A very cold night on the north east coast saw an excellent turnout for the inaugural meeting of the revitalised Redcar & Cleveland Branch of UKIP.
North East Regional organiser Gordon Parkin gave everyone a very warm welcome in the function room at the Clarendon Hotel, Redcar and went on to outline UKIP’s many policies and to reassure the members and supporters present that UKIP is not a single policy party.
Gordon then invited everyone to a tea or coffee at the break and all took the opportunity to get to know each other.
The meeting continued with two guest speakers; the first was John Tennant who is currently a researcher for UKIP MEP Derek Clark. John related some very enlightening experiences of his time working in Brussels and Strasbourg and explaining how the system works, evidentially with little democratic process involved. Mr Richard Elvin, North East Regional Committee Chairman, spoke next and told of his achievement in the recent Middlesbrough bye-election coming an astounding second. Richard went on to give an insight into how the election process works for both general and local elections and how that relates to UKIP members. Both speakers received enthusiastic applause.
Gordon concluded the meeting by asking for nominees for the vacant posts for officials.
From the 16 new faces present Pamela Preedy stood for secretary, previous incumbent Mr Bob Parker agreed to remain as treasurer and Gordon Parkin assumed the chairman’s role on a temporary basis.
The next meeting was set for 21st February at the same time (7pm) and same venue where meetings will be held every 3rd Thursday in the month. The meeting was then closed.
Members and supporters retired directly to the bar afterwards for a friendly and informal chat.

Peter Fairless

First Meeting for Redcar & Cleveland Branch: It was an excellent turnout for UKIP’s first meeting of 2013 in The Clarendon Hotel Redcar where meetings will be held on the third Thursday of each month at 7pm. Present were North East Regional officials Gordon Parkin (front right) and Richard Elvin (2nd left) and an exceptionally good number of new faces.