06.04.2023

Smash through!

Some bad news, I’m afraid. I reported last week that, with only two days remaining to reach our £2,250 fighting fund target for March, we had just £1,832 in the kitty - in other words, we still needed another £418.

Perhaps I was being a little optimistic when I still held out hopes of getting there - after all, there have been lots of times in the past when readers have rallied to the call and sent the donations we need. But not this time, I’m afraid. True, a few comrades did just that, but the £162 that came our way in those two days took the final total for the month to just £1,997.

But I must thank those readers and supporters who did respond - either by bank transfer or standing order. Topping the list was comrade BK with his excellent £50 - if only more readers had followed that lead! In addition both AN and MD contributed £25, while MW transferred £20, and both VP and SB contributed a tenner. In addition both LM (£20) and comrade Hassan (£5) made their usual cash donations. Of course, I would normally be pleased that we raised £165 in just two days, but it was not enough at the end of a poor month.

So now our task for April is not only to raise that £2,250 we need in full, but to eat into March’s deficit. We’ve made a moderately good start, with £340 coming our way in the first five days - if you multiply that by six to cover the remaining 25 days, that takes us just past the target. The problem is though that the first few days of the month is when lots of standing orders come our way, so hopefully those supporters who don’t have an SO will do the necessary.

In the meantime, let me thank comrades AC (£60), FK (£37), CG (£30), BK, II, SJ and JD (£20 each), MD (£18), MT and RG (£15), TM (£12), MM (£11), GB, BG, YM and DI (£10 each), plus DC and JS (£6) - all of them making their contributions either by bank transfer or standing order.

Now we must build on those first five days - we need comrades to either go to our website and donate by PayPal or debit card, send us a cheque, or follow the lead of comrades Hassan and LM and hand over a banknote to one of our comrades, if you happen to know one!

Let’s make sure we build on those first five days and smash through that £2,250 barrier over the next 25! l

Robbie Rix