Look out south east London, here we come!

I have just finished writing up the Events and Fund-raising Plan for the new Lewisham & Beckenham North Local Party and I’m exhausted already! It is quite an ambitious plan with something going on almost every week of the next year. My next job is to somehow replace my name as key contact on the vast majority of those events; otherwise I can forget finding the time to blog!

Actually, I am very excited about what's in store for the next year and very excited about the new local party that my patch of London now belongs to. The events calendar we have planned is busy but Lewisham & Beckenham North can rise to the challenge, I’m sure. We have for starters, the intriguingly named Blackheath Supper Club which this month has Lord Tim Garden as Guest Speaker. Then there’s a monthly pizza and politics and what I’m really looking forward to: 3 Quiz Nights!!! I’m hoping to get some local non Lib Dem friends along to that and need to make sure I’m not the question master as I would not be able to resist answering my own questions!

I’m the fundraising and events bod on the local party Exec and am very aware that we need to up our fundraising game like never before as knowing that we have two very promising seats raring to go and the local membership has a finite pot of money to dip into. But I hope, by having some events that will be as enjoyable as they will be functional, their cost will feel less of a donation and more like the price of a good value night out will help!

It is a challenge but being able to raise money is the sign of success and commitment and whilst I am happy for individual donations being capped, I do not agree with the taxpayer funding the political parties - even if it would get me off the hook. Reform of the House of Lords will deal with the cash for peerages issue, capping individual donations will deal with undue influence and well, if the political parties can’t raise the money themselves, well, they shouldn’t spend the money in the first place!!