LAST week was the first full week I have been back in the constituency since the election, and I wanted to use it to get into as many of the smaller towns and villages as possible.

This constituency is a large and very varied one, it covers both urban and rural areas, and I have been conscious that whilst I knocked on almost every door in Thornbury, Alveston, Sodbury, Yate and Frampton Cotterell before the election, the rural communities can be harder to reach. So cue my week of holding surgeries in 35 towns and villages across the constituency: Abson, Aust, Acton Turville, Badminton, Cold Ashton, Charfield, Cromhall, Doynton, Elberton, Falfield, Hill, Hinton, Hawkesbury Upton, Horton, Iron Acton, Latteridge, Littleton-Upon Severn, Little Sodbury, Lower Morton, Marshfield, Old Down, Olveston, Oldbury on Severn, Old Sodbury, Pucklechurch, Rockhampton, Rangeworthy, Shepperdine, Tythrington, Tockington, Tortworth, Tomarton, Westerleigh, Wick and Wickwar.

I held surgeries in pubs, cafés, village halls, shops, Post Offices, churches and in once instance, next to a gate on the edge of a field. Somebody jokingly asked me why I was spending so much time in pubs, and I made a mental note to next time remind people I was only drinking coffee.

I was able to speak to local residents and get feedback about both local and national issues, and there was a huge range that were raised. Broadband was brought up at almost every meeting, with some people barely being able to send emails because of such poor connections. This was invaluable information for me to take to BT and the Council.

The Young Farmers turned up to a number of meetings, and made a very strong point in a mature way about the price they were getting for their milk, and I am committed to working with them going forward.

On Thursday mid-morning I arrived at the café on Milford Avenue in Wick slightly behind the schedule – as I went to walk in, my childhood football manger, Ian, ran up and hugged me. I think it must have been a decade since I had seen him. He was clearly very proud and it was a nice moment, although the waiting crowd in the café looked slightly confused.

I broke on Thursday afternoon to visit the memory café in Yate and ask people about what more can be done to tackle the isolation that is so prevalent in some of our communities. I hope to be doing more work in this area in the coming weeks and months.

On Friday I was back on the tour, and finished at The Lamb in Iron Acton. On Saturday and Sunday I had a stand at the South Gloucestershire Show in Westerleigh, which was a good opportunity to meet hundreds of people from the area who hadn’t necessarily set out to speak to their MP, but were able to come over and bring up issues that had been on their mind.

It wasn’t a perfect tour, at some stops I had not allowed enough time, in others, too much, but it was invaluable for me, and in another week of headlines that further undermines faith in politicians, I hope that being visible and accessible is a demonstration that I will do what I can to be a good local MP.