Tuesday, February 04, 2014

A large pile of Focuses staring at me

Writing Focus newsletters does not mean I get off delivering them. At the end of last week, I delivered 370 in Dunston Hill and Whickham East ward here in Blaydon constituency. We are hoping to take the seat in May from the Labour who are not exactly high profile in the ward. The representation is currently split between 2 Labour and one Lib Dem councillors. With only one councillor up for election each year (and every 4th year we are election free), we occasionally get a scenario of a sitting councillor defending a seat from 2nd position. Our councillor, Peter Maughan, had to overturn a Labour majority of 600 in 2011 to hold on in 2012. He did, beating Labour by 200 votes. This year, the roles are reversed. Labour are defending from 200 behind. This ward is one of a number that will be fiercely contested in Gateshead, though few Labour councillors have been seen coming to the campaigning aid of their two Labour "comrades" in the ward.

Last week, I was also on home territory, delivering my village Focus in Sunniside. 400 done in one day. We were up against a deadline - we had an event on Sunday we were promoting. And today, I delivered 200 Focuses in Blaydon ward. This is development territory for us - we are looking to build up our strength in this ward despite not having held it before.

So that leaves me with a large pile of Focuses staring at me from across the table still to deliver. They are for the Whickham part of my ward. They will have to wait until tomorrow to be delivered however as tonight I am off to the monthly meeting of Sunniside History Society.

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