The Stop HS2 campaign is sending an urgent appeal to funds to supporters. Following a very busy month which included going to party conferences, the Stop HS2 coffers are empty at what is a crucial time. While there are many individual local fundraising initiatives taking place, Stop HS2 is sending out a national appeal to supporters. Campaigners are being asked to donate or set up standing orders, or even just visit the ‘send us some money’ link on the website to see how they can raise funds for Stop HS2 simply by searching online.
Stop HS2 Campaign Coordinator Joe Rukin said:
“It has been a very busy month for the campaign, we’ve been at party conferences and next week we’ve got a total of five days out in London, including delivering our original petitions to Downing Street on Tuesday 11th and of course the long-awaited debate on HS2 in The House of Commons with a demonstration outside on Thursday 13th.”
“Local action groups across the country are redoubling their fundraising efforts, but many will not know about or be able to go to their barn-dances, quiz nights and auctions. Many action groups have been very successful in terms of what they have raised, but quite often individuals decide what they want to spend money on, which means it does not make it to the national campaigning body. We have only asked money from the action groups three times: for the national convention, for the ‘shadow roadshow’ tent during the HS2 consultation and more recently for party conferences. Although the convention was a fundraiser and did make a profit, on all of those initiatives there has been a shortfall in terms of covering the initial costs.”
“I have been working on the campaign more or less full-time, quite often more than full-time since March last year and I’ve been doing that on income support, which I will lose when my son turns 7. That time isn’t far away, so soon I won’t have a choice but to stop. It’s a shame as we don’t have enough people doing the work we need to get done as it is. Besides all the work we have to do between now and Philip Hammond making his decision, if he doesn’t call a halt to HS2 in December, we will have the mammoth task of raising awareness along the northern route when it is published in the new year and it doesn’t look like we will have the people or the resources to take on that vital task.”
“There are some really obvious things we could do to fundraise nationally, such as selling merchandise like t-shirts online in time for Christmas, but we simply do not have the money to get any initial stock. We had been talking about producing a calendar, and have decided to go ahead with a photo competition, even though we might not ever be able to produce the calendars physically. What we want to produce is a calendar with twelve photos of things which will be destroyed by HS2, the deadline for entries is Friday 21st October. We would need £2,000 by the week after though just to get the initial stock levels.”
Notes to Editors:
- For more information contact Joe Rukin on 07811 371880 or Penny Gaines on 07765 780553.
- People can sign the petition against HS2 via the Stop HS2 website; https://stophs2.org/news/378-petition-government-stop-hs2/.
- Cheques to Stop HS2 can be sent to Stop HS2, 131 Warwick Rd, Kenilworth CV8 1HY or you can pay directly into the bank account Lloyds-TSB, Sort Code 30-94-93, Account no, 34934760 or by using a PayPal account. Details can be found at https://stophs2.org/news/388-send-money
- Details of the photo competition:
The rules are simple, we want photos of things that will not be there if HS2 goes ahead, throughout ‘HS2 Land’, the photos must be landscape format and we need them by 12 noon on Friday October 21st. You must be able to tell us exactly where the photo was taken and where HS2 will go within the photo if it goes ahead. The photos can be of anything: buildings (inside or out), landscapes, sporting events and activities etc. We specifically would like photos from the Battle of Edgcote re-enactment, sporting matches, the bonfires from February on the line and the inside of one of the factories set to be demolished. We will make all efforts to spread the photos used across the length of the first proposed stage of HS2. Please email photos to joe@stophs2.org or post them to Stop HS2 129-131 Warwick Rd, Kenilworth, to arrive no later than Friday October 21st.