Bracknell Labour held its largest ever rally on Saturday June 1st: the second week of our general election campaign.

We heard a rousing speech from our parliamentary candidate, Peter Swallow, who spoke about the promise of change after the chaos and decline of 14 years of a Conservative government. He told members how his experience as a school teacher and university lecturer had driven him to step forward as a parliamentary candidate, so he could help to drive that change.

Leader of Bracknell Forest Council, Mary Temperton, spoke about her many years’ experience of campaigning for Labour in Bracknell; how last year, against all the odds, Bracknell Labour had won back control of the council after 26 long years; and how we now faced the realistic prospect of another historic moment – Bracknell’s first ever Labour MP.
We also heard from Tim Starkey, Labour’s candidate for the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner election in May. Tim spoke powerfully of the need for a Labour government to restore trust in the criminal justice system. He also thanked Bracknell Labour members for all their support during his campaign.

The event was chaired by Dr Roy Bailey, with Guy Gilbe giving valuable advice on campaigning and Cherise Welch providing a crash course on social media training.
Peter rounded the morning off with a final call to arms. The result could come down to only a handful of votes – so every extra door knocked, every extra leaflet delivered, every extra conversation with friends and neighbours could make all the difference.

Members then headed off to knock on doors and speak to voters about their priorities for Bracknell, Crowthorne and Sandhurst.