Garden Fund Raiser! June 2013

The Branch held our annual tea in the garden event in Arnesby this year, at Elaine and Peters. Despite threats of heavy rain and strong winds, the storm held off for a couple of hours, and no-one got wet!

Over 30 members and friends braved the weather to come along, including old members who came all the way from Buxton and Market Harborough to visit, and Leicestershire members from over the borders in other Branches!

There were plenty of delicious cakes, as usual - yum!

It was hard work providing all those cups of tea.....

Excellent reading material was available at very competitive prices!

Peter Soulsby, Mayor of Leicester attended, and after talking about the positive results in the recent County elections; and his hopes for the Euro and 2015 elections, he stocked up on a wide range of reading material for his forth coming holiday!

Willy Bach also discussed current issues and our prospects in the Euro elections.

A happy raffle winner.....

 

The treasurer was happy that there are now funds in the Branch - we made £200!!

The next events are: Lutterworth Carnival, where our stall will be a Quiz, written by Willy B, and money raised will go to Lord Mayors Appeal; and BBQ at Mike Wailloos, (in the red jacket!)July 13th, 2pm. Tickets £10 from David Fish, Secretary. See you there!

June Branch meeting update, and forth coming Social events!!

The June meeting was even more lively than expected. It`s often the case that even the simplest agenda item or passing comment turns into a lively discussion and an impromptu debate on topical affairs! This was the case on Tuesday, when interesting conversations led to us needing to be thrown out by the caretaker as closing time approached!

An Arnesby Parish council decision prompted debate on the issue of windfarms. We are as a Branch very much in favour of clean energy, but are keen that energy initiatives and wind turbines are erected in a co-ordinated manner and in the most appropriate places to get the best wind. We decided to ask the GC to write to HDC and LCC to ask what their policy is on this.

David Fish, our Membeership secretary, brought a Branch membership record of the last 10 years. We notices a sad decline after the Iraq war, then a sudden increase after May 2010 - what could have caused that, we wondered??!!

Roger, our IT Wizard, has made further improvements to our Blog site and added a permanent email address for the Branch. He also proposed we get a phone, to further increase our availability to the public. We decided to do this as soon as we have more funds...(any funds, that is!) NB Pleasant, painless fund raising events will be taking place this Summer - see below.

Our official speaker for the evening was David Gair, Secretary of S Leics GC. He was talking about the environment, but because of previous discussions was allowed only 7 minutes to explain how humans have decimated the globe over the past 100000 years, but on a positive note have shown an ability to rectify their misdemeanors if they decide to do so, as in the case of CFCs, which was modified within 5 years. He did a masterly job in the 7 mins available, and we will continue this discussion at the next Branch meeting!

SOCIAL EVENTS THIS SUMMER
1.Tea in the garden, Sunday, 23rd June, 3 - 5, At Elaine and Peters in Arnesby, £3 entrance. Tea, cakes, book and plant stalls, raffle and a speaker.
2. Lutterworth Feast Day. Saturday, July 6th, 11 - 4. We will have a stall, with a Quiz written by Willy Bach, and any funds raised will be donated to the Lord Mayors Appeal.
3. BBQ Mikes garden. Delicious food, cooked by Mike. Saturday, 13th July, 2pm. £10 a head. Hamper to be raffled, organised by Sandra. Tickets from secretary, David Fish, davidfishcf@msn.com

See you all soon!

Fun and fundraising in the garden

The Lutterworth annual "Tea in the garden" took place on Saturday afternoon, 28th July, in Willy and Caroline`s garden, in Walcote. We had good weather, and over 70 people attended, and enjoyed the friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Excellent cakes were made and consumed by members; there were cake and book stalls, and a raffle. Jazz and light classical music was provided by Peter and elaine.

Tribute was paid to our dear friend and comrade Phil Fox, who passed away earlier this year.

 Liz Kendall, MP for Leicester West, attended and gave a rousing speech, as did Willy Bach.  Over £400 were raised for Branch funds.

July meeting and forthcoming events

 At the monthly Branch meeting in July, we heard about the excellent talk on Housing at the GC last month, and about new David Wilson homes to be built in Lutterworth.

We held a minutes silence for our comrade Enid Hardy, who died recently, and who was a great member of our Branch for many years. We also heard news form our previous Branch member, Sheila, who now lives in Wales, but has visited China recently, and sent us news of her visit.

Count Council elections
We discussed the forthcoming May 2013 County elections. Anyone wishing to stand, please contact David Fish, secretary, by 25th July, and selection will take place as part of Branch meeting, Tuesday, 4th September.

SUMMER EVENT:
"Tea in the garden" at Willy and Carolines, Yew Tree house, Walcote, Satruday, 28th July, 3-5pm. There will be tea and cakes; music; cake, book and plant stalls. Please come and support our fundraising and social Summer event.

January Branch meeting

At our January meeting, we again discussed the Boundary Commision decision. It looks like we will be joining with Daventry, so we will need to get to know our prospective new comrades.

Other news - the GC held an excellent meeting on education last month with a well-informed speaker from London; the meeting in February will be on funding of voluntary legal advice, which is facing cuts, just when people most need it.

We discussed the 2 new housing developments proposed for Lutterworth.

At our fund-raising Gala dinner, over 50 people attended, and over £500 was raised.

Happy Christmas!

Wishing a Happy Christmas to all members and readers, from Lutterworth Branch.

We had 2 festive Branch/Constituency events:

The annual Gala dinner of the South Leicestershire Constituency was well-attended, and included a lovely meal; music; an informative speech from Liz Kendall, (Leicester West), and was held at our usual comfortable venue of Braunstone Town. A raffle, and a most professionally executed auction of items including Houses of Commons and Lords goods, raised funds for the Constituency. We hope the Boundary Commission does not decide to break up our Constituency! Our views have been expressed to the Commission, and we await their decision.

Our Christmas Quiz was on - guess what!! - politics! It was a very successful and enjoyable event, held in Brauton-Astley, with quite stunning displays of knowledge from some participants! A very pleasant evening was passed, with festive drinks and nibbles, and the raffle raised a nice contribution for our funds! Many thanks to David for organising it again!

Happy Christmas to all, from the Branch

Party in the rain!

Members of Lutterworth Branch Labour party defied the downpour on Sunday17th July, to enjoy their annual fund-raising and social, "Tea and cakes", in a member`s garden. Along with lovely herbacious borders, the group enjoyed delicious home made cakes, quizes and music; and over £250 was raised. On a more serious note, the event was addressed by the Leicester South MP, and Lord Willy Bach, who discussed aspects of the economy and the recent successes for Labour in Leicester with the new Mayor and the by-election in Leicester South.

Lutterworth Branch will once again be having a stall at Lutterworth Feast day on August 20th. At this event, we will be raising money for the Mayors Appeal, as is our usual policy.