The ConHome coach trip to the Norwich North by-election saw a party of 29 of us meeting yesterday at 9.30am at St James's Park tube in order to make the two and a half hour journey up to Norfolk, during which we watched the first two hours of the classic drama, House of Cards.
We were greeted on arrival by Theresa May, who is campaign manager, and our candidate, Chloe Smith.
After a quick briefing, we were off the coach and being ferried to various parts of the constituency armed with literature.
It was testament to the slick operation on the ground - being overseen by Stephen Gilbert - that we were out on the campaign trail within five minutes of arrival.
A morning session of delivery ensued and we returned to the sector HQ for a swift buffet lunch generously provided by the association (and Chris Kelly being first to dive in!)...
...before hitting the streets again in the afternoon. On our return to the campaign office we were greeted by party chairman Eric Pickles who, along with association chairman Sheila Gurney, thanked us for our efforts.
Eric also took the opportunity to introduced us to Mrs Pickles...
...and it was she who took the below team photo for us (click to enlarge!), before we embarked on our return journey to London (during which everyone was rapt by the concluding half of House of Cards!).
The campaign office estimated that between us we delivered in the region of 10,000 pieces of literature during the course of the day, as what Eric described as an "elegant Get Out The Vote" operation takes shape.
Everyone agreed that Chloe and her team are fighting a very impressive campaign and the signs are good that when the votes are counted on Friday morning (yes, we won't get a result until lunchtime on Friday), we will see another Conservative MP elected to the Commons. However, there is still much to do over the coming days and you can still do your bit between now and 10pm on Thursday! Contact the campaign to volunteer your services by emailing [email protected] or telephoning 01603 414774.
Those who joined me on the coach to Norwich - and who appear in the team photo above - were Graeme Archer; Craig Aston; Mark Bowen; Aidan Burley; Samantha George; John Glen; Scott Green; Peter Hall; Edward Hallam; Tara Hamilton-Miller; Ben Howlett; Havard Hughes; Elizabeth Hyde; Chris Kelly; Katy Lindsay; Sam Mackover; Tania Mathias; Lauren McEvatt; Robert McIlveen; Anjana Patel; Lisa Prickett; Tom Richmond; Sally Ann Roberts; David Senior; Alison Sproule; Dylan Thomas; Jeremy Thomass and Matthew Woods.
Jonathan Isaby
