My week last week started with a visit to Jersey to meet local politicians and to attend their Liberation Day celebrations.

Whilst German forces surrendered on the May 8, 1945 in Europe, it was not until May 9, 1945 that the HMS Beagle steamed from Plymouth to Jersey to accept the official surrender of the German troops on the island and the Union flag was raised on the flagstaff of the Pomme d’Or Hotel.

As part of the celebrations the flag is raised every May 9 by people dressed in uniforms of the time as part of a re-enactment. During the day I was able to meet with many local politicians and on this occasion the German ambassador to the UK Miguel Berger who also attended the event.

It was good to be able to discuss the issues facing the island in my role as the Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group.

I travelled on to London on Wednesday to attend a number of meetings in Parliament. This included attending important meetings about the Commonwealth and also on our relation between Australia and New Zealand.

On Friday, back in the constituency, amongst other meetings I also attended a meeting with my Cornish Parliamentary colleagues and Cornwall Council. I was able to raise a number of issues that had been raised with me and hopefully we will be able to take things forward together for the good of our area.

On Saturday it was good to be out knocking on doors again. This week I was out in Liskeard and I would like to thank the members of the association who came out and helped me which included local Liskeard Councillors Richard Dorling and Julian Smith.

During last week I received an update on the refit of Torpoint ferry PLYM II. The update said that the ferry left Torpoint on Friday, May 5, for the six-hour journey to the dry dock facilities at A & P Falmouth where the refit is being carried out.

Having arrived safely later that day, the ferry is now docked in No 3 dock at A & P Falmouth’s facility. Work has been progressing in all areas, including painting preparations, the removal of chain sheaves for re-build, and the inspection of tanks and void spaces.

The ramps will be lifted off to allow repairs and painting of the structure, together with an inspection, and where required, replacement of the hinges.

The report said that the majority of maintenance is carried out while the vessels are afloat or during off peak periods while an individual vessel is not on scheduled service, some maintenance activities have to be carried out during refits in dry dock conditions.

A mandatory dry docking will allow a survey of the underwater hull to ensure the material state is sufficient to safely last a further five years.

Maintenance includes replacing systems and equipment that are becoming obsolete or have reached end of life, including chainwheel drive couplings and bearings, together with propulsion motor electronic drive components.

The vessel will be painted both above and below the waterline. I remember doing similar when helping my late husband Neal with this maintenance on his fishing boat at Toms boatyard in Polruan and Mashfords boatyard at Cremyll.