Helen Flynn
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Biography
http://www.libdems.org.uk/helen_flynn
Helen Flynn
Harrogate and Knaresborough
A desire for a greater sense of community and a fairer society to sustain us in the face of local, national and global challenges prompted Helen to join the Lib Dems and subsequently to seek a career as an MP. To be a voice for local citizens and a catalyst for change, for her, would be the highest accolade.
Helen has been married to Peter, a local businessman and parish councilor, for 25 years and has two sons, Joel and Ethan. The daughter of a local civil servant and a secretary for the local authority, she was born in Wakefield, West Yorks, and attended a direct grant school. She went on to study for four years at Cambridge University. Aside from two years working in New York, USA, she lived in Hertfordshire for 20 years before returning to the north in 2006.
Full-time employment has included working in publishing as a commissioning editor of children's books (1985-1991), and setting up and running her own retail and mail order business in St Albans (1991-1997). The birth of Joel (1996) prompted a re-evaluation of priorities. The sale of her business followed in 1997 and marked the beginning of a steady engagement with voluntary community work.
Most of her community work has seen wide-ranging roles in education from managing the local playgroup, becoming a founder trustee of the first specialist school for Autism in Herts, and being elected to a variety of governor roles at schools and FE Colleges in Herts and North Yorkshire. Her passion for education endures and she is the Vice Chair of the Lib Dem Education Association, and writes regularly on issues connected with national education policy. Helen was elected to Harrogate Borough Council in 2012 and is an elected member of the North Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel and also of the North Yorkshire Schools Forum. She also chairs a government-funded, community-led transport initiative, the Dales Integrated Transport Allicance, which aims to promote sustainable travel in rural areas.