Kate Knight — candidate for vice-chair (membership)
Personal statement by Kate Knight, standing for election as vice-chair (membership) of Hove Constituency Labour Party at its annual general meeting at Ralli Hall, 81 Denmark Villas, Hove BN3 3TH, at 11am on Sunday, February 5.
Kate says:
“I first joined the Labour Party in 1973 and have always voted Labour. I rejoined the Party on the day that Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader. I am well organised, enthusiastic, hard working and computer literate. I am passionate about the people that make up this Party and want Hove to play its part in achieving 1,000,000 members. I have lots of ideas about how we can do this and want to hear what ideas others have, too, so that we can share good practice across the constituency….
Chair of Goldsmid and Hove Park branch
“At the Goldsmid & Hove Park branch AGM in May 2015, I volunteered to take over as Chair. There were no elections for the post (or any others) as the usual attendance at that time was under 15 people. I have since done all that I can to make the branch a welcoming and friendly place and we now have greatly increased numbers and a comradely and vibrant atmosphere. I have not achieved this single-handedly, but in collaboration with some brilliant comrades and between us we have run social events, ‘meet and greets’ for new members, had a variety of speakers, moved to a much larger venue and supported demonstrations and campaigns throughout the city. I am confident that the Goldsmid and Hove Park branch delegates to this body now feel confident and motivated to take an active, meaningful and positive role in this new CLP.
Recruitment
“It is this branch experience that I bring to the role of Vice Chair (membership) and which I would use as a basis for working with secretaries and membership secretaries across the CLP. I want all branches to
- actively encourage current members to recruit — at work, in their communities and socially
- promote membership — there must be membership forms at all events
- encourage new people and registered supporters to come along to events, as part of their journey to becoming a fully active member.
I will ensure that all branches always have adequate and appropriate recruitment materials.
Retention
“It is also important to retain existing members — even those who, for whatever reason, are not active. Using the membership records, I will ensure that branches
- are kept informed about the membership status of their members
- encourage reaching out to those who don’t regularly attend
- know when members’ renewals are due, so that gentle reminders can be considered
Encouragement
“The Labour Party must be a welcoming and supportive environment. We should start from the point that
- members will want to involved in the issues that matter to them and ensure that their first experience — whether the welcome pack, or a letter or a phone call — is positive
- meetings will be friendly, accessible and, hopefully, interesting!
- everyone has something of value to contribute, but this can vary, according to their skills and resources. We need to ensure that we fully utilise the talents of our members.
“As vice-chair (membership) I will do everything I can to ensure that each individual member is made to feel welcome and valued, having been given every encouragement to make the most of their membership.
Transparency
“I believe in accountability and openness and will commit to providing regular, (hopefully interesting) reports on all aspects of membership, both to the CLP meetings and to branches.
“My driving motivation is to defeat the Tories in 2020. Jeremy said: ‘Things can, and will, change’. We need to get cracking, comrades!”
