Conservative Party chairman Amanda Milling came to visit Grimsby recently and I was delighted to be able to show her some of the key things going on in Grimsby. It’s always important to be able to show senior political figures how your constituency is progressing.
When Amanda Milling came, we took her to see one of our fish processors, Premier Seafoods, to discover how the first national lockdown had affected them. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that their sales had increased significantly during that time, as people have been buying more locally and are wanting to support their local businesses and buy fresh fish, which was very positive to see.
We visited Premier Seafoods to also see the range of fish they had, the types of fish that they are supplying, what’s selling well and to meet with some of their specialists, who fillet fish by hand. It was a great opportunity to show Amanda the traditional skills that remain alive and well in Grimsby and had a good conversation about the importance of fish processing.
We also visited the team at the E-Factor Enterprise Village to look at the business support offered there, but also to meet with volunteer group the Blue Lights Brigade, who have been supporting North East Lincolnshire Council in making sure that food parcels are being delivered and that people who have been shielding are being looked after. It was really good to show Amanda how important the Blue Lights Brigade is to Grimsby and how vital our volunteers sector is.
It’s important for senior political figures to see what Grimsby is doing, what our aspirations are and for them to get a sense of what the town is all about. We not only show them where we’ve got areas for development but we also show them areas for opportunity as well.
E-Factor have been building new business premises for further business support, so it was important for Amanda to have seen that in action. It shows how important and forward-thinking organisations are locally, along with our fish processors. It’s important that people know that central government really does understand the amount of work that’s going on to support our local community.
