Helen Maguire: ‘Why I’m running to be your MP’

Talking to Helen leaves you excited and energised to be in the presence of someone who not only wants to make a difference to people’s lives but has the drive, focus and energy to do it.

Helen grew up in Sheffield with the Peak District on her doorstep, before joining the ‘red caps’, the Royal Military Police, seeing service in Bosnia and Iraq. Now down south and a mum of three teenage kids, she runs her own business as a charity fundraiser while finding time for cross country running with Epsom & Ewell Harriers.

“Like many who come to work in London, we moved out from Lewisham to give our children the opportunities to benefit from our green spaces as I did as a child in the Peak District National Park.

“I’m therefore passionate about caring for our countryside and about helping to resolve the climate emergency we now find ourselves in.”

Helen was a Parish Councillor in Claygate and Chairman of the local recreation ground when fire devastated the community’s local sports pavilion.

“The fire presented a great opportunity to provide something far better for the wider community. So we took this opportunity to raise over a £1m for the build, and now have a facility which is used more widely by local people and one which is far more inclusive and accessible for less abled residents.

“As your local representative, I want to make a difference. I want to push the Government into providing better healthcare for our underfunded local service; to stop sewage being poured into our rivers; to help struggling families; to stop the degrading of our local services. Hard pressed people need to see help at hand, not a country in crisis – a country which can’t even satisfactorily provide health, dentistry, and care services. I want to change that.”