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The meeting was Chaired by Yvonne Green and our guest speaker was Labour MP for Erith & Thamesmead, Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Abena Oppong-Asare (a long time UNISON Labour Link activist). Abena gave a marvellous talk and Q&A about how tough it is to get on in local and national politics as a Black women but how the support of her political sisters (and others) helped her get through.
Next we we had brief introduction on "What is UNISON Labour Link" by our local organiser, Jack Phipps, followed by a presentation by me on "The Role of the Labour Link Officer" (which I hope people found useful).
We then split into workshops and later reported back on how Labour Link can help branches with campaigns, how to increase engagement and persuade more members to join and participate in Labour Link.
The final session was a training by UNISON Labour Link activist, Anu Prashar, on Dialogue, the Labour Party telecanvass software and in particular how to support our Labour candidate Kim Leadbeater in the by election in Batley and Spen.
I thought the training went well and this will be the first of many.
It was a peaceful and relaxing walk mostly next to water but also across fields and hedgerows. The weather forecast was a bit dodgy but luckily there was only a few spots of very light rain.
It is difficult to imagine that this area was for hundreds of years a Royal factory for the production of gunpowder and armaments. There still remains a very large fenced off former military "research station" which appears to be gradually being knocked down to build modern flats and offices.
Many of the lakes and water features were also caused by industrial scale gravel extraction.
The riverboat community were very friendly (apart from one who told us off for cooing at her cat which was sleeping in the bow of the boat).
There are a number of interesting modern sculptures scattered around the area which are well worth a stop and a ponder and at least one wildlife hide.
There was a "Viking" signpost and information board which pointed out that this used to be the border between the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to the west and the Viking controlled territories known as Danelaw to the east.
By coincidence last night, I started watching the "Last Kingdom" series on Netflix, which is set in this period. It is not for the fainthearted (thank you Shabs) and I will give it another go tonight but if the death and gore count is similar to last night, I may give the rest of the series a miss.
I recommend this walk but it is likely to be very busy for the first half if a warm and sunny weekend.
On Wednesday evening I took part in a Labour Unions telecanvassing session for Kim Leadbeater, the Labour candidate in the by election next week being held in Batley & Spen. This was hosted with Mick Whelan from ASLEF and Rachel Reeves MP. Kim herself, also joined and gave a barnstorming speech about her politics, her support of trade unions and what she wants to do for the people of Batley & Spen if elected.
The dialogue telephone session itself was quite frustrating since in about 45 minutes I rang 73 electors in Batley & Spen but only managed to complete 5 voter surveys. Nearly everyone had an answerphone on.
The voters I managed to speak to were very positive, including 2 who had been marked down as "Against" the Labour Party on our records but told me how Kim had won them over.
This morning we were due to have a Labour Group physical door knocking session in Custom House, Newham. However, when we arrived at the meeting point, it turned out that part of the Labour Party website was down and we could not download the names and addresses to call at on our smartphones. Lesson learnt is that while new technology is fantastic when it works, you should have a hard copy backup system.
While some of the canvass teams were coming back later that day with paper lists, I cycled back home and joined the Newham Labour Group online telecanvass session (dialogue software which worked for me) targeting our Little Ilford ward.
In a similar 45 minute time frame I "only" managed to make 26 calls but completed 13 surveys. There was far less telephone answer machines and I managed to speak to more people and had some pretty decent discussions. Possibly people are more relaxed and ready to chat on a Saturday morning.
On Monday evening I am chairing a Greater London UNISON training for our "Labour Link" branch officers. At the end of the meeting we are planning to do another telecanvass session to support Kim.
https://newhamforchange.org/home/the-newham-mayoral-referendum/
Not only a historical record but I in particular, agree with his final point.
"Many of the committee model campaigners from Newham will be willing to use their experience to support the challenge to the mayoral model in the October referendum in Croydon posed by the leader and cabinet alternative – and indeed in other authorities where the directly-elected mayor is contested."
Some of us will be arranging a future meeting of people interested in keeping N4C going (in a different form) as a wider campaigning body for the democratic reform of local government.
Wednesday 23rd June at 7PM and we're
delighted Kim Leadbeater, Labour's candidate for Batley & Spen will be
popping in.
Click below to register and help Labour win this crucial by-election.
I was also really pleased to finally go for a 5 mile circular walk around "The Glyders" in Snowdonia (Route 28 "Snowdonia, Anglesey and the Llyn Peninsula "Pathfinder Guide).
My favourite artist, Kyffyn Williams, has painted a marvellous picture of Welsh Shepherds on top of Glyder Fach, a copy of which hangs in my living room (see collage). I had promised myself that I would go up after lockdown.
The walk started next to YHA on Llyn Ogwn. I arrived at 9.30am and was incredibly lucky to get a parking space nearby. I would recommend getting there far more early on busy Saturdays when the weather is good. There was decent toilets there and a takeaway shop (I enjoyed a hot sausage roll). It took me 5 hours to complete the walk but maybe I should have had more rests to recover and taken longer.
It was probably amongst the toughest walks I have ever done. I had thought that during lockdown, I had got pretty fit but jogging in Wanstead flats and walking along Kent green lanes and Essex fields had not prepared me for walking up and down (or rather scrambling on your hands and knees) Welsh mountains. I had plenty of cuts and bruises from minor falls and scrapes. When your legs start going shaky and your feet are sore with blisters on the way up then the way down is always going to be problematical. Wearing shorts wasn't a great decision either.
From the start, after about 10 minutes of walking up and up on the hard stone surfaces it all started to came back to me and knew I was up for a bloody awful challenge. The painful ascent of Bristly Ridge confirmed this.
There again, the views were simply phenomenal and the rock formations on top were amazing, Most fellow walkers were also very friendly and open to a chat on how knackering it all was but how great it was as well.
Near the end, after beautiful Llyn Idwal, I passed a couple with their young daughter, probably aged about 6. As I passed, I heard her say to her Dad "that man in the hat looks like a Partner". The Dad responded by saying "We don't talk about what people look like when we are in public but what do you mean by "Partner". His daughter said "he looks like a cowboy with that hat". I had to turn and smile broadly (see collage and make your own mind up but anything to keep the sun off my face).
Enjoyed a cool Welsh bitter beer in Bethesda on way back to Ruthin.
(Please note warnings in guide book that you should not do this walk unless you are "fit and experienced". I was not but was lucky on this occasion and the weather was good).
