Chairman's Newsletter Summer 2009
1. European Elections: We had an excellent result in Christchurch, gaining 29.5% of the vote. The Tories beat us with 34%; Labour were pushed into 5th place. Nationally, we came SECOND only to the Tories, beating Labour into 3rd place. We ended up with 13 MEPs.
2. Local County Council Elections. Allan Tallett got 21.2% in St Leonards & St Ives; David Butt got 17% in West Moors; Simon Boyd got 17.9% in Burton Grange; Rollo Reid got 17.15% in Christchurch Central. Ric Johnson got 29.42% in Commons. Philip Glover got 25% in Highcliffe and Walkford. Brian Hogger got 16.39% in Mudeford and Highcliffe. John and David Baxter got 28% in Ferndown. 6 second places, 2 third places. No seats, but they will come.
3. Portfield by election. Ric Johnson, standing for the first time, got 15% of the vote; there was a huge effort by the Tories and Liberal ‘Democrats’ for the control of this ward and a very low turnout due to poor weather later in the day. More organisation and help would have made us do better, but our efforts still counted. Thank you, Ric and Anne.
4. Well done, all of the candidates, leafleters, workers, poster displayers; and thank you very much, all the Christchurch People who entrusted us with their vote. We are no longer a fringe, but a power to be reckoned with.
5. UKIP has a committee which deals with the South West of the Country and is supposed to be helpful in the forthcoming election. We did ask for volunteers to stand for this committee, but no-one could make it. As it is important that we make and keep close links with the Party, someone had to do it, and that someone turned out to be Rollo Reid. I have therefore attended the inaugural meeting and from now on there will be monthly meetings in Devon. I will let you know if anything of value occurs.
6. Now for the important bit: There is a General Election coming soon. Our Prospective Parliamentary Candidate is Rollo Reid. He is a director in Reidsteel, a local firm that employs 110 people, who have won the Queen’s Award for Export 4 times. Rollo has had a hand in a fair proportion of this export work, travelling to more than 130 countries (none of them as nice as Christchurch) and designing many aircraft hangars, bridges, stadiums and protective structures for our troops and allies in various war zones. Before that he was a Captain in the Royal Engineers.
7. We are going to get nowhere until we start taking votes, then seats, from the main quisling parties. How are we going to maintain the momentum of the European Election performance, and change this into votes and seats?
a. I think our leaflets were effective, and that we need to send round 4 times 46000 of them, 4 leaflets to every home in the constituency. Sending these costs about £10,000. Currently we have £2500. Luckily for us, we have received a donation from a generous donor, Mike Reid of Reidsteel. And anything more we can raise will strengthen us further.
b. I think our “VOTE UKIP’’ garden posters were eye catching. We distributed 50 of these for the European Elections. But we need more. We therefore would ask people to volunteer to have these posters in their gardens. Of course the “VOTE UKIP” posters we used for the previous elections are still usable, and we hope all the people who displayed them last time will do them again.
c. We have many leaflets from Head Office; and we have Dorset News to distribute. Every bit of exposure is going to help. Volunteers do not have to do too many to be a great help: just your own road, or close; just an area near your home. Just 50; or 100; or how many you can manage.
d. Closer to the election, we will want people to actually canvass for us, please. This is best done in pairs, or couples. The idea here is to knock on doors, and to encourage people to vote for us. I do not know the best technique, but just to show people that we are sound, reasonable folk is probably the best way. We do want to avoid the image of loonies, of racists, of bigots, of little Englanders, of xenophobes, of extremists. We are nice plain people who value our country, our democracy and our freedom.
8. As always, we need money to help with expenses. Here are some ideas:
a. A cheque is always welcome
b. Better than a cheque, a standing order for a small amount give a steady income without too much pain at one time. I could suggest a standing order, for say £5 every quarter.
c. Many charities and the like get a big proportion of their funds from legacies. I hope this turns out not to help in this next election; but if you could make a small legacy, it would be gratefully received. If you would like help we could provide this.
9. Enclosed is a form, on which you could volunteer to help with a poster in your garden; with delivery of a few (or a lot) of leaflets; with a donation or a standing order or a legacy. Please fill it in and send it back in the freepost envelope.
10. Please stick the stickers where they will be seen: on your car? Or your front door or gate?
11. I do hope you can help. I can assure you that we, the committee, will do our damndest to get elected and to strengthen the Out Of EU cause.
Yours Sincerely,
Rollo Reid.