Epsom and Ewell Labour Party
End of year review 2019
End of year update from Epsom & Ewell CLP chair Dec 2019
Thanks to those who came to our summer BBQ to remember Jo Cox MP; if you didn’t manage it this year, you are very welcome next year; we had a lovely afternoon.
The Jo Cox foundation supports The Great Get Together weekend which will take place again on 19-21 June 2020, which would have been Jo’s 46th birthday. This will be the fourth time that thousands of people up and down the country has got together to celebrate kindness, community, respect and the values we share. https://www.greatgettogether.org/
Purely for fundraising reasons you understand, a few of us went to Glastonbury music festival to work with the Workers’ Beer Company. We worked a six-hour shift in the bar each day for five days, which was tiring, but the rest of the time was ours to enjoy. Thoroughly recommended, and we raised over £1,000 for our funds. We will try to do it again next year, so if you are interested in joining in, let me know.
Several other members went to the Tolpuddle Martyrs festival near Dorchester. This remarkable little village is where in 1884 some farmworkers formed a trade union, which was lawful, but they were arrested and sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia for taking an oath of secrecy. There was a massive protest across the country, and they were eventually pardoned. Every year they are remembered with a weekend of political debate, education, film and live music. https://www.tolpuddlemartyrs.org.uk/festival
Those of us who feel strongly about these things, and have time, have also been to London on marches and rallies to: oppose trump, support Extinction rebellion, and oppose Brexit and campaign for a People’s Vote (now Labour policy). Again; great fun, and lovely to be surrounded by a mix of like-minded people.
August is a holiday month, then in early September we took a stand at a community event in Hook Road because other political parties are there as part of the community.
Some of us went to the Labour Conference in Brighton, and our delegates Debbie Monksfield and Kevin Davies fed back to an all member meeting the following week. Kevin gave an excellent presentation and we learnt a lot about the role of a delegate and how conference functions. If you’ve never been, it is quite stimulating and busy! Next year the conference is in Liverpool from Sat 19th September to Wed 23rd September, which means travelling up on Friday. Owing to party rules we will need two women delegates and a youth delegate (under 27yrs) this time. Members who are interested need to actively engage with Epsom & Ewell CLP on all our campaigning activities and be prepared to take a few days off work to go to Liverpool next September. We will finalise our delegates next May.
After conference we had a stall in Epsom as part of a National Campaign day highlighting decisions made at conference. It is always useful for members to be on the stalls to give out leaflets and talk with the residents. Do come along next time.
In October we held a Cheese and Wine social event, which raised much needed £330.
From November we are once again campaigning in a General Election; the third in three years, and totally unnecessary. So much for fixed term parliaments! As this letter is being distributed by the scouts, I’m not sure whether it will arrive before or after the result.
We are however going ahead with our Christmas Meal at the Epsom Club on Wednesday December 18th 7pm, so it is worth seeing if we have any spare places: £25.00 per person.
Throughout the year we’ve met for our regular first Fridays at the Rifleman pub.
Many members tell us that they are not receiving the weekly email, and so they don’t know about events and meetings. These emails are sent en masse through the Labour party membership system and we know that 18% of you have unsubscribed or the email has bounced, and many more of you do not realise you have received it:
- please check there is a current email address on your membership details
- have you checked your SPAM folder for emails from ros godson or rob geleit or Organise, and then marked them from safe senders
- maybe you have set your SPAM filters to reject all bulk emails
- is your email box full?
- maybe you have unsubscribed from all emails from the Labour party.
We really try to be fully inclusive and we do value all members and hope that you are able to join in activities and help turn Epsom constituency RED! Any ideas you have to promote this gratefully received. We put most events on Facebook as well.
Remember, if you are feeling guilty that you haven’t been able to get involved so far, then we are happy to accept donations in lieu: Our bank details are –
- The Co-operative bank
- Sort code 08-90-79
- Account number: 58137488
- Account name: Epsom & Ewell Const. Labour Party
Epsom needs Labour; Labour needs you!
Ros Godson, Chair E&E CLP
mob: 07919 841978
twitter: @rosgodson @ee_labour
Email: rosalindgodson@yahoo.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/EpsomEwellLabour/