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3 hours of petition signing, 12 volunteers,
823 signatures on the constituency specific forms. Is this a SoW record?
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Good weather blessed our petition signing event in
Macclesfield Market Square which was centred around a 21ft replica Edwardian
Steam Launch. Lots of volunteers rallied round and in just 3 hours we collected
over 800 signatures on the Macclesfield Constituency specific petition forms.
A couple of local newspaper reporters turned up, one
particularly timely when Sir Nicholas Winterton MP arrived unexpectedly to sign
the petition. This was followed by the first public reading of the SoW poems
written for us by Cheshire’s Poet Laureate Jo Bell.
At 2pm it was back to the canal to form a blockade with a
surprising number of boats turning up given the current stoppages on the local
waterway. We had only expected half a dozen boats but 18 actually arrived.
There was a photo call for the local press photographers.
It was a pleasure to welcome Dennis Meredith, Chairman of
the Prince Albert Angling Society representing the largest angling society in
Europe and who gave us his full backing for the cause. Sir Nicholas Winterton
MP for Macclesfield and Lady Winterton MP for Congleton both gave extremely
supportive speeches. Jo bell gave a second reading of the SoW poems for the
assembled boaters and public.
Refreshments were kindly donated by the local pub, the
Puss in Boots, who allowed us to use their beer garden for the photo
call and who fully support the campaign.
The SoW poems are posted here and Jo Bell has approved their use for
the campaign. Please acknowledge her in any reproduction.
Roger
Olver
Organiser |
