THE Conservative prospective Parliamentary candidate for Redditch is 37-year- old Karen Lumley.

She is married to Richard and has two children, Elizabeth, 15, and Christopher, 14, who both attend St Augustine's High School.

Before moving to Redditch, Mrs Lumley was the manager of an engineering firm in Wrexham as well as being a district and county councillor.

She was selected to fight the Redditch seat in December 1999 and moved with her family to live in Brockhill in March last year.

She said since moving, she had been learning about the town and meeting as many of the electorate as possible.

Mrs Lumley said: "As a mother of two children, I understand just how important a good education is and have visited every school in the town since being selected.

"I believe that funding of education in this country is plainly unfair and know that a national funding formula will mean better funding for Redditch children.

"I have also, over the past months, spent time talking to pensioners, businesses, health workers, teachers and of course, the youth of Redditch.

"These is so much that needs to be done here and as MP for Redditch, I hope I would have the knowledge, the enthusiasm and the ability to be able to help make Redditch a better place to live in."