SOUTHPORT SIGNALS’ DOUBLE CELEBRATION

THE Worshipful the Mayor of Sefton, Councillor Maureen Fearn JP, was the Guest of Honour at a St George’s Day Dinner, held recently at the Prince of Wales Hotel, Lord Street, Southport, on Saturday, 23 April 2011.

The Mayor, together with Her Consort, Mr Frank Winrow, mingled with about 40 members and guests at a champagne reception prior to dinner. The Branch Chairman, Tommy Thompson, gave a brief history of the Branch before cutting the special cake to mark the 30 years existence of the Branch and proposed the toast to "Absent Friends".

The members and guests then enjoyed a traditional and memorable St George’s Day Dinner in the International Suite, which had been suitably decorated for the occasion.

The Loyal and other toasts were proposed by the Master of Ceremonies, Jim Johnson and the Eulogy to St George was given by the President, Major Alex Littlejohn.

In her reply, the Mayor thanked the members for their kind invitation and spoke of her many years working in communications with BT.  Membership of the Royal Signals Association is open to all present or past Officers, Warrant Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Signallers of the Royal Corps of Signals including ATS, WAC(1) and WRAC.

The Southport and District Branch also welcome, as Associate Members, those who support the Aims and Principles of the Royal Signals Association.   Details of Membership, Branch events and any other queries should be addressed to the Branch Secretary via emailing:- frasergordon@live.co.uk.

Voters urged to get ready for ‘Super Thursday’

THE Electoral Commission, the independent elections and referendum watchdog, is urging voters to get ready before they go to the polls on Thursday, 5 May 2011.

With only a few days to go before many areas in England have local elections and the UK-wide referendum on the voting system used to elect MPs takes place, now is the time when voters will be making up their minds how to cast their votes on polling day.

The Commission’s advice to voters is:-

Be prepared

The Commission has sent information booklets on the local elections and the referendum to every household. The booklet can be seen and downloaded from:- aboutmyvote.co.uk or ordered from our helpline on:- 0800 3 280 280.

The referendum question being put to voters on Thursday 5 May is:- "At present, the UK uses the ’first past the post’ system to elect MPs to the House of Commons. Should the ‘alternative vote’ system be used instead?" Voters need to mark an ‘X’ next to ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.

Plan when to vote

Polling stations are open from 7am to 10pm on Thursday 5 May. Make sure you arrive in good time - by law, polling station staff cannot give out ballot papers after 10pm, even if you are in the polling station. So don’t cut it too fine!

Voting by post?

Postal voters need to be received by the Returning Officer by 10pm on Thursday, 5 May 2011. If you’ve left it too late to post back, you can drop it off at your polling station or call your local council to find out where to return it.

On the day

Details of where your polling station is can be found on your poll card. You don’t need this to vote, but it may help speed up the process if you have it with you. If you don’t, don’t let that put you off voting. At the polling station, the staff are there to help you with any practical issues, but of course will not be able to help you decide how to cast your vote or explain the two voting systems that are the subject of the referendum.

And finally… stay tuned for the results!

Local election counts will start from Thursday night onwards, with election results being declared overnight and throughout Friday 6 May.

Counting for the referendum begins at 4pm on Friday, 6 May 2011. All the referendum results can be seen on our website, so stay tune to find out how your part of the country has voted at:- aboutmyvote.co.uk/referendumresults.

AV gives power back to the People of Merseyside...

ON the 5 May 2011, voters across the UK will decide if they want to adopt the Alternative Vote (AV) to elect their MPs. New research from the Independent think-tank NEF (the New Economics Foundation) has shown that a switch to AV will give the people of Southport a huge boost in 'voter power' of over 30%.

John Ault from Yes to Fairer Votes in the North West Region said:- "Voters on Merseyside stand to gain particular benefit from a change to AV. AV means MPs would have to work harder to reach out and listen to more people and aim to get at least 50% majority support. In short the Alternative Vote takes power away from politicians and puts it into the hands of ordinary people. Nor can it be right that whilst many of us our concerned about our jobs, MPs have jobs for life."

At the moment elections are decided by only 1.6% of voters in marginal seats and most MPs are elected with around 1 in 3 votes meaning more people have voted against them than for them.

The new ‘Voter Power Index’ found that a move to AV would mean an increase of 23.5% in the average power of UK voters. But voters in the North West would benefit by an average of 31 per cent boost, well above the national average.

Further research from the Independent think tank NEF (the New Economics Foundation). The report is based on a comprehensive statistical analysis of general elections in the UK over the last 30 years.