2020 Get dates in the calendar for this year now

The intention of this is to give officers and representatives at branch, party council, regional and national level, support to provide the best and most effective service for members, to help promote the work of the Party and hopefully to make the work simpler and less time consuming.

Review last year, chat to your fellow officers about setting a calendar for 2020. Were there dates or activities that you might have changed or done differently? Are there dates that must be maintained or should be changed.

For planning key action dates the Rule Book, is very useful, you can find it on our website ……https://party.coop/members/rule-book/

January/February

Excellent time to hold a branch AGM, so that you can delegate people to other co-op bodies that have their AGM’s in March/April/May. Take the opportunity to encourage members who might stand as Labour and Co-op Candidates in local elections, Scottish Parliament, Assemblies Wales and London, Mayors & Police and Crime Commissioners, even Parish Councils! If they register early your Party Council or Branch can set a more accurate budget.

No matter when you hold your AGM, there are certain things you need to do.

Get the notices out in good time. 7 days notice in the rules, but really 2 to 4 weeks would be good. And remember some agenda’s still have to be sent by post. An email is all but immediate, but post can take one, two or even three days, so post the letters at least three days before the seven days notice.

At the AGM consider setting out the dates of the rest of the years’ events. Events coming up :-  Councillors Development Weekend Friday 24^th to Saturday 25^th January, see website; North West Regional Conference 1st February and South East Regional Conference 1st February;  visit https://party.coop/events/ for further details and more future events; and talking of futures, there is a Co-operatives Futures Conference Friday 7^th to Saturday 8^th February (an excellent event to learn about Co-ops outside the Retail Sector);

Party Councils and Branches responsibilities

Sending delegates to Constituency Labour Party CLP’s and Local Government Committees LGC’s, (formerly Local Campaign Forums LCF). Please note we are affiliated to every CLP in the UK you are entitled to delegate up to 5 members to the CLP’s in your area, and one delegate to each LGC. (Party Council must be informed)

If your Labour Party CLP(s) holds its AGM in June, as many do, consider a delegating meeting of the branch or Party Council in April/May. Make an event of it. What Co-op Policies are your delegates going to promote in the CLP they want to be delegates to? Do they know their responsibilities? This could take that part of the meeting from the AGM, giving members a reason to attend an in year branch meeting.  😊

As you go through the calendar for the year, you might see if you can hold an ethical trade event during Fairtrade Fortnight 24^th February to the 9^th March or Co-operatives Fortnight 20^th June to Saturday the 5^th July. Have an outcome to the event, consider a speaker, some food and a suggested campaign aim at it. Consider throwing it open to non members.

National & Regional Parties

Write to members about what you are doing in 2020. There is a need for a delegate to each Labour Party Regional Board, Labour Rules have changed, make sure we do not lose our place on any Board. Look at the upcoming Regional Conferences organised by National Office. Taking what’s learned from them, can you have a stall at the Labour Regional Conference?

Raising awareness

Do consider a tweet, Facebook or Instagram before during or after any event or meeting you do. Use the @coopparty and the party.coop/join logo’s and a relevant hash tag. We get so little published by the media, so we have to do it ourselves.