Offside!

posted by: Nick L | on: Sunday, 30 March 2008, 20:38

Finally getting an evening to relax after another busy few days. After much stress and strain we managed to get our April edition of Searchlight off to the printers at the end of last week. Sonia mused after it had been finished that she was worried, for the first time ever, that the magazine wouldn't hit our printers deadline but a combination of working through much of the night and the tireless efforts of our designer saw it get off in time.

The Philosophy Football Hope not Hate night on Friday was a great success. Over 200 people crammed in to the Offside bar for an evening of film, music, comedy and speeches. It was a chance to let our hair down, whilst raising support for the cause. It was also great to see so many people who led the campaigns back in the 1970s together with younger people getting active for the first time.

In total 78 people signed up for our U-day, when, on the 29 April, we intend to leaflet 200 tube and railway stations around London. I have set myself a target of mobilising 1000 people for this day, so with 78 signed up on Friday and another 12 on Saturday we are almost a tenth of our way there. (Details of U-day will be put up on our website very shortly)

Saturday was spent fighting the wind and rain in Camden. Despite the awful weather we still managed to put out over 6,000 newspapers, with many more bundles being dropped off for local activists to deliver over the next few days. We dried out listening to Billy Bragg (again) and eating some fabulous home-made soup. A big thank you for everyone who came out, especially Cathy for organising the event (and food). Searchlight's Matthew Collins commented as the spread was brought out that it was clear that he and I weren't organising the day otherwise there would have been the usual pot of curry and nothing else.