SHE may only be ten months old, but little Cinderella Lingwood has been to more council meetings in that time than some of the elected members, writes Mark Templeton.

Baby Cinderella accompanies her mum, Green councillor Sushila Dhall, any time she can't get a babysitter.

That means the budding baby politician has notched up 40 meetings at an average one a week.

Sushila can usually rely on friends or her partner, transport researcher Patrick Lingwood, to look after the baby, but sometimes the irregular hours make it impossible and Cinderella gets to go to the Hall - that's County Hall. Proud mum Sushila, who represents the Oxford Central ward on the county council, says: "She's adapted really well to the council chamber. I try to make sure she's asleep when we arrive but when she does wake up she doesn't cry, because she realises where she is and just sits around and listens to the debates.

"It's a lot of meetings for a young child to go to but she seems to enjoy them. It's almost like a second home to her now."

And if she was paid an attendance allowance for meetings, like the councillors, her piggy bank would be overflowing: at an annual basic of £823, plus £30.90 per committee, she'd have £1,236!

*Cinderella's latest meeting was one to mark children's rights.

Story date: Saturday 20 November

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.