My journey to becoming a councillor in the London Borough of Hounslow began not in the council chamber, but at the old Civic Centre on Lampton Road. It was early 1995 when I was brought there to meet my social worker for the first time. Just weeks earlier, I had been removed from my family home and taken into care after teachers raised concerns about my wellbeing. At the time, I was still new to the country, having arrived from Africa less than two years before. I knew very little English, and even less about the world I had just entered.
My social worker, Barbara, was most concerned about my schooling. I remember reassuring her—probably in broken English—that she needn’t worry. I loved school. Not because I was especially academic, but because I found joy in connecting with people and learning about them. The Heathland School in Hounslow became my first real home in Britain, the first institution I felt truly part of.
It was there, in January 1994, that I first met Mr Geoffrey Samuel—my headteacher. He was kind, softly spoken, and immaculately dressed. Communicating with me must have been a challenge, but he never let that show. His calm manner and quiet determination created an environment where I could learn, grow, and belong. Under his watchful eye, I learned quickly—not just the language, but also the values that would shape the rest of my life.
To this day, I am a stickler for manners, respect, and getting involved in community life—habits I trace directly back to Mr Samuel. His influence stayed with me long after I left school. Decades before I was ever elected, he had already blazed a trail in local public service. First elected as a councillor in 1957, he later became the founding headteacher of The Heathland School in 1973. After retiring from education in the late 1990s, he returned to politics and continued serving as councillor in the neighbouring Richmond Borough Council representing the Hampton ward, a patch loved and cared for so deeply until his passing in November 2023.
Last week, we unveiled a bench in his memory at Radnor Gardens, overlooking the River Thames. His widow, Lona—who was also my teacher at Heathland—joined us for the ceremony. Sitting there with friends, I found myself reflecting on how much he had shaped my journey, and how many others like me he quietly inspired along the way.
Geoffrey Samuel went into public life not for power or recognition, but out of service—to be a torch for others, to help people see the best in themselves. I often wonder what he would make of the recent drama within the local Labour Group—the factional disputes, the behind-the-scenes battles for position. I suspect he would have disapproved. For Mr Samuel, power was never an end in itself; it was a means to do good, to uplift others, to leave one’s community stronger than one found it.
He believed that public servants should be exactly that—servants of the public. His example reminds us that decency, humility, and purpose are what truly sustain a life in service. Those of us who follow in his footsteps as his former pupils and as local public servants including those in the Hounslow Labour Party owe it to his legacy to live up to that standard. I will certainly try.