18 January 2006

Jan meeting

Just a couple of points to flag up

  • Jemima Kiss and Andy Tate chosen to represent branch at Annual Delegate Meeting in Liverpool in March.
  • Ideas to commemorate Rowan - have a Brighton and Hove bus named after him. Name a seat at the new Brighton football ground (if it's ever built) in the press box after him.
  • And our plea for help has been answered. Charles Whitney from the Argus has offered to organise the next newsletter. And Adam Juniper is also willing to help out.
  • Still no meeting next month. The next one is likely to be on March 21. Next newsletter will come out about a week before that meeting.

16 January 2006

Possible memorial

It's been suggested that the branch consider some sort of commemorative action in the wake of Rowan Dore's death. However no concrete ideas have emerged. Does anyone have a suggestion to make on an appropriate action we could take? This will be discussed at tomorrow's meeting.

09 January 2006

Help!

We desperately need help to keep going. Your three officials – Adrian Colley, Jemima Kiss and Virginia Bridgewater are likely to spend most of this year out of Sussex. We could well need people to fill the role of chair, secretary (or joint secretary) and welfare officer in the next three months. It’s too early to say what the outcome of our various commitments will be but there could be significant personal changes which will affect the branch.

Without people to help fill the first two posts the branch will cease to exist because it’s the secretary and chair who have organised everything for the last four years. In the short term we’ve had to decide that there will be no meeting or mailout in February. We just don’t have the time to do the legwork involved. There WILL be a meeting in March – to discuss the way our ADM reps should vote at the March ADM. Beyond March, who knows?

Unfortunately the situation is critical and we need people to come forward to help out in any way possible. One way might be for people to come forward to act as joint chair with Jemima or joint secretary with me. If no one comes forward the branch is likely to stop operating by the summer. Jemima divides her time between Sussex and the West Country and I may move to a new role in my workplace which will considerably cut the amount of time I can devote to branch business.

06 January 2006

Freelance activists' course

You may have spotted this in the latest edition of The Journalist (p18) but I thought it worth putting up as we have so many freelances in the branch.

The NUJ is running its first training course for freelance activists on January 28 (presumably in London, it doesn't say where).

It will cover the role of the freelance rep, the law, representing members, negotiating skills and organising freelances. Details from freelance@nuj.org.uk or phone 0207 843 3703.

05 January 2006

Up for grabs

Copies of the following available. Email us and they can be put in the post

1 The Zimbabwean
2 The Hastings Trawler - supplied by branch member Stuart Christie
3 Searchlight - nasty Nazis and their latest exploits. Quite an eye-bleeding read!
4 CPBF's Free Press
5 A DVD from the Working Class Movement Library in Salford. Narrated by Dr Who no less (Chris Ecclestone)

04 January 2006

Rowan RIP

A crowd of up to 500 mourners paid their last respects to Rowan Dore who was buried earlier today at St Margarets Church, Rottingdean. The nearby Plough Inn was choc-a-bloc for hours afterwards as his friends and family drank to the doyen of Sussex journalism. Red wine flowed as Rowan would have wanted it to. A wreath from the branch was among the floral tributes sent to the funeral.

Mourners included former Press Association correspondent, the legendary Chris Moncrieff, with whom Rowan once formed part of PA’s Parliamentary team, leading Sussex politicians and dozens, maybe 100-plus, of journalists who attended a lyrical service which vividly evoked an uncannily accurate picture of Rowan and his life’s achievements.

It was almost, for ex-Argus staff, a day out with everyone you’d ever worked with – a sure sign of the respect in which Rowan, who died on December 15, was held. Ex-Argus staffer Chris Baker travelled up from Torbay for the funeral and Guardian employee and former Brighton/Mid Sussex branch secretary Helene Mulholland came down from London. Rowan was widely respected outside journalistic circles – actor Mark Brailsford dedