A successful intervention at the Huntingdon Constituency meeting after some intensive conciliation efforts and secured their endorsement of the choice of Mark Rainer as candidate.
Then catching up with Diana to realise that problem was that our downstairs central heating valve had failed and had to be replaced but at least I was there in the afternoon so as show the fitter where the under-floor installations were.
The bid to sort out our neighbouring LibDem colleagues continued with meetings in the evening, but most of the day was clear for me apart from the host of telephone calls to and fro. I was late up and later still out with Sam and so let Diana go out shopping on her own whilst I got my chores out of the way.
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Some time on my desk and journal but still lots to do as I drove over to Hilton to interview candidate Mark Rainer and partner Peggy Batt to get biographical information for his first election leaflet. Out with Sam again and then the meal with the family so as to get over to St Ives again for another meeting I had organised for the key protagonists.
I had taken a couple of photographs of the couple earlier and now these were developed and turned out all right. I had arranged to arrive early and first chatted with Mark and Peggy and then got Stuart Littlewood and Ron Heinrich involved so as to involve the four of them in a by-election planning meeting. This was a difficult affair but, with some strong chairmanship from me, we made good progress and they seemed to accept the division of responsibilities that I had organised.
We struggled a bit with the leaflet format, but I got them there in the end. We went for a full leaflet with candidates’ letter, biography, district group policies and voting information all rolled into one. This somewhat uses all our information in one go but then at least we are then in a position to canvas properly from day one. I had held our meeting in a small side room and so was able to keep all the other people at bay until the start of the Huntingdon Constituency Party meeting that followed. I
gave them a brief and succinct account of the organisers meeting and secured their endorsement of the choice of Mark Rainer as candidate and got them to vote up to a maximum of £250 constituency funding for the campaign as the finances of St Ives branch were in some difficulty. I left their meeting to carry on with other business and had a long chat to Peggy on the way out about our election techniques and the content of the campaign manual so as to ensure that she was happy as beforehand she was at daggers drawn with Ron Heinrich.
Home to find Diana still up and then to bed. Di had been unhappy with me earlier today when I had come back late for lunch time and not been there for the gas repair man so that she could go to "Keep Fit". It will now cost me a lunch out with her tomorrow. The problem was that our downstairs central heating valve had failed and had to be replaced but at least I was there in the afternoon so as show the fitter where the under-floor installations were.