CAM Lakeside meeting a fantastic success

The CAM Team have been working on a presentation for a couple of weeks to just let everyone know what CAM is all about, what we have been doing behind the scenes to date, what we plan to do going forward and how other people can help and get involved.

There was a big risk involved in running the meeting. We had been offered a choice of two rooms by Lakeside – one with a maximum capacity of 400 people and one with a much larger capacity. As a group we did not want to risk having to turn people away and as such we planned our event for the larger venue.


At 7:30pm we were forced to delay the start of the meeting by 10 minutes to allow for the queue of cars to park up and for people to get inside the venue. Estimations of people attending were 600+.

The presentation was carried out by three members of the CAM team – Louise Nicholas, Barbara Lapthorn and Bob Garrett, plus a short presentation from Steve Chalke from Oasis. Other members of the team supported the event and all were visible in their Orange T-Shirts.

The CAM team were complimented on providing such an informative, inspiring presentation. Everyone in the room left feeling very positive that this proposal certainly was not a done deal.

The Question and Answer session was an opportunity for people to highlight issues or ask for clarification or opinions on certain areas. The team were able to respond to all the questions and we will publish a list of those questions and answers on this blog shortly.

After the event there was an opportunity to have a chat with CAM members, Councillors and generally share concerns amongst like minded people. People were asked to complete a petition form which helps us to understand more fully the areas which are of interest to the wider group and give us the mandate to represent them fully.






There was also an area to detail any skills that individuals are able to offer to the campaign. These forms can be completed by people who did not attend and they can be scanned and sent back via the blog or handed directly to any of the current CAM Team. The attendees were invited to make a small donation to the CAM fund. There will shortly be a paypal link on the blog, but in the meantime people are welcome to donate via cash or cheque (payable to Campaign against Merger). Donations can be made via any member of the CAM Team or a postal address can be supplied on request.




We would like to thank Lakeside for their kind donation of the facilities. We are also grateful for the support we have received in terms of printing of leaflets, distributing of leaflets and the time and energy that the team have put into preparation of this event. During the organisation the team have had obstacles thrown in their path again and again and each time, as a team, we have dealt with them and overcome them, and as result we have become stronger as a team. Now that we have the support of the wider community we are even more positive that this campaign will be successful and by working together we will remain separate.



I attach a copy of the presentation for information.

Meeting Presentation can be found here.

Regards,

Claire