05.02.2015

Up the pace

You're getting better, but Robbie Rix is a hard man to keep happy

The closing days of January saw a real flurry of last-minute donations, with several comrades responding to my call last week for readers to rush in the £412 we needed for our £1,750 target in just three days.

Well, we didn’t make it, but we got quite a bit nearer. First of all, comrade BL transferred a tremendous £73 (yes, I know that’s an odd amount, but who’s counting?), and then both TM (£100) and RG (£50) sent in substantial cheques. Finally six comrades used PayPal to donate amounts between £5 and £20 - thank you, MZ, JS, RL, TT, SO and NW.

All that came to £278 - yes, in just three days - and took the final fighting fund total for January up to £1,616. In a way that’s satisfying in two senses: not just the 11th-hour surge, but the fact that it easily exceeds our previous £1,500 target. But we still haven’t made the full amount in the three months since we increased that target by £250.

However, I’m hoping lots of comrades will respond to our appeal for more (or increased) standing orders, which has just begun. Already comrade ST has increased his payment to £30 a quarter, and we’re expecting a rush of new SOs any time now. We need to raise the extra regular cash to pay for our full-colour covers, which have impressed so many readers.

Meanwhile, our February fund has got off to a brisk start, thanks to all the standing orders payable at the beginning of the month. Fifteen have come in so far, for sums between £5 and £30, while MD used PayPal to give us £10. So we start February with £253 in our fighting fund - but don’t forget: there are only 28 days in February, so we need to step up the pace!

Robbie Rix