UKIP – Go Big or Go Pink

Saturday 29^th November marked a turning point for UKIP Newbury.  We hired the UKIP bus, an open-topped double decker; 7 members were aboard, including Catherine Anderson, our elected candidate for the May 2015 General Election, as we set off at about 9.30am. We started by tripping through Newbury accompanied by stirring music such as the Dambusters theme and tunes from Calamity Jane sung by Doris Day.  This put us in a good mood and clearly appealed to those early in town.  We were greeted with many a friendly wave by a public taken rather by surprise.  And we, of course were waving back.

Leaving the centre of Newbury behind, we circuited the main residential roads to the south of Newbury, covering everything from the Racecourse via Greenham to Wash Common.  Here we paused for a spot of leafletting and talking to people; one even asked the bus to pass by again as he enjoyed it so much!  Then we went back up to the A4 and onwards to Thatcham. It was heartening to be spotted by so many and encouraged by smiles and thumbs up signs. We eventually headed west again, through the town centre, retracing our route to Newbury.

One of our members kindly staged a coffee break at his house, enabling us all to warm up again, before we headed off to Hungerford.  We continued to get encouraging thumbs up, horn tooting, and flashing of headlights all the way along the A4.  We were particularly mindful of the white van man, but in fact this signalling was very widespread. The high level of favourable recognition was remarkable and augurs well for 2015. Reaching Hungerford, we went up the main road to the top end of town, then returned to the canal bridge.  After a brief photo stop, we again retraced our route to finish in Newbury – what a successful and encouraging day.”