West Central London West Central London Green Party Annual Report: year ended 31st August 2020 Officers Chair/Coordinator Vivien Lichtenstein Secretary Erwin Schaefer Co-treasurer Alex Horn and Colin Murphy Membership Officer Erwin Schaefer Events Coordinator Alex Horn Press Officer Barbara Holloway Electoral Returning Officer James Hewitt Election Agent LBHF – Colin Murphy and Naranee Ruthra-Rajan RBKC – Angela Georgievski Westminster – Vivien Lichtenstein Campaigns Officer Angela Georgievski Campaigns Officer (1) Piera Dencker-Rasmussen de Mascoli Campaigns Officer (2) Naranee Ruthra-Rajan Youth / Students Katie Georgievska Website Manager Vivien Lichtenstein Social Media Barbara Holloway, Alex Horn and Zack Polanski (1) Piera took on the 2020 Mayoral and London Assembly elections until they were cancelled (2) In July, Naranee took on the 2021 Mayoral and London Assembly elections, and 2022 Local Elections OFFICER REPORTS Vivien Lichtenstein, Chair/Coordinator First, my thanks to all our officers for their work throughout the year. We held a formal meeting every month at the Coffee Plant until lockdown, except for December’s which was a social event raising funds for the Paddington Food Bank – see Alex’s report below for online events when we became unable to meet in person. We built on the previous year’s Action Days with leafleting for the 2020 Mayoral and Assembly elections which subsequently had to be cancelled. See Naranee’s report below for the next phase of our election campaigning. We have also assisted local campaigns in development issues, especially Save Earl’s Court and the Royal Brompton Hospital. (I stood as the General Election candidate in Kensington – that decision followed a debate at a local party meeting due to the close result in 2017’s GE. Our thanks to Colin Boyle, Coordinator of London Green Party, for chairing whether or not to stand in each of our constituencies – see below.) Alex Horn and Colin Murphy, Co-treasurer Please see the financial accounts for the year 1.9.19 to 31.8.20 below. Our thanks to generous donors for covering our election deposits. Erwin Schaefer, Secretary The primary role is to attend the monthly meetings and record accurate minutes. While this is much more fun in a face-to-face setting it can also be done via zoom as we've had to adapt to the current situation. Since the last AGM we have had a snap General Election; as local party we are ultimately responsible for the decision to field a candidate and the results, as per our meeting on 4th November 2019, for the five constituencies in our area were as follows: 1. Unanimous decision to withdraw in Chelsea & Fulham, as part of the electoral agreement, in favour of the Liberal Democrats. 2. Unanimous decision to field Alex Horn in Hammersmith 3. Unanimous decision to field Holly Robinson in Westminster North 4. Unanimous decision to field Zack Polanski in Cities of London and Westminster 5. Majority decision to field Vivien Lichtenstein in Kensington Some of our votes held up well, despite the general polarisation over the EU membership issue at the time. Naranee Ruthra-Rajan, Elections Campaigns Manager Election Report - Breakthrough 2022 The Election Subcommittee has been meeting weekly since 30th July to look at how to produce successful campaigns to maximise electoral success both in the London Assembly Elections in May 2021 and the London Council Elections in May 2022. Whilst other work happens in the local party around events and policy making, the emphasis for the subcommittee is entirely on election strategy. Because of first past the post, we have to focus on target wards. This strategy of Target to Win has been very successful in areas around the country particularly in the West Midlands. We have been through a data-driven process and lots of consultation to secure our three target wards for 2021 and we very excitingly achieved Regional Development Ward Status in all three. Our wards are: • Coningham in Hammersmith • Norland in Kensington and Chelsea • Church Street in Westminster The team has worked brilliantly together, and we look forward to more people getting involved with the campaign very soon. If you would like to get involved, contact us on [email protected] Alex Horn, Events Coordinator Since the last AGM, WCL Green Party has organised four physical events: three documentary screenings and one “Three parks and a garden” walk in summer. The three screenings took place in autumn and winter and were about the stealth privatisation of the NHS (GROUNDSWELL), Global Warming (DO the MATH) and the great biomass scams (BURNED). Covid-19 forced us to organise online events, which we did: “A Green's place is in the Lords with Natalie Bennett”, “Bamboo - Miracle Plant?”, “Reclaiming London for Active Travel”, “Is Continuous Economic Growth Sustainable on a Finite Planet?”, “Citizens Assemblies - a Discussion”. Overall, we raised just under £300 from our film screenings. We will continue to plan events for the next year 2020-2021, two of which are already in the pipeline: “London’s Housing Crisis” on 26-NOV-2020 and “Green Investing” scheduled for 21-JAN-2021. (You can find details of these events here https://wcl.greenparty.org.uk/past- events.html with links to the videos and relevant articles.) Erwin Schaefer, Membership Officer Do you like welcoming new Green Party members to tell them about their local party activities that they may not be aware of? Do you like convincing people to renew their recently expired membership and make a case for local Green Party membership? Perhaps on a monthly recurring basis, by email or phone? This is the job description and if you can see yourself enjoying to take on this important responsibility, why not consider standing for this position? And last, but not least, Zack Polanski, our London Assembly candidate: It's been an interesting time as a candidate - as it has for all of us! I think the key thing is that May's election wasn't cancelled. It's been postponed - and that means we're building on the already brilliant work we've been doing in West Central London. In March 2020, an Evening Standard poll gave us an historic 13% which would mean I'd be joining the London Assembly as our third Green Assembly Member. With this extra year, we'd love to get even higher so we can get even more Greens joining Caroline Russell, Siân Berry and me. If you'd like to get involved with that campaign or have any questions, please get in touch on [email protected] WCL Green Party Financial Accounts for the year ended 31st August 2020 2020 2019 INCOME Capitation 1,122 1,092 Donations: Elections 2,326 0 General 304 289 Events 298 0 Social event 115 226 3,043 515 4,166 1,607 EXPENDITURE Election Deposits 2,000 0 Newsletters / election leaflets 658 104 Room hire 441 435 Printing 0 218 Food & drinks / hospitality 106 186 Postage / Stationery 6 8 Miscellaneous 144 0 Donation - Paddington Food Bank 115 40 3,469 991 Surplus (deficit) for the year 696 616 BALANCE SHEET Reserves b/fwd 1,535 919 Surplus (deficit) for the year 696 616 Reserves c/fwd 2,231 1,535 Represented by: Balance at bank 2,231 1,573 Creditors 0 38 2,231 1,535 .