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Councillor to start a dream life in France

30/10/2003

IT'S a dream of most people just to give up work and get away from it all. But for former Macclesfield Borough councillor David Cannell the dream will soon be a reality and he will be enjoying the best wine, bread and cheese in a little village in France.

David, 41, has given up late nights in the council chamber for a more relaxed life in the Charente region of the country. He, his wife, Deborah, 37, and their two children, aged 11 and nine, will be emigrating to France next week, and leaving behind all the stresses and strains that come with being a local councillor.

He has resigned as Labour member for Macclesfield Hurdsfield ward, after being a member of the council for about six years and he says he will miss some aspects of it but not the late nights.

"I will miss it," he admitted. "When I first started as a member of the non-ruling party I was more involved in policy than councillors are nowadays.

"It takes up too much time when you have a full-time job and a family. It's basically only something unemployed or retired people can do. It's a shame really as I think there should be more people in the middle-age bracket than the retired bracket."

He also said that it was difficult to keep involved with everything that was going on with the advent of e-government.

"When I first started you used to get all the agendas to read through, now you have to sit in front of a computer and read it all on the web pages."

David, who worked on the night shift for Royal Mail, said he and his family had been talking about emigrating for a while and when his wife's parents decided they would retire to France it seemed a good idea for everyone to go.

"I suppose it is quite a bold step but we thought there's got to be a better way of life than what we are doing here.

"Originally we were going to buy a campsite out there and run that but the owner was trying to get more and more money out of us so that fell through."

David, and his wife, who worked as a kindergarten teacher, have now decided that they might like to run a coffee bar - but one that doesn't stay open too late.

They have spent many holidays in France and have been learning the language but are not fluent yet, hoping that will come with time when they immerse themselves in French culture.

One thing that David will miss about Macclesfield is something that he has supported for a long time - the formation of a Macclesfield town council, which is under discussion. Plans for a town forum have already been approved.

He said: "One third of the population of the borough hasn't got its own council. I hope that it doesn't stay as a forum and becomes a town council."

• THERE will be a by-election for the vacant Hurdsfield seat on Thursday, November 27. Nominations must be in by this Friday, October, 31, and names of nominees will be published on November 4.