In the early hours of Friday morning, 3rd May, there was a huge cheer from within the main hall at Loddon Valley Leisure Centre. It was around 3am that the announcement came that Dr Maria Gee became Councillor Maria Gee for the ward of Wescott, knocking out the leader of Wokingham Borough Council.

The whole evening had felt electric, despite the late hour. Many of us had been up since the crack of dawn, and we were tired, but being in that hall as the results came in was worth it. Maria was not the only success of the evening. Over the course of the evening, Wokingham Borough Liberal Democrats doubled in size from 8 to 16, bringing to the council an even wider range of skills, including financial expertise, highways expertise and economics expertise among many others.

"As Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Wokingham Borough Council I welcome you to our 2019 Local Manifesto, which has been produced for the 2019 Local Elections.

This Manifesto sets out what we stand for locally and what we have and will campaign for on your behalf. We hope you enjoy reading it.

We will make sure you are listened to and we will do what residents want, not what the Council wants.

Please support my colleagues and me at the local elections on Thursday 2nd May.

Cllr Lindsay Ferris

Leader of the Liberal Democrats & Leader of the Opposition on Wokingham Borough Council"

Street light number 4 Mayfields, Sindlesham has been unlit for over 9 months without a power supply. Following continued pressure by the Winnersh Lib Dem team, the street light finally was working on Friday 8^th February after Wokingham Borough Council got SSE to connect a power supply. One local resident quoted on the Winnersh Community Facebook "I couldn't believe it when I saw the light - it was a true miracle! Thanks."

Sarah Kerr is our Liberal Democrat candidate for the Evendons East by-election.

She lives in Evendons ward on Evendons Lane with her husband and sons, and her adult triplet step-daughters visit often.

She worked in the IT industry for several years, and later transferred her skills into the charity sector working as a fundraiser. After having her boys however, she decided to balance being a mother with her love of music and started a career as a freelance musician. She has two music degrees, and is a classically trained pianist and conductor working predominantly in the choral and opera world. She is also a keen runner.

The Liberal Democrats had much to celebrate on the 3^rd of May, firstly increasing their vote share across the Borough by 4% to 32%, getting two councillors re-elected and gaining two seats from the Conservatives.

Liberal Democrats re-elected

In Winnersh, long standing and hard-working councillor Prue Bray increased her majority to 951 polling 1,646 votes,