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Welcome letter sent to all new members

Dear New Member

Thankyou for your subscription to join Shepway Friends of the Earth, we look forward to working with you on any campaigns in which you wish to take part. We do not put pressure on anyone to campaign on the streets if they are not so inclined. Many people, for reasons of work etc, wish to keep a low profile. There are other ways in which you can help, collecting jumble to help raise funds is probably as important as any for we cannot campaign without the necessary funds. At the public enquiry against the A259 Romney Marsh Bypass schemes, two years ago, we spent over £1100 on legal representation and expert advice. We have recently learnt that the scheme has been scrapped, partly due to our and other group's efforts. (We have also been fully reimbursed for our expenses!)

Writing letters is one very important campaigning tool which many of our members undertake and it really makes a difference. The yardstick by which politicians judge the electorate is as follows: if one person writes a letter, then ten others would have the same opinion but never get round to writing about them, and ten more would have written had they heard about the subject, and so on. I think the final analysis turns out to be 200 supporters for every letter written! The pen is a very powerful campaigning tool indeed.

We operate by way of a steering group, rather than the traditional co-ordinator, thus spreading the work load and preventing 'burn out' as so often occurs with environmental pressure groups. Anyone is entitled to be present at steering group meetings and can also call a meeting if they wish to pursue any particular campaign themselves. We will discuss the problem and, if deemed to be within Shepway Friends of the Earth's remit, will lend all the support and the wealth of back-up information that we have via our contacts around the country, if not the world, to promote that campaign.

Welcome to the group, we look forward to working with you.

Shepway Friends of the Earth Local Group