More to MPH than Edinburgh!!!

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 07 July 2005 11:27:03

Where to start? Well, no doubt by now many people will have seen Jen's post about our 'alternative to Edinburgh' MPH event. Anyhoo, we did it. We got a small but enthusiastic group of MPH supporters together, put on our best smiles (and MPH t-shirts) and campaigned for all we were worth, giving out postcards, getting petitions signed, and generally telling anyone who would listen (and some who were just too polite to say no!) all about the campaign and why it's important. And not just for those who trekked up to Edinburgh (although well done to those who did!), or managed to win tickets to Live8. And we managed to get our very own photographer to cover the event, posting instantly thanks to the wonders of modern technology!

Our main motivation was that we couldn't get up to Scotland, but were determined to do something anyway. But from this we realised that there were other things that we could do besides heading off to Edinburgh, and that it was important that the campaign was fought from every part of the UK (including Wales!!!), so we started with our bit of it. We got a variety of responses, some people obviously just wanting to get on with their shopping, others vaguely aware that something was going on, but not sure what (so we told them!), young people who were clued in to Live8 but not much more, and a group of "hooded youths" who approached Alice demanding a postcard to sign and a white band to wear!!! All in all, a pretty fantastic day, which allowed us to talk about these issues that we care about so much, and possibly plant the seed of an idea in peoples minds, so that when they hear about the G8 next it might have some meaning. And, at the end of the day, I think if, as a result of all our efforts, only one or two people were more aware of what we're trying to achieve, then it was a day well spent.

And we managed to get in the local rag too. And though Jen isn't the only one to be annoyed that most people's names were missed out, it did the job of increasing awareness and publicising our cause, which has to be a good thing.

Update: having read Jo's post, I'm just re-adding my MPH band. And now I know why it dissappears every now and then- cos I keep archiving it!!! Thanks for that Jo!

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