Conservative Jodie Jones took the Rawnsley seat in her first election

Miss Jones won by a narrow margin of 63 votes, with Labour’s Brian Gamble second with 560 votes and sitting councillor Pat Ansell Liberal Democrat third with 361.

Although most would be surprised at her victory considering it was her first time standing, she said it reflects what people in the ward want.

“We’ve had a really positive campaign, I have spoken to an awful lot of people and they have been really supportive so I think it’s a good reflection of what people want and of the work we’ve put in.”

Miss Jones says she’s looking forward to get back out into the constituency; “I want to get back round and speak to everyone again and see what it is they want me to do first of all.”

Overall, the Conservatives gained three seats from the Liberal Democrats last night; Rawnsley being one of those. Cannock West went to the party’s Paul Snape and Anne Allt claimed Western Springs.

Want to hear more? You can listen to the interview with Conservative Jodie Jones here.

Labour's Gordon Ball holds his Hednesford South seat

He has served the ward for the past 20 years and last night’s victory means he will continue to do so for another 4 years.

Mr Ball reclaimed the seat with almost forty-four per cent (621) of the ward’s votes.

Conservative Wayne Pearce came second with 446 votes, Liberal Democrat Wendy Yates third with 247 and Chase Indpendent Ann Turville received least votes with 108.

Mr Ball told Hednesford News that the count last night was very nerve-racking for him, as he wasn’t confident of keeping his seat.

“It’s close when you see all the votes put out, but when they start putting them in piles, you get a  better idea.”

He thanked other party members for their help with his camapign; “I’ve had some help this year with canvassing,” he said. “Muriel Davis helped me as my son was on holiday. We managed to get them all done in 2 days, which is quite quick.”

With Labour taking a minority adminstration of Cannock Chase Council; Mr Ball reflected on a good night, with party wins across the district: “It was unfortunate for a few – we lost our to the Conservatives in a few places.”

Liberal Democrats in the district were the worst hit with six seats lost and the minority control of the council no longer their’s; a sign of what has happened nationally, Mr Ball suggested.

Want to hear more? You can listen to the full interview with Labour’s Gordon Ball here.

She received 994 votes beating Conservative Chris Anslow (526 votes) and Liberal Democrat Paul Buckle (178 votes).

Speaking to Hednesford News after the result was announced, Mrs Grice said she was very pleased to have kept her district seat, although she hadn’t been confident that she would do earlier in the day.

“I had a feeling this morning when I woke up that I was going to lose it, but then when I got here and spoke to people I felt I could do it again.”

Mrs Grice said that councillors are given the only thing they can be by the local community, their vote and so they should be a ‘servant to the people’ of their constituency.

Before the election, she had talked about how she wanted to see more effort being put in to helping Hednesford’s younger generation get a good start in life.

“I would like to see more done for the youngsters,” she explained last night. “There’s no jobs for them out there and more should be done to help them find work.

“There’s a young lad lives next door to me and he qualified as a plumber, but when he left college he couldn’t get a job. I’ve seen, over time, that he’s lost his enthusiasm; the light dies in their eyes.”

Mrs Grice said she hoped the regeneration work in the town centre would mean more job opportunities for the people of Hednesford.

“There’s too many people coming from outside which means there’s no work for local people.

“With the regeneration work, priority should be given to the kids round here, so they get jobs,” she said.

Cannock Chase District count last night

Liberal Democrats in Cannock Chase had a tough night as they lost six seats, including council leader Neil Stanley and two cabinet members.

Labour and the Conservatives both gained three seats each, meaning the make-up of the council is now very different with 17 Labour seats, 13 Conservative and 11 Liberal Democrat.

Control of the council will now fall with the Labour party, who will take a minority administration.

In the three Hednesford wards, it was Labour’s night – two seats held and one gained from the Liberal Democrats.

Hednesford South and North were held by Labour’s Gordon Ball and Doris Grice and Hednesford Green Heath was taken by the party’s Bob Todd.

First time candidate Jodie Jones won the Rawnsley seat for the Conservatives, which saw Liberal Democrat Pat Ansell one of the six party loses.

Elsewhere in the district, Liberal Democrat cabinet member Chris Collis lost his seat in Heath Hayes and Wimblebury to Labour’s Alison Spicer.

Labour also took seats in Norton Canes, Michael Holder and Hagley, Gordon Brown. Conservative John Bernard held his seat in Hawks Green.

