Members moving house - we really must do better!

An email received today hit one of my (many) raw nerves. It was from a member who had received an invitation to our new members' reception and had emailed to say that he was far from a new member, but had been an active member for many decades and had lapsed when he moved house. 

This is an issue which has been irritating me for years. 

Last year I notified 36 Conservative Associations (including some very safe seats with paid staff/organisers) of the fact that a local member from West Kent was moving into their constituency. In each case I gave them the name and address where the member was moving to along with the membership details. Some of these removals were longstanding and active members (Branch Chairmen, Association Officers, former - and perhaps future - council candidates). Around half of these people were never contacted again. Some rejoined in Kent as they wanted to continue to support the Party. Many more I suspect simply fell by the wayside (as did our correspondent above, until we contacted him a few weeks ago). Each year we must lose thousands of members due to this inefficiency. 

In theory as many members must move into the five West Kent Associations as move out, but last year I received just one email to inform me of someone moving to our area (who is now active locally). 

This is, I must say, not something we can blame on VoteSource or CCHQ. It is plain inefficiency! And we really should do better.