By Anna Damski
Halesworth is a lovely little market town on the edge of the Suffolk Heritage Coastline area, due west of Southwold. Its main shopping street – The Thoroughfare – is full of mostly independent shops. On a chilly mid-March Saturday with threatening rain, shoppers were thinner on the ground than usual.
When it came to setting up our street stall, our day was filled with challenges. We weren’t able to set up in our usual location, so it was just as well that volunteers were very thin on the ground, as our new spot was quite a bit more cramped! It was still thankfully close to an organic cafe, so hot drinks and cakes were readily available and very welcome. We ended up with three of us, two committee members and two volunteers who did a relay switch with a short overlap halfway through our stint.
In a gusty March wind, it wasn’t easy to get it all set up, but thankfully Philip brought large pebbles along to hold things down and only once did we have to go running down the street chasing some leaflets that got away!
Having so few of us was a challenge because a) a good crowd always attracts more people over, and b) on the odd occasions when the stall did get busy, we couldn’t get to everyone and as a result, some people drifted off without us being able to engage with them and c) we didn’t have enough coverage to get people to sign up to SEUA, so only got about four signatures.
It was mostly remainers who engaged with us, and just as in Woodbridge, a majority at this point just want to see Article 50 revoked. It’s interesting to see how many would consider voting for the Independent Group if they became a party.
Very few leavers were prepared to vote, which is a shame, but we did have a few conversations with them – though we didn’t change any minds. The most bizarre one was with an elderly man who said he thinks England should have a referendum on whether Scotland should be able to remain part of the Union, because apparently he hates Scottish politicians such as Alec Doublas-Home (who was Prime Minister from 1963-64!!) and Gordon Brown. Obviously he has a bit of a chip there. I don’t suppose he was too impressed with the England/Scotland rugby result later that day!
Despite the Thoroughfare being fairly quiet, we had about 60 people vote on our Brexitometer, and a number of people told us they were going to the march, which was great news. Also, it didn’t rain! Hurrah!