Full results of the winners of district seats are shown below:

Hednesford North: Doris Grice (Lab)

Hednesford South: Gordon Ball (Lab)

Hednesford Green Heath: Bob Todd (Lab)

Rawnsley: Jodie Jones (Con)

Hawks Green: John Bernard (Con)

Heath Hayes and Wimblebury: Alison Spicer (Lab)

Norton Canes: Michael Holder (Lab)

Western Springs: Anne Allt (Con)

Hagley: Gordon Brown (Lab)

Etching Hill and Heath: Ray Jones (Lib)

Cannock West: Paul Snape (Con)

Cannock South: John Kraujalis (Lab)

Cannock North: Dennis Dixon ( Lab)

Cannock East: Janos Toth (Lab)

Breton and Ravenhill: Paul Fisher (Lib)

The results of parish elections and the Alternative Vote referendum will be announced later today.

Gordon Brown took the seat with 493 votes to Stanley’s 358. Third place went to Conservative Philip Emery.

The Liberal Democrats have also lost a seat in Heath Hayes and Wimblebury. Labour’s Alison Spicer won by 75 votes, with Conservative Alan Dean in second and Liberal Democrat cabinet member Chris Collis finishing bottom of the pile.

Mr Stanley arrived at the count briefly, but is believed to have left soon after due to poor health.

One of the key concerns raised by manager Rob Smith is keeping hold of his star players to give Hednesford the chance of automatic promotion this time next year.

Hednesford lost out on penalties to Salisbury City in the play-off final on Bank Holiday Monday (May 2) in front of a huge crowd at Keys Park.

Scott Smith, joint chair of the club’s Supporters Association told Hednesford News: “Obviously there is a sense of so close yet so far hanging around the club.

To be within a couple of minutes of promotion and then to have it taken away from you is never nice and it will certainly be a while before I and many other Hednesford supporters get over it.”

He said manager Rob Smith, assistant Larry Chambers and the players were all very down after the game, but credit is due to the team considering they were ‘against a side which were expected to claim the league title easily back in August of last year.’

“With Salisbury still being a full-time side and training day in day out, it was no wonder that our players tired, but we gave them a really good game and with a bit of luck it could well have been us that had been celebrating at the end,” he said.

Scott explained the club’s focus now will be on re-grouping the team and preparing for the season ahead.

“We now must look to continue the re-building programme which the club has been under both on and off the pitch over the past few months and carry this into the summer and next season.

The support base has grown and we thank all those that have come and supported us over the past season.

Hopefully we can keep a percentage of these at Keys Park for the 2011/12 campaign in order to see the good times return to Hednesford Town FC once again.”

He is standing for district and parish election for Hednesford Pye Green on May 5 and told Hednesford News that the views of local residents and the issues they raise are more important than what political parties think.

His main concern is how money is being spent in the district, which he believes is ‘getting out of hand.’

Mr Turville said: “It is about making sure that residents get value for the rates they pay and that the council spends money wisely.”

He referred to the re-development of the Pye Green Community Centre as a ‘white elephant,’ saying that the expense will be at ‘no benefit to the community.’

Mr Turville believes that the town centre re-development will be hugely beneficial for Hednesford.

“From the very start, my wife Ann and I have been the only two people to support the work. In the early days, others were against it and now they’ve all jumped on the bandwagon.

“It will entice people out of the area to come and shop in the town and the local economy will benefit.”

There are a number of improvements he’d like to see in the area; roads being maintained and work completed properly, street cleaning carried out regularly, better street lighting and crime hotspots being targetted.

“I would like to see the number of houses being built in the area curbed, particularly with the Pye Green Valley development. That will bring a lot of traffic through the Valley and down to the island,” he said.

Mr Turville also suggested that the CCTV provision in the town centre ‘only benefits the businesses and not everyone else’ and that the cost of running it should be passed onto companies like Tesco as part of the re-development.

Also standing in Hednesford Green Heath are the Conservative’s Lisa Pearce, Labour’s Bob Todd and Liberal Democrat Darrell Mawle. It is the intention to interview as many district and parish candidates as possible before polling day on May 5.

He is standing for parish election on May 5 and told Hednesford News that the council needs a voice from all parties, who should be working for the same ‘common cause.’

Mr Bernard is also standing for district election in Hawks Green and is a Staffordshire County councillor for Hednesford and Rawnsley.

The re-development of Hednesford town centre will be good for the area, he believes and he hopes it will bring a bigger footfall into the town.

