Almost all our campaigns are very local. Many of our campaigns have been very successful. For example, it was our campaigning which lead to Earlsfield Station Bridge being cleaned; it was our campaigning which helped secure a future for the Friends of St George’s Hospital’s shop. We are well known in the Conservative Party as a highly effective campaigning organisation and recently won a campaigning award from David Cameron (see here).
All of it relies upon the help of local people. You do not have to be a member of the Conservative Party to help out with campaigning. We always welcome support from anyone in the community. You can find out more about the issues that Mark has been campaigning on here.
Deliveries:
A huge part of what we do involves communicating with voters. Sometimes we are distributing leaflets to tell local people what we are up to. This is very important because voters often complain that they only hear from political parties at election time. Given that we are working hard for people all year round we do need to let people know all year round that we are working for them.
Often we are distributing letters with surveys to ask people’s views on matters of local concern. This is vital to keep us fully up to date with people’s latest concerns and to ensure we are focusing on their concerns.
Both rely heavily on local people willing to deliver for us. We have two types of people who deliver for us.
Firstly, we have people who are willing to deliver one or two streets local to them about once a month. If you would like to help out here then please e-mail our membership co-ordinator, Margaret Heriot at membership@wandsworthconservatives.com
Secondly, we have people who are willing to come and join with a bigger group somewhere in the constituency on Sunday mornings. This is a very social group and we will usually have a drink and sometimes some lunch in a local pub afterwards. If you would like to join this group then please email Mark Clarke at mark@markclarke.net
Talking to voters:
We are out campaigning very regularly on local issues. Sometimes we are conducting general residents surveys, sometimes we are conducting petitions on local issues. Most Monday evenings we are out conducting residents surveys as well as most Saturday mornings. We know that talking to voters can be a little intimidating at first so we always pair new people up with someone experienced when they start so that they are trained up in how to do it.
We always go down to the pub afterwards for a few thank you drinks.
If you would like to stay informed about either sessions then please our agent, Rob Morritt on agent@wandsworthconservatives.com
Station Leafletting:
Many of our voters are young professionals who have irregular work patterns and so we do lots of station leafleting. This suits many of our campaigners too who have their own busy lives. If you are interested in helping out occasionally (around once a month) at your local station one morning before you get on the train to work then do please e-mail Mark Clarke at mark@markclarke.net
Data inputting:
All the surveys that we do generate an enormous amount of data inputting. We have a number of simple computer programmes which we use for this. None of these programmes takes more than a minute to learn how to use even for a total computer novice. We rely on volunteers who come to our office during the daytime to assist with this inputting. There is almost always a couple of people manning our computers assisting with this work. Many of our older volunteers find this a way to contribute to our campaign which it slightly easier on the legs. If you are interested in assisting with this please contact our agent, Rob Morritt on agent@wandsworthconservatives.com