The Heaton & Lostock Labour Party A Members' Branch of Bolton West Constituency Labour Party

Introduction

1997 began as a year of hope, reached the highest of high points with the general election victory and then faded a little as the realities of government and New Labour became apparent. Our membership locally increased yet again and there has been activity within the branch as never before. There was no local election during the year but the activity and victory on May 1st more than made up for that.

1997 The Year

Our branch, quick off the mark as ever, managed to hold it's AGM before the postponement of annual meetings in preparation for the general election. I was appointed Secretary; Graham, Chair; Trevor, Treasurer; Pauline and Janet, Vice-Chairs and Joyce, Membership Secretary. We had a full complement of 6 Constituency Party delegates and Murph represented us on the Bolton Local Government Committee until other activities forced him to relinquish that role.

Ruth Kelly Member of Parliament For The Bolton West Constituency

In March 1996, with the participation of many of our Branch's members, Ruth Kelly had been chosen as Bolton West's PPC. The phoney war, as Major's Tory government tottered towards its inevitable collapse seemed to last forever. Finally, a year after her selection, Ruth got the chance to do what we had chosen her for, to fight and vanquish Tom Sackville.

The campaign went on and on and we became more and more exhausted. Ruth, by this time heavily pregnant with Eamonn, seemed to cope with it tirelessly. Nationally the campaign went almost flawlessly and at local level the tremendous support we received from outside the constituency proved that, even in the Labour Party, comradeship hasn't died!

Pauline was our branch organiser and did an incredible job. At one time we calculated that we'd delivered more than 30,000 copies of The Rose newsletter in less than six weeks. Very many branch members responded to our calls for help. Some to deliver a few leaflets, others working morning, noon and night to get the message across.

The election produced many memorable and amusing events as well as visits by some of the "great and good" - John Prescott (twice), Robin Cook, Jack Straw, Frank Dobson, Alastair Darling, Ann Taylor, Tessa Jowell, Paul Boateng, Ian McCarthy, Glenys Kinnock and, of course, the Great and Beloved Leader himself!

So, was it worth it? Of course it was. When the result was declared early in the morning of May 2nd, we knew that all we had done had been worth every moment. The result itself is history but it still feels good to repeat it:-

We had been part of the greatest change in British politics in living memory, if not ever.

In Ruth we have a first class, dedicated, principled young woman who, with her husband Derek have already become part of the Bolton scene. In just over a year she had been selected to fight Bolton West for Labour, married Derek, been elected as MP for Bolton West, given birth to Eamonn, been appointed to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, become a Deane-Cum-Heaton Branch member. The last was probably the most momentous for her!

The election euphoria has been dampened somewhat during the last few months as the government has embarked on its promised review of spending, especially in the area of benefits and welfare. Unpopular choices have already been made in areas such as university tuition fees, lone parent benefit and other possible changes in the benefits system. Opinion in the branch on these is divided but all feel some unease about the direction the government seems to be taking.

Our Membership in '97

We began the year with about xxx members, Joyce having done a tremendous job in the previous twelve months of "weeding out" the non-payers, those who'd moved, disappeared or were simply no longer interested! Joyce's untiring efforts in 1997 means that we now have xxx members and almost all of those are fully paid-up, genuine ones. In 25 years of active Party membership I have never seen such an increase and, despite media claims that the party is losing members due to the so-called "hard choices" being taken by the government, our branch continues to grow.

Fund-raising

Because of the general election we managed to hold only two fund-raising socials during year, the traditional Midsummer Barbecue at Graham and Anne's and the Christmas Party at Murph and Gill's.

The barbecue was almost too successful, being the first social event in the Constituency after the election. Almost 100 people turned up on an evening when the weather threatened to do what it so often does in midsummer. Ruth came, complete with Eamonn, Derek and TV camera crew filming for the "Women in Westminster" programme. We raised about £xxx.

The Christmas party, free to members, still managed to raise over £xxx and Murph's organisation and humour, Gill's patience and everybody's participation made it the success it was. We even danced!

The Deane-Cum-Heaton Stakeholder Society (100 Club) now has about xxx members and should raise approximately £xxx in a full year. However, if we are to fully fund our own branch's activities and help other sections of the party where necessary, we need many more members. I hope that we will consider ways of increasing the 100 Club membership during the next few months.

Branch Meetings And Activities

At the beginning of the year we co-operated with our "twinned branch", Smithills and organised several joint meetings with them. The joint meetings ended after the election and, once the branch began to meet regularly again, we set about making "political discussion" part of every agenda. Thanks to Graham we have had a succession of high quality speakers at our meetings and I have endeavoured to make us "sociable" Socialists by organising some other activities.

Here's what we did following the election:-

• Early June - 1st Branch meeting under a Labour government for 18 years.
• Midsummer - the "you can wipe that silly grin off your face now" annual Branch barbecue.
• July - regular Branch meeting and discussion of the "Party Into Power: A Framework For Partnership" document led by Peter Hamilton. The document was broadly supported.
• August - no Branch meeting, but a bowls and buffet evening at The Howcroft pub instead. A great success with John and Eve the winners!
• September 4th - Branch meeting with MEP and Branch member, Gary Titley as guest speaker.
• September 7th - 1st Annual Deane-Cum-Heaton Branch walk around Tockholes. It was raining, the NatWest cricket final was on TV and only John and Graham turned up. Mind you, the beer at the pub where we waited for everyone was good!
• October - Branch meeting with Ruth as guest speaker.
• November - Branch meeting with Bolton Council Leader and Branch member, Bob Howarth.
• November - Branch visit to the Pumphouse People's History Museum and National Museum of Labour History. This is one place that every Socialist and anyone interested in the Labour Movement should see. A small turnout of members but a fascinating and inspiring visit which we'll repeat in '98.
• December 2nd - Branch meeting with guest speaker Bolton Social Services Chair and Branch member, Clifford Morris.
• December 6th - Grand Branch Christmas Party at Murph and Gill's house.

Attendance has been between thirteen and thirty three with the average turnout being about 20 members. My thanks to those who have willingly hosted meetings in their homes:- Graham and Anne, Alan and Joyce, John and Pauline, Murph and Gill, Sean and Annie. Let's hope that '98 will bring other venues too. We plan to continue the theme of trying to have a guest speaker at each meeting and hope to invite the Chairs of each of Bolton Council's main committees during the coming year.

Deane-Cum-Heaton On The Web

Perhaps it's just my perversion but the Deane-Cum-Heaton Internet site (http://gillatt.org/labour) has continued to grow and has been well received by those who have accessed it. I get one or two E-Mails each week as a result.

The counter shows that, at the time of writing, about 900 people have read our page with contacts from all over the UK but also from such diverse places as Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Turkey, the USA, Thailand and even Scotland and Worsley!

Thanks

1997 was an excellent year and we must remember the great changes that we are bringing about whilst, rightly being critical of those we consider against the interests of the most needy members of society. As Secretary I am proud to have played my part in the historic events of the last year but it would have been impossible for me to carry out my job without the help and support of very many Party members. I would like to thank them all but name only one, Noelene, my wife, who has had to put up with me monopolising the computer so much of the time and supported me throughout the year. Thanks to all the rest of you too.