple of weeks have been very busy and this week there’s been something every day, and some days there are two things on. But it’s not just here in Rochford District, it also involves going round the County. Recently I went to Finchingfield to the inauguration of the new High Sheriff of Essex, then I’m going to the Lord Bishop’s Civic Luncheon in Chelmsford, on Wednesday, then the Queen’s Award for Trade on Thursday, the High Sheriff's Luncheon on Friday, so it does literally mean going all over the County. I’ve also got a visit to the Talking Newspaper and a Cancer fund raiser coming soon. I was at Barleylands for the Essex County Council last Friday and also went to the Chelmsford Civic Service about a month ago.
RL: Locally though, I believe you also go into schools, among your many visits to community events?
Joan: Oh yes. Only recently I was in a local school watching them receive their awards, and sometimes they ask you to make a speech for the occasion. Speech making doesn’t really come naturally to me but it was one of the things they warned me I would have to do. I suppose it gets easier the more you do it. Sometimes it’s just dropped on you. Recently I attended a voluntary organisation and they simply turned to me and said, would you like to make a speech, and you can’t say no.
RL: Anything else we haven’t touched on?
Joan: Well another thing I’ve been involved with on the Council is the Waste Management, and that is really because of my husband, because he was on the committee that started up, looking at how we can recycle more. When he died I went on the same committee. It’s been a fantastic achievement with the highest recycling rate in the country. We also have a very, very good record with the way we spend our money, we’re debt free. Although we’ve had to do cut-
RL: Well Joan, I’m almost overwhelmed by the task that you have taken on. The more I hear about it from each of you who have been the Chairman, and the more I have thought about it, the more respect I have for each of you doing it. I think most of us just don’t realise what it entails, so on behalf of the unknowing public, may I take this opportunity of saying thank you for being willing to take it on -
