Another organising day as Election Day was almost upon us. As well as our local team, John Matthewman, our Cambridge systems consultant, was also helping and lending us hardware and now we had our committee rooms planned, staffed and ready for polling day action! Sally was a real treasure in coming round and helping me
By now the election was almost upon us and the hectic sequence of organisational moves had begun. The Priory Ward candidates were confident and starting to ease up in their campaign, reckoning that they had done enough canvassing and could now concentrate on election day. John Davidson had tried to print out the Shuttleworth’s and had run into difficulty; as the stationery was of the wrong sort. I had been in touch with John Matthewman, our Cambridge systems consultant, and he undertook to get us some of the requisite paper, to also lend us a printer and then to provide me with his copy of the EARS new release and manual so that we could complete our preparations for polling day.
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The "Please Vote today" leaflets were brought from Cambridge and delivered to the two organising centres in Priory Park and Eaton Socon, together with the final list of supporters from the computers that would form the basis for their delivery. Sandy Giles and Sally Guinee had arranged their distribution. I was now also pre-occupied with the final preparation of the organisational manual for the many helpers due to take part on Polling Day and was also compiling a list of their names and functions so that the right things could get to the right people. Sally was a real treasure in coming round and helping me with this task and Percy was also here as we copied and bound them for completion. As the afternoon turned into evening, there came cries for help from the Eaton Socon centre as Derek Giles and others had gone out and left no cards for the last remaining canvassers to use!
I had to get Sue Sutton, our parliamentary candidate to intervene whilst I finished the briefs and got ready to take them across. I then held the volunteers behind and presented them with the full information about what was expected of the on the day. Keith Sieler agreed to run one of the committee rooms and, together with Percy Meyer, would drop by on Peter While on the way home to brief him as well. I was left with just a few briefs to deliver as Sally had already taken the rest round to the Priory Park people of which her father, Peter Stanley, (assisted by Wally Wren) had agreed to run the committee room there. Late contact with John Davidson and then home to answer a few telephone calls.