“I just want them to realise what they've got”

What Steven asked Ron Sands, independent councillor for Hoo St Werburgh and High Halstow

Ron Sands is an independent councillor for Hoo St Werburgh and High Halstow, having first been elected to the old Peninsula ward in 2019. Steven went to the cafe at Deangate Ridge to talk to Cllr Sands about his time in the army, being a candidate for the English Democrats, why he found electoral success as an independent, and whether any more councillors will join the Independent Group.

Cllr Ron Sands

Where were you born?
I was born in Hoo. I was born at Toll Barn Farm, which is now Angel Farm.

Were your parents from the area?
My mother was born in Hoo, and my grandmother was born in Hoo. My dad comes from Aylesford.

What jobs did they do?
My dad was a proud farm labourer, very left wing. Then he fell out with local landowners and worked for Southern Rail. My mum brought up five kids and then went to work in a fish and chip shop.

How did you find school?
I didn't enjoy it. I was in a good grade educationally, I suppose, but I didn't enjoy school very much. In fact, I think I bunked school for nearly a whole term in the third year, but my career was mapped out for me about the age of 10. I knew what I wanted to do, and schooling wasn’t for me. I was going to be a soldier.

Do you remember what it was that made that such a solid idea in your head?
Yeah, it's nothing flash, really. I used to go to Chattenden a lot. I had some friends there, and the soldiers were all over there, of course, and they always seemed to be having a wonderful time. You know, they played a lot of football, they drove big trucks, and I thought, yeah. My two brothers had worked at Berry Wiggins. My dad was on the Southern Rail, and I didn’t want to do any of those things. I think I wanted to leave Hoo for whatever reason. I think you get a bit of wanderlust, but I'd always wanted to be a squaddie.

What age did you leave school?
I left school at 15 and, two months after, went straight into the army. I became a junior leader. We were earmarked for great things in the army, and I loved it. It was all I expected it to be. We meet at breakfast clubs here (Deangate Café) and most squaddies will tell you that they only ever remember the good things now. You know, there's a lot of bad things. But of course, as you get older, the bad things don't matter anymore. I loved it.

Did you see the world?
I did Northern Ireland. I still laugh now because they call it the Northern Ireland Troubles. It was more than a trouble, I can assure you. That frightened me a great deal. I have no qualms telling people I got quite scared out there. I was seconded to the Americans for the last two years of my Army career. The Cold War was still on. We were guarding the East/West border, up in a place called Tottendorf. I was one of two Brits, and all the rest were Americans. I was just an NCO (non-commissioned officer) working as a clerk. I spent most of my time typing up orders, sending people on courses. The first time the regiment went to Northern Ireland, I was the rear party that looked after the families. I wasn't a hero. I never wanted to be. There's lots of heroes in graveyards, and we thank them now. But...

You never fired a gun in anger?
No. I carried a gun in anger in Northern Ireland. Never used it. I have to say there were times I wished I had. That was the times when it was really rough out there. You were spat upon and stoned and stuff like that. I always found it hard because we were, 19 years of age, and you have to have a lot of self-control in those situations. That's the discipline of it all because normally, a 19-year-old on the streets of Chatham or someplace, you'd react, but here you're going to take it and wipe it off. It was a scary time for me.

What age did you leave the army?
God, 23. My regiment were going back to Northern Ireland. I didn't want to go. The first time they went back, I applied for a course and got it, so I didn't go there. The second time, I applied unsuccessfully for a course. I didn't want to do it. I think by that time, I thought I'd changed. I'd seen it, and I'd done the Berlin bit and all that sort of thing.

What was your first full-time job after the army?
Post office. I was a postal officer in charge of the return letter branch. I don't know if they still have them now. We used to sit in an office and all the letters that couldn't be delivered, we would open them, look for an address and send them back. I did a lot of my basic training in Somerset. I'd gone back there, I had some mates down there. The army resettled me into the post office. It probably only lasted six months. It was a very dull job looking for people's mail. I think a lot of military people when they first come out, are a little lost because they are used to so much structure. When they come out, some people take to it like a duck to water, and other people think, no one's told them when breakfast is that type of scenario. I had lots of different jobs after that.

What brought you back to Medway?
My dad. My dad was knocked down in a hit-and-run accident, and he was in a coma. I was 27ish.

What career did you have then?
I was a stock control clerk. I worked nights. I worked nights for ten years purely because I'd met my partner, Dawn. We were saving for a house, and she worked, and I worked as anybody does these days. I had a few jobs. I became self-employed. I was a wholesaler for a time with an army buddy which didn't particularly work out well. Army buddies and business buddies are probably different. I was a van driver for JCB and ended up as a retail parts manager with 10 depots, so someone saw something.

What political parties have you been a member of?
Woah. Well, I was an English Democrat in 2010. I stood in a General Election for them against Mark Reckless and Teresa Murray.

For those people who won't be aware because you don't hear about them anymore, who were the English Democrats?
Well, the English Democrats I joined were campaigning for an English Parliament. Because the Scots had their own Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly, Welsh Assembly, us English haven't got anything. It struck a chord with me at the time, and I stood in the General Election. I came fourth, I got 2,100 votes. Which is not bad for a nobody, to be honest. Then it started to drift. We had a good local English Democrat party in Medway. There were four of us, and we were very active and very good. I stood in a couple of council elections in River ward. I remember that humiliation, 33 votes, but it’s a learning curve.
It lost its way. It started being taken over by a lot of ex-BNP members. I fell out big time with the deputy chair. Strange story, but their vice chair, a year after I left, was sent to jail for election fraud because he kept making up names of people who were standing in it. It's a well-known story locally. He had this terrible attitude against veterans, and we had a massive argument and I left.