Janice North reports:

The Union Jack Breaks Free – we help Barnet UKIP’s Brexit street stall in North Finchley on Saturday 9th March

My heart feels broken for our country – still we struggle to leave the EU and enact the democracy that  we the public hold so dear…. And so we resolutely set out our Brexit street stalls every weekend trying to do our bit to keep the Brexit message going and to test what the public are thinking.

This weekend was no different and we supported Barnet branch in North Finchley. I arrived to see leaflets flying everywhere such were the high winds! Well that’s one way to spread our message far and wide I guess!  The turnout was good – 11 of us – a mixture of the 2 branches plus a couple of extra supporters. A member who spends a lot of time outside parliament also turned up to help on our street stall this week – its amazing how hard some people work for our cause.  And two of Barnet branch set off to leaflet Mike Freer’s office….

I tried to find free parking in North Finchley but it doesn’t exist on a  Saturday – and some of the residential streets do not even offer paid for parking. A resident advised me to be careful as even the car park was unable to be used as the phone system (for payment) was temporarily down. ‘No wonder the high street is dying!’ He said. Funny you should say that I thought – if only I hadn’t been so stressed looking for parking we could have talked…

It was a busy day in Finchley and the team had lots of conversations – with 4 potential new members given information on how to join – a  fantastic accomplishment!

‘The reaction is more positive in this area now than it was during the Referendum campaign’ said one Barnet member, and it certainly felt that way. The polls may have us believe otherwise, but the feeling in the real world is ‘please, just get on with it!’

There were some snidy remarks too of course – one man telling me (as he whizzed by, shaking his head) ‘Round here? No thankyou! No way!’ (I assumed he meant UKIP although he didn’t stop to explain). Some people stopped to tell us they voted to Remain, or just said ‘No!’,  but no real nastiness this week. I’m always bemused when people tell me ‘I want to Remain!’ – have they not heard? – the vote was 3 years ago!

We eventually gave up with the table as the wind was relentless – at one point our huge Union Jack broke free of the strings holding it down and flew into the air  to the other side of the road – aah yes I thought – we know how it feels – that’s just what we want Britain to be able to do!

My heart also bleeds for my city – literally. Once we packed up and were seated in the pub to warm up,  something made me look out of the window. An ambulance was parked up on the corner, but with its blue lights still flashing. That looks ominous I thought.. And indeed it was. On the way home I heard on the radio that at 5pm a young man was stabbed on a bus on the High Road – the very road we were campaigning in….  It was a short, sharp shock of reality – we were just a few yards away from a terrible stabbing in the middle of a busy high street on a Saturday afternoon. Let’s hope the young man recovers.

What has happened to our country? To us? To our way of life? And to law and order? Our once law abiding, peaceful country, that had a tiny police force guarding a massive  population, has gone. It makes our campaigning even more important. We are all tired – should we take a weekend off? No! We have to keep going. And that is what we will do.

Is there anything else to tell you? Oh yes, there is  a mystery to be solved. The gorgeous pug dog was out with us again – he does fantastic work in the community bringing Remainers and Brexiteers alike together to pet and admire him!

And the first thing he did was put his little feet on my bag to stop it blowing away. BUT I have to tell you that someone’s steak pasty went missing – however we have been told that crumbs, paw prints and dog burps are not admissible evidence, so the jury is out.

Tune in next week when we go to Brent to find out more….   

 

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Felix Aubel reports:

I was delighted to organize the very successful cross party clean Brexit Leave Means Leave street stall in Port Talbot, Aberavon, on Saturday 9 March 2019. Hundreds of various leaflets were distributed to eager members of the public, demonstrating that Labour’s local Remainer MP Stephen Kinnock is completely out of touch with his Aberavon constituents who voted by 57% to leave the EU without any ifs or buts. Thank you to everybody who assisted with this vital cross party work to Stand Up For Brexit and oppose the Brexit Betrayal of the EU Withdrawal Agreement. Such was the very warm welcome we received, that we look forward to returning there shortly.

 

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Ceri Jayes reports:

Totnes and Torbay UKIP flying the Brexit banners at Windy Corner, Brixham

Torbay branch members Spanner (plus his dog), and Christine and Rob plus Totnes Branch members Dennis, Mike and Craig helped put on this fabulous display of solidarity and support for Brexit and the Fishing For Leave campaign on Saturday March 9th 2019.

Windy Corner lived up to its name. The wind was a steady 22 knots. The conditions were nothing compared to those faced by our brave fishermen so we just got stuck in. Some of our banners were too big to fly safely in the strong breeze but I hope you agree that the ones that we used are very effective.

At midday a white van pulled up next to us in the lay by. Trawlerman Mike Walker from Brixham emerged from it bearing 2 large trays of mugs of steaming coffee as a thank you to us. What a welcome surprise. They went down a treat! The response from the passing motorists on this busy road on the outskirts of Brixham was excellent. Thumbs ups, tooting and headlight flashing in acknowledgement of our presence was overwhelming. In fact the hooting began as we were getting the boards out of the car before starting and were continuing as we packed away two hours later.

By the way, if anyone suggests that women did not support the vote for independence on 23 June 2016 then come along to our next event and see and hear for yourself how supportive the majority of women are in the Totnes constituency.

 

 

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