The glamour of a builder's bucket for a sink!

It was all hands on deck this week having found out at a very late stage that one of our local councils was sending out their postal votes (14,000 of them) a week earlier than anticipated, and a week before the planned date listed on the Electoral Commission's website. 

As a consequence, rather than having 10 days to print and pack thousands of letters for postal voters, we had just three days - with everything being brought forward a week. This included printing all the local manifesto leaflets (20 versions) plus printing and mailmerging the letter for postal voters, packing them into envelopes in getting them onto the doormats before the ballot paper arrived. 

Firstly, my thanks must go to Jon Botten who went "above and beyond the call of duty" to help get everything ready. We were here from 8am - 10pm, including working over the weekend, too. Also to our printer, Jason Allen of DA Printers in Rochester, who cleared the decks and worked around the clock to design, print and fold our leaflets at such short notice. And most importantly of all, to a small army of helpers who worked in shifts to ensure every envelope was packed and sorted. In total, over 30 volunteers came into the office over a two day period, with help coming from four West Kent Associations. Teamwork at its best!

As well as keeping the riso-graph going at full speed, and feeding three laser printers, I also ended-up tea boy and washer-up in chief. Sadly, West Kent Towers does not have a kitchen, so an impromptu black bucket has come the sink.