It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Jim Murray on Thursday 24th June.

Our thoughts are with Eleanor.

Jim's Funeral will take place at Holy Trinity Church, Fareham on Friday 9 July at 1pm.

All are welcome to attend the service but the family has requested that no one should wear black.

The family have also requested that no flowers be given and instead any donations to The Stroke Association or the Salvation Army should be sent to Nigel Chamberlain & Partners Funeral Directors of Victoria Road, Bishops Waltham (01489 892640).

Alternatively, there will also be a collection at Holy Trinity Church.

Many thanks to all of you who supported us during the election campaign, delivering leaflets, putting up posters, canvassing, telling and voting !

The turnout for the General Election was a very high 71.6% in Fareham, and Alex Bentley polled 23.8% of the vote - an increase on the last Liberal Democrat result in Fareham and climbing into second place ahead of Labour.

More importantly, all of our councillors who were defending their seats were returned to office, many of them with increased majorities, which is testament to all their hard work and your trust in them.

At the last executive meeting, a number of matters needed to be discussed and resolved.

1) Jim Murray decided not to stand for re-election as a councillor this time round, and his seat was ably defended by Paul Whittle. So, congratulations to Paul and a huge thankyou from all of us to Jim for an enormous contribution to Fareham and the Fareham Liberal Democrat Party.

2) Additionally, Jim Murray had stood in as interim chairman of the local party untill after the election. He stood down at the last executive meeting and was replaced by David Leonard.

3) Finally, and rather sadly, Peter Davies has decided to leave the Liberal Democrats and become an independent councillor. This is despite campaigning under a Liberal Democrat banner during the election. Although he claims to be independent, he is listed on the council website as belonging to the Conservative Political Group and has accepted the chair of the Housing Tenancy Board.