“What we need to do is stop and look at what Hednesford has and what it needs like specialist traders in Market Street such as a butcher.”

One of the concerns Mr Bernard has is the position of the Hednesford Town Council, which he believes is in the wrong place situated at the Pye Green Community Centre: “It needs to be in the town centre itself so it is more accessible to the whole of the community.”

“The council does good things for the town but I suspect that people would want it in the town centre,” he added.

If elected, Mr Bernard said he would like to encourage parish councillors to hold regular surgeries for constituents as he has done in Heath Hayes and as a county councillor.

“We need to get closer to the community,” he said. “The hardest part is getting information back to local people, as there’s not enough time to knock on all doors.”

He also said that volunteers who do charity work, run local sports clubs or social groups should get more thanks and be rewarded by parish and town councils for the ‘small things’ they do for the community.

Also standing in Hednesford West Hill parish are the Conservative’s Chris Anslow, Graham Burnett and Linda Whitehouse, Labour’s Sheila Cartwright, Doris Grice and Dianne Todd and Liberal Democrat Ken Ansell. It is the intention to interview as many district and parish candidates as possible before polling day on May 5.

Also standing in Hednesford Pye Green parish are Labour’s George Adamson, Alan Pearson and Bob Todd, Conservative’s Wayne Pearce and Claire Wixon, Chase Independent’s Ron and Ann  Turville and Liberal Democrat’s David Thawley and Carol Whysall. It is the intention to interview as many district and parish candidates as possible before polling day on May 5.

After taking the lead twice during the match and looking like the win was theirs; it was Salisbury City who were the eventual winners, 3-2 on penalties.

Kick off at Keys Park (photo: Glyn Berrington)

Both sides had pretty equal chances in the first half, with several corners coming to nothing. The visitors rattled the woodwork on 30 minutes and were again denied by Crane just before half-time.

Salisbury’s late momentum spilled into the opening of the second half, with a free kick on 56 minutes, but it was cleared to safety by the Hednesford defence.

Minutes later, The Pitmen found space and a cross from Patterson was slotted into the back of the net by Wellecomme.

Salisbury had a few chances to equalise with 10 minutes to go, but two corners failed to materialise and a Hednesford corner also failed to extend their lead.

With little more than five minutes left on the clock, it looked as though Hednesford’s goal would be enough to see them through but an equaliser by Wright gave the visitors last minute hope.

Despite late pressure from the home side, extra time was on the cards as full-time finished 1-1.

Wellecomme was subbed on 97 and replaced by Quinn and The Pitmen pressured Salisbury up till half-time, but the scores remain level.

Sub Quinn looked as though he would clinch victory with his goal on 106 minutes but Adelsbury threw Salisbury a second lifeline, finding the equaliser with 2 minutes before the whistle.

With Hednesford so close to promotion and twice denied, penalties seemed an awful way for the game to end.

Their first was scored and Salisbury’s shot went under keeper Crane to keep level pegging. Campion kept the pressure on the visitors scoring Hednesford’s second, and Salisbury’s second missed the target.

Dunkley put his penalty over the bar for The Pitmen and Salisbury scored their third to level again at 2-2. Robinson’s effort was saved by the visitors and they put another past Crane to take the lead 3-2.

It was left to Quinn to find the equaliser to save Hednesford, but he was denied, seeing Salisbury promoted on penalties.

After finishing second in the league with an incredible run of form recently, The Pitmen are bound the feel hard done by. Supporter’s of the club expressed their disappointment on The Pitmen’s Facebook page.

There were quarms too with the match officials, with Glyn Berrington posting: “Abominable refereeing performance; cheating diving away team as we expected.”

Andrew Green agreed, saying on the club’s Facebook page: “The ref let us down today but next year let’s go the extra step and get promoted.”

Optimistic in defeat, Pitmen fan Cara Louise Norwood posted: “Well at least they did their best that’s all that matters. You have a decent team and all you can do is build on that next season.”

With a crowd of 1903, Hednesford Town certainly had great support on the day and will be looking for automatic promotion in next season’s campaign.

Supporter Richard Guest reflected on a brilliant year despite the result, saying: “Thankyou Hednesford Town for such an amazing season. Next season we will go one step further, if, we keep the majority of the squad and the management team together.”

A full match report will be posted on the club’s website in the next few days. If you were at the match and have any thoughts or comments you’d like to share, you can post below or leave a message on our Facebook page.