0:02 I'm Kathryn McColl and I'm Parliamentary Assistant to the Right Honourable Alan Milburn in his constituency office in Darlington and also in Westminster. We’re currently working on a case to try and change the law so that wagons over a certain age are fitted with a seat beat. Because one of our constituents was driving a lorry two years ago, there wasn’t a seat belt fitted, he was involved in an accident and he was killed. He was a young man, he was 23 and we are trying hard with the road haulage industry to change the law in those sorts of things.
00:34 I’ve been involved in a number of cases where people have moved to the country and then they’ve been faced with the situation of having to be sent back to their country. And we have helped a young mum from Uganda who is a victim of a militia rape to stay in the country and I'm proud of that because it took an awful lot of effort and support from the community to demonstrate that she had a home here.
00:57 I grew up in South Wales in a little place called Gwernyfed and I went to a Welsh-speaking primary and secondary school. I really enjoyed the culture and the identity and I felt like I was special because I could speak Welsh and by and large, in that part of the world, people don’t tend to leave. The opportunities aren't very many. People tend to stay and work in agriculture or work in the public sector in hospitals or schools, and I always felt that that wasn’t going to be for me. I always felt I was going to leave and go and do something different.
01:34 My dad was a teacher and I think he always felt that, you know, for my sister and I that university was really important, that we had the chance to experience it. My sister went to London University and once I saw the time that she was having there and the experiences she was having, I was sure that that’s what I wanted to do. So, you know, my mother never went to university and my dad went to a sort of teaching college really.
02:01 So I went to university in Wales and I studied Welsh and journalism. So once I’d got to university, it was just wow, this is amazing, there’s so many people from so many different parts of the world, you know. The social life, the travelling, you know, I loved it.
02:19 I was always fascinated by current affairs, so watching the news, watching female news presenters, watching people reporting from sort of hot spots and thought I would really like to do that. And I was very fortunate, I think because I was Welsh speaking, I had an obvious opportunity to get onto a regional newspaper and they put me through a sort of three year training course to do that and that was really good.
02:43 I really enjoyed my time there and, you know, the things that I got to do using Welsh as a tool, and then I met a Scotsman and I moved to England.
02:56 I’d worked in newspapers for a long time and enjoyed it but I felt that there were other things that I wanted to do, so I felt that the opportunity to move into politics was right. My children were very young and politics can be quite flexible, more flexible in some ways than journalism. And it's a mixture of using both my media skills and also actually helping people in some respects and it's very varied, it's very challenging, you know. The debates of the day on whatever they are, you know, I have a post bag that represents them, whether it's on human rights in Burma or whether it's on MPs’ expenses and it's good to know what people are thinking and feeling.
03:36 I am a mother of two children, two boys aged 11 and 9 and when I'm not doing politics and racing around, I spend a lot of time at the side of a football field or watching football. I live in a small village and I’ve got lots of friends there and I spend a lot of time with my friends and their families in the village, you know, and it's good, it's great and it's a long way from the political world as well.
Kathryn McColl
Kathryn McColl, Parliamentary Assistant
I'm Kathryn McColl and I'm Parliamentary Assistant to the Right Honourable Alan Milburn in his constituency office in Darlington and also in Westminster. We’re currently working on a case to try and change the law so that wagons over a certain age are fitted with a seat beat. Because one of our constituents was driving a lorry two years ago, there wasn’t a seat belt fitted, he was involved in an accident and he was killed. He was a young man, he was 23 and we are trying hard with the road haulage industry to change the law in those sorts of things.
I’ve been involved in a number of cases where people have moved to the country and then they’ve been faced with the situation of having to be sent back to their country. And we have helped a young mum from Uganda who is a victim of a militia rape to stay in the country and I'm proud of that because it took an awful lot of effort and support from the community to demonstrate that she had a home here.
I grew up in South Wales in a little place called Gwernyfed and I went to a Welsh-speaking primary and secondary school. I really enjoyed the culture and the identity and I felt like I was special because I could speak Welsh and by and large, in that part of the world, people don’t tend to leave. The opportunities aren't very many. People tend to stay and work in agriculture or work in the public sector in hospitals or schools, and I always felt that that wasn’t going to be for me. I always felt I was going to leave and go and do something different.
My dad was a teacher and I think he always felt that, you know, for my sister and I that university was really important, that we had the chance to experience it. My sister went to London University and once I saw the time that she was having there and the experiences she was having, I was sure that that’s what I wanted to do. So, you know, my mother never went to university and my dad went to a sort of teaching college really.
So I went to university in Wales and I studied Welsh and journalism. So once I’d got to university, it was just wow, this is amazing, there’s so many people from so many different parts of the world, you know. The social life, the travelling, you know, I loved it.
I was always fascinated by current affairs, so watching the news, watching female news presenters, watching people reporting from sort of hot spots and thought I would really like to do that. And I was very fortunate, I think because I was Welsh speaking, I had an obvious opportunity to get onto a regional newspaper and they put me through a sort of three year training course to do that and that was really good.
I really enjoyed my time there and, you know, the things that I got to do using Welsh as a tool, and then I met a Scotsman and I moved to England.
I’d worked in newspapers for a long time and enjoyed it but I felt that there were other things that I wanted to do, so I felt that the opportunity to move into politics was right. My children were very young and politics can be quite flexible, more flexible in some ways than journalism. And it's a mixture of using both my media skills and also actually helping people in some respects and it's very varied, it's very challenging, you know. The debates of the day on whatever they are, you know, I have a post bag that represents them, whether it's on human rights in Burma or whether it's on MPs’ expenses and it's good to know what people are thinking and feeling.
I am a mother of two children, two boys aged 11 and 9 and when I'm not doing politics and racing around, I spend a lot of time at the side of a football field or watching football. I live in a small village and I’ve got lots of friends there and I spend a lot of time with my friends and their families in the village, you know, and it's good, it's great and it's a long way from the political world as well.
Kathryn McColl is Parliamentary Assistant to MP Alan Milburn. She was always fascinated by current affairs and started her first job in a newspaper after leaving university. When Kathryn had children she wanted a job with more flexibilty so changed her career plans and went into politics. She has been involved in a number of cases where she feels she can make a real difference to people's lives.
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