On Tuesday February 16th Horsham Labour party held a fund-raising quiz in Horsham, which was co-hosted by Hazel Blears MP and Andrew Skudder, our candidate at last year's general election.
Party members from Crawley, Horsham, Arundel & South Downs, Worthing, Brighton and Guildford took part, with a team from Crawley narrowly winning the first prize.
During the evening Hazel Blears spoke passionately about how important it is that the party remains active even in places like Horsham where they have little or no electoral success. We think she was impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of the local party and she promised to help our candidate in Broadbridge Heath, Ray Chapman, but doing some telephone canvassing for him on election day!
Horsham Labour's chair, David Hide said:
We were very pleased to welcome a prominent national figure like Hazel Blears to Horsham and have thanked her for her time and for her support. Her speech inspired our members to campaign even harder for our candidates in the council elections, and the funds raised by the event will help us to back up our door-knocking with more printed material.
Ray Chapman said:
When Hazel offered to help campaign for me I was amazed, but not half as amazed as voters in Broadbridge Heath will be if they answer the phone and find an ex-cabinet minster on the other end asking them to vote for me in a local election!
The quiz night raised funds, raised spirits and encouraged networking between constituency parties. We hope that since her return to Westminster Hazel has been passing on the word to her colleagues about how friendly and welcoming Horsham Labour party is.