Newsletters/PPUK Newsletter 1
From Pirate Party UK Wiki
Date Sent: 14th May, 2010 Subject: PPUK Newsletter #1
Dear Pirate,
A Brief Introduction
As part of the restructuring we're going through post-election, you'll now be receiving a fortnightly newsletter from me, the new Member Communications Officer. My role's going to be to work with the Campaigns team to keep you up to date on what's going on in the party, and all the ways that you can get involved.
The Election
May 6th marked a turning point in the history of our party and thanks to your support, as well as the hard work everyone has put in; we achieved a respectable 1340 votes across 9 constituencies contesting our first General Election, averaging 0.4% of the vote. (Election 2010 Results)
Although we were some way short of gaining seats, or even retaining our deposits; it is remarkable what we achieved in just one year, and on a shoestring budget - just imagine what we can achieve next time, as we continue to grow and prosper!
The Future
The election may be finished, and we have a new Coalition Government, but that doesn't mean our work is over. In the coming weeks and months, our party will be working hard on moving forward.
Firstly, there will be several internal elections. You will be able to vote for a new Campaigns Manager, for your Regional Administrative Officer - which is now a formalised position - as well as for the new Board of Governors, who will be responsible for proposing amendments to the Party's constitution.
Members are also already beginning to consider what policies could be in our next manifesto, especially in the light of cases where the new Government plans to implement policy similar to ours, such as scrapping National ID Cards. You can get involved in the discussions, and later on will be able to vote on any changes.
The next set of elections we'll be able to fight will be the Regional Assembly Elections in May 2011. If you live in Wales or Scotland, please get involved, or even consider standing as a candidate. For Northern Ireland, things are more complicated. We will need to register the party separately here, but to do this, we need volunteers - so if you have any friends in N. Ireland, why not encourage them to get involved? These may be a year away, but to succeed, we must start preparing now.
Get Involved
Of course, our party is nothing without its members, and to do all this, we need YOUR help. So I invite you to be active, get involved on the forums, volunteer, donate, help us gather funds to fight for our rights, and vote for our next candidates, administrative team, and policies. Finally, if nothing else, do what you can to help spread the word of our existence.
Speaking shortly after the election, David Geraghty, one of our candidates said: "What I really want to stress to people is how much of a big difference each volunteer makes to the campaigns. For me seeing my final vote count of 170 votes was such an amazing feeling and none of that would have been achieved if not for the work put in by my volunteers."
Help shape our party's future - Get Involved.
Until next time,
Andrew Tindall
Member Communications Officer
Links:
http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/blog Read the latest blog posts.
http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/forum Get involved on the forums.
http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/party/donate Donate to the Party.