The comfortable Eaton Ford election success. our candidate John Scott winning by 699 votes to 384 against a very large Tory majority last time.
This after me chivvying, organising and encouraging helpers all day. Telling, running, logging and knocking up to near perfection.
We wrote the victory release on the theme of "LibDems win over "safe" Tory seat" and then faxed it for overnight consumption by the radio stations.
I knew that today was going to be hectic and therefore got out early with Sam and gave him as long a walk as I could. Then the car loaded and off to check first the Eaton Ford polling station and it was just as well as our first teller, Cllr Chris Colbert, was a little late from delivering her batch of early morning leaflets. I had to arrange for some chairs for the tellers but could not get them inside in the warm and light which created some problems for later.
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I chatted to the opposition candidate, Alan Sharpe, for the Tories and then made off for the committee room where I set up my computer in the conservatory to save too many of the helpers from walking all over our host's carpet! Early work arranging for conversion letters to be delivered to Labour supporters, getting the necessary canvas cards and information back to the committee room from Sally's house and then starting the knock-up gently with helpers visiting our supporters who were pensioners and ushering them to the polling station in the morning sunshine.
The knocking-up started in earnest after lunchtime but I was short of people to help with many of the helpers only arriving after dark and work by which time electors were more reluctant to get out. My next problem was the task of getting the numbers back from the polling station which was only just walkable for the range of infirm people that I seemed to have available! This looked up when Sandie arrived with her bicycle and just did the round trips on a continuous basis until close of poll. Gradually more volunteers arrived to knock-up and soon I had completed one circuit of all of the houses and then did a few a second time before close of poll.
Again, I ran up against the problem of helpers who were not fit and tired easily so that they were taking as many breaks as they were knocking-up sessions and creating a veritable rugby-scrum in the computer room and asking all manner of questions that could easily have waited until after polling-day. Then few of them had brought a torch that they needed in the darkness of a February night. Even so, our organisation was streets ahead of the Tories who seemed to have few tellers, either no committee room organisation or a poorly-run one and were knocking-up by a process of telephone calls to previous supporters to get them out.
The imbalance of activists was highlighted at the count later on where our Liberal Democrats out-numbered the other party helpers by six to one and we were rewarded by a good result, our candidate John Scott winning by 699 votes to 384 against a very large Tory majority last time. I had got Percy Meyer and John Roscoe writing a press release earlier and faxing it to the radio stations and now we were ready with the result and so Percy came back to The Hayling View with me whilst we wrote the victory release on the theme of "LibDems win over "safe" Tory seat" and then faxed it for overnight consumption by the radio stations. A good but tiring day and was pleased that Debbie had walked and fed Sam for me at teatime.