Sandwell Day of Action II

HOPE not hate / Searchlight by Matthew Collins | Sunday, 31 May 2009

The second Sandwell Day of Action was a great success with over 80 people attending throughout the day and about 20,000 newspapers and leaflets delivered across Sandwell.

The Day of Action had been widely advertised and was due to begin at 10am. We were still in the process of setting up and were pleasantly surprised when people started to arrive at 9.30am. The picture below shows the scene at 9.45am. We somehow knew the day was going to be a success when by 10am we already had 20 people out with newspapers to deliver!

During the lunch break we all tucked into a fantastic vegetarian curry and were joined by the local Member of Parliament Tom Watson, Lord Tarsem King of West Bromwich (who had also been out leafleting in the morning) and Anthony Painter (one of the Labour candidates in the West Midlands).

Anthony Painter spoke about the threat of the BNP and how with a low turnout they could win a seat in the West Midlands. Lord King spoke about the need for people in the local area to take the threat seriously. Tom Watson outlined how a BNP victory in these elections would affect people and the only way to stop them was for people to get out and vote.

Gurinder Josan of Sandwell HOPE not hate said, "It was great to have so many people come and help in such fabulous weather. Many of the people who attended leafleted in the morning and in the afternoon. The atmosphere was one of everybody getting stuck in and doing their bit, we even had a local business bring in a large box of fruit for the volunteers."

Sandwell HOPE not hate would like to thank the Guru Nanak Community Centre and Jinder Catering Services. The picture below shows the volunteers and speakers over lunch.