David A Broad
A personal story
More than 40 years, told day by day
An active and warm day for my delayed recovery with Sam impressing Della who joined Diana and I for a trip to St Neots. Meeting Debbie outside The Lewis Hall by arrangement.
She was in her games kit and we had come to see her run 1500 metres as practice for next week's sports day.
The Cambridge Evening News did us proud with a full front page covering our by-election victory story including a full colour picture entitled "No end to Major's misery".
The Liberal Democrats also won the Eastleigh Parliamentary By-Election from the Tories in a landslide
We were in bed quite early last night and I appreciated the long rest accordingly. The only problem was that we had the bedclothes off as it had been very warm and I was chilly this morning as a result.
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The Hemingford Abbots & Hilton Count at The St Ivo Centre, where I organised the sampling by our counting agents and found that we had won 53% of Hemingford Abbots and 58% of Hilton to give a very satisfying overall result of Mark Rainer 486, Linda Horner 378, and a winning majority for us of 108! publicity and recovery.
I had already composed and faxed a press release to papers and radio stations first thing, pre-warning them of an evolving news story and now we drove back to The Hayling View to compose and fax another with the result.
We got radio interviews for Mark on Radio Cambridgeshire and Chiltern Radio and then coverage on the day from the Cambridge Evening News with the theme of the Tories losing one of their safest seats in John Major's own back yard and the story ran on news bulletins all day.
Only after that would I engage with Derek and Sandy Giles about Ross McKay’s behaviour
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Walking Sam before and after managing our St Ives troops into battle for the Hemingford Abbots & Hilton By-election. This involved early morning deliveries and explaining the operation and use of Ears to the St Ives helpers and working late to collect my equipment and to correlate the statistics and prepare things against the morning before I could afford to go to bed.
We had a fairly mild but quite showery and wet day but by the end of it, by my figures, we had got out over 80% of our vote and over 70% of the electorate as a whole.
Another full day of activity as I marched our St Ives area troops into battle in a very tight campaign for polling day. It started with the die-hards getting up early to deliver reminders to all our supporters before the polls opened at 7.00am.
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Preparations continued for this eve of by-election as I delivered leaflets to Peggy in Hilton and then set up my 4/86 system in Hemingford Abbots where the resident had to be reassured.
Then rather late on to the St Neots Public Meeting to participate in the controversial Priory Lane traffic debate where Ross McKay made an outburst and insulted the shopkeepers and Wiggly brought news of the calling of a by-election in Eynesbury for July
Most of this morning working at home on my part of the election organisation and liaising with the other key people to make sure arrangements were in hand. It was the arrival of the "Please Vote Today" leaflets that was the final part of the jigsaw and, after lunch, I took these across to Hilton so that Peggy could bundle them up into deliveries for sending round to early morning helpers.
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The weather started misty and then continued brighter until the sun came through and it got quite warm as I left Sam at home after his walk and took Diana to Cambridge to see my parents-in-law. T
he evening working on election preparations and political work as Wiggly came round with the Hilton Vote Today leaflets and returned my 4/86 for me to use on polling day.
Another poor night. I do not know why I was not sleeping so well but as likely reasons the nights are quite warm, and I also had a lot on my mind at the time. Just like yesterday, the weather started misty and then continued brighter until the sun came through and it got quite warm.
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50th anniversary memorials to the sacrifices of our troops commemorated for "D-Day", as Her Majesty The Queen joined French President Francois Mitterrand also paid their respects. The weather was glorious here this evening but raining in Normandy.
I walked Sam first thing and noted that the barbed wire fence into Little Meadow had been re-erected (and pulled down again) and then defended my shooting to my neighbour after she found an injured Jackdaw.
I got over to Hilton for some canvassing this evening and the outcome is far too close for my liking.
It was a sad and poignant day as the 50th anniversary was marked for the passing of those involved in the strategic landing of Allied troops in Normandy. In this vital battle, a bridgehead was established for the start of the re-occupation of Europe and the defeat of Adolph Hitler.
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