29.06.2005

Not good, not bad

It seems that the modest optimism I expressed last week about the progress of our fundraising drive has led to CPGB members and readers of the Weekly Worker getting a little bit too relaxed. With just £667.50 raised in the last seven days, things need to seriously speed up if we are to reach our target of £30,000 by the end of July. If we do not get there, the day-to-day running of the organisation and production of the Weekly Worker will be jeopardised. Having said that, some comrades have been quite busy, organising stalls in city centres and elsewhere, including a small music festival in Sheffield, which raised £42. In north London comrades not only made £34, they were filmed at the same time by the BBC for a documentary about the G8 protests. A comrade in south London organised a dinner party for some work colleagues last weekend, which raised £89 - enough to subsidise one student comrade to come to the G8 protest events in Edinburgh with the CPGB. Comrade DI has been very successful in selling CPGB literature to his friends and colleagues and even sold a year's subscription to the Weekly Worker - total value £77.50. Comrade JS has used this important political period to set up a monthly standing order to the party for an excellent £60. Standing orders are extremely important to us, as they help us to plan ahead. Unfortunately, only one of our 12,580 online readers last week has made a donation via the PayPal facility on our website - comrade AL's £30 is, of course, much appreciated. If even 100 of our regular readers were to show their appreciation with a standing order for just £5 a month, it would make a big difference to our finances (obviously, we do take bigger standing orders and one-off donations too!) The additional £667.50 has brought our running total to £6,063.75 - not bad, but certainly not good enough. However, I am sure that comrades will do their utmost to raise serious amounts of money at the various G8 protests that are going on around the country. Phone Tina on 07941 083011 if you can help at the G8 protests in Edinburgh from July 1-6; phone Anne on 07816 907686 if you are available for the CPGB's intervention at the Live8 concert in London on July 2 l Howard Roake