British Democracy Forum - View Single Post

Mikeuk · 11-09-2008, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Little Englander (sour)

Like I said, a psuedo Scot pretending to be British/English.
Also, as I said earlier, Paulsgrove is now known as Port Solent North.

So which of these is you?

Case Study - Hampshire County - "Model" Branch

Hampshire County
- English Democrats Branch

Hampshire branch of the English Democrats took several attempts to get underway. Originally 3 members tried to set up a branch, George Herbert, David Knight and another member this failed to develope when the third member left the Committee.

After 8 months of George and David trying to raise interest within the Hampshire membership a third member joined the committee (Name not published). Although this gave the committee a quorum and allowed Hampshire to start to pursue branch activities, it was not until Pat Harris joined as the 4th member and brought with him a number of new members, that the branch finally began to work.

Centred around Portsmouth where most of the active Hampshire members live, the Hampshire branch was one of the first to set up their own bank account (bank accounts are now set up for County Branches). This went a long way to helping the branch get active. Originally our only funds were donations that were placed in the account by ourselves as no other revenue was opened to us. We benefited greatly from the decision made by the National Council to allow newly recruited membership fees to go to the local branch, an NC commitment to local branches. This allowed us to collect local money to be used locally for election leaflet expenditure etc. Hampshire is run by its committee, that was elected by the attending members of the first meeting. David Knight as Chairman, George Herbert as Treasurer, Pat Harris as Secretary and another committee member (name not published) as Press Officer and membership. Other members who regularly serve on the committee are Bob Shaw and Clive Percy with further members attending on occasions. Minutes of Hampshire meeting are made available to the South East Area Chairman - Steven Uncles and the National Council - Robin Tilbrook, as part of the parties “bottom upwards” philosophy. Hampshire is run by its members, for its members without interference from National Council, this is done because the committee and the membership hold dear the party philosophies and therefore are not trying to create a separate party but are the local representatives of the English Democrats Party.

David Knight (Chairman)

David was born and bred in Portsmouth and is passionate about England. David was looking to start a political party when he was frustrated with the fact that no one was addressing the problems cause by devolution. When he found the English Democrats Party it was exactly how he envisaged the party he wanted. David joined and has been active every since. David has stood in 3 elections and is currently standing in another by election. David was a member of the National Council for a while before stepping down due inorder to focus attention on Hampshire, and his role as Deputy Area Chairman - South East England.

George Herbert (Treasurer)

George originally held the position of the Chairman of the Hampshire Branch. George switched to treasurer and set up the original Hampshire bank account, which was no easy process. George has stood in 2 council elections for the English Democrats. George is a retired civil servant.

Pat Harris (Secretary)

Pat is retired from the royal navy. Pat is passionate about Englandand has worked tirelessly on every election campaign since becoming a member. Pat is our unofficial campaign manager and is the organisation behind the Hampshire Branch. Pat also stood in the Parish council election of May 2007 and was elected and currently sits on the parish council where he recently defended the flying of the St George cross from council buildings.

Bob Shaw

Bob is also ex navy and currently works in industry. Bob has worked on several previous campaign and is currently standing in a by election in Gosport.

Clive Percy

Clive is also ex navy and stood recently in the May 2007 elections gaining the best first time result of the party locally.

Hampshire members have been very active when it comes to council elections and by elections. Since the new Hampshire branch has been formed we have managed to stand candidates in both council elections and by-elections. Our first was a by election in one of the cities northern wards, which is a staunchly conservative area. We did not win but had introduced ourselves to the voters of Portsmouth and made the other parties aware of our existence. During the elections of the following May we stood two candidates, one in the Copnor ward of Portsmouth city council and one in the neighbouring council in Havant. In Copnor, with the conservatives having a runaway victory we managed to only miss second place by 150 votes. In Havant our candidate came third beating the Labour candidate into fourth place, both result meant that people started to take note. The following year we stood candidates in Portsmouth and Havant again, this time however we managed 2 candidates in Havant and covered 10 of the 14 wards in Portsmouth to the surprise of all of the other parties. We managed to increase our vote in both of the wards we had stood in before and received an acceptable number of votes in first time wards. We are currently standing candidates in by elections, one in Gosport (another neighbouring council of Portsmouth) and one in the Portsmouth ward of Fratton.