Here is my latest article from the English Democrats website...
On Saturday 10 March 2012 the Spring Conference of the English Democrats was held in Swanley in Kent. An enjoyable social event was held on the preceding night for those who lived locally or were staying the night.
The conference was opened on Saturday by David Lane and Mike Tibby, and following this Robin Tilbrook gave his Chairman's Address, which is available to read on his blog
here.
National Secretary Derek Hilling was up next to explain about elections to the party's National Council. He also oversaw the election of our new party Treasurer to the National Council, Alan Bennett-Spencer, who received the unanimous backing of the assembled conference attendees.
Policy Committee chairman Charles Vickers and Alan Malin then outlined plans for the party's 2012 AGM , which promises to be a very exciting event indeed.
After a coffee break, Charles Vickers took to the podium once more to give a fascinating talk on economic growth, which provoked a lively question and answer session upon its conclusion.
Following this the conference heard a very enlightening speech by Steven Davis of the Campaign for an English Parliament (http://www.thecep.org.uk/).
In his speech, Mr Davis exposed prime minister David Cameron's latest bluster over Scotland as a mere bribe to try and coax the Scottish people into voting against independence in the upcoming referendum on the issue. He spoke of the work of the CEP and told the audience of an excellent range of new publicity material which will be available from the group soon.
Mr Davis was asked about the recent appearance that he and a number of colleagues made at the UKIP party conference. He revealed that a significant proportion of the UKIP members in attendance at their conference were extremely hostile to the CEP volunteers and made it clear that they vehemently opposed the idea of England being treated fairly and being allowed to have its own parliament.
One UKIP delegate was so incensed at the idea of an English parliament that this person actually assaulted one of the CEP volunteers on two separate occasions during the day. The display of such outrageous and downright thuggish behaviour by representatives of UKIP exposes the contempt for which UKIP has for England and the English, however much some of their more astute members may try to deny this in order to try and hijack some of the support which is increasingly finding its way to the English Democrats.
During the meeting a one-minute silence was proposed by Margaret Stoll in honour of the six young men from the Huddersfield area who were tragically killed in Afghanistan recently. Her proposal received unanimous backing and the conference attendees rose as one and stood in silence for one minute.
After a lunch break National Events Organiser Steve Uncles outlined the key upcoming events in the nationalist calendar for 2013. This included an exposition of plans for the commemoration of the
battle of Flodden of 9 September 1513, which will have its 500th anniversary next year.
Next to speak was Carlton Maflin of the Workers of England Union. Mr Maflin delivered a very informative talk which focussed primarily on the recent tribunal victory achieved by the union in the case of English Nationalist nurse Eddie Bone, which we publicised
here.
Mr Maflin also told the audience of the growth experienced by this trade union, which can be seen, for instance, in the fact that it has representatives in a total of 28 different bus depots. The Workers of England Union do some fantastic work for our beleaguered people and we would highly recommend that English Democrats members join this excellent union through their website
here.
Next to speak was English Democrats' councillor Seamus Dunne, who gave an interesting account of his work as a local elected representative.
This was followed by a discussion of devolution and the English Question by Derek Hilling.
After a coffee break, Robin Tilbrook and Stephen Morris took us through the party's 2012 elections strategy, which included an examination of the upcoming police commissioner elections (in November 2012) and various mayoral referenda and elections. To that end, Stephen Morris gave a very well received detailed presentation on the work which he and his team had carried out in Salford to secure a referendum on the issue and then a yes vote in the referendum, which resulted in the planned
mayoral election in the town on May 3rd.
Delegates then sang Jerusalem heartily to formally bring the meeting to an end.
The day finished with an informal Chairman's dinner and light hearted quiz contest.
We would like to thank everyone who attended the Spring Conference and all those who helped to organise it and ensure that it was a resounding success.
There was a real sense of optimism among the attendees at the weekend as it is clear that our Party is really going places.
Become a part of it by joining the English Democrats
here.
..........
To the above I would just add that I was very impressed with the Carlton Maflin from the Workers of England Union. I genuinely had no idea about the good work that this union does until I read about the aforementioned Eddie bone case recently, and having listened to their top-calibre speaker on Saturday it is clear to me that this is a very worthwhile organisation.
I would urge all working people to join this union both to show your support and also for your own good should you ever need their help. As was made clear in the Eddie bone case, wretched organisations like
Unison are certainly not there to help us.
With the Workers of England Union's presence at the conference, along with that of the Campaign for an English Parliament and the
Steadfast Trust who were represented by a vendor from the excellent We Are The English online store (see link at very bottom of this blog), it really felt as though this more than just an English Democrats conference but rather a conference of the English Nationalist movement as a whole, of which the English Democrats are merely the electoral arm.
All these organisations do excellent work in their own specialised fields, and I would urge everyone to support them however you can, depending on your own particular interests and abilities.
For me the direct political-electoral struggle will always get the bulk of my attention, but I respect the fact that others prefer to focus their efforts in other fields. Such worthwhile organisations as those I have listed here allow people to do just that whilst still making a difference to the Cause.
All in all this was an extremely positive weekend and well worth the very early start on the Saturday that getting down to Kent on the Saturday morning entailed.
It really feels good to be involved in this party.
