The newspapers arrive

HOPE not hate by Alan Weaver | Wednesday, 6 May 2009

I had been looking forward to 5 May, because it was when I got my first look at the special HOPE not hate newspaper that will be dropping through hundreds of thousands of letterboxes over the next four weeks.

One of the main HOPE not hate campaign tools, the newspapers arrived in Birmingham and were unloaded ready for distribution across the East and West Midlands. Within two hours of the delivery the first 50,000 papers had winged their way to Northamptonshire, Smethwick and Halesowen,ready for our weekend of activity that will deliver a message of Hope to over 80,000 households right across the Midlands.

The campaign is getting support in many ways, but it's often the small gestures that strike a chord with me. Taking 20,000 newspapers and saying, "They will all go out this Saturday" is fantastic.

Then we have the gentleman who offloaded the papers this morning and who runs the engineering company next to our storage facility. When offered some money for his trouble he said, "Keep your cash son, just let me know if you need any more help later". It's that act that will stay with me for years to come, an ordinary, modest, working-class man who was happy to use his skills to help the campaign in a practical way, without any thought of reward. Just one of millions of honest working people who deserve better than to be represented by the racist BNP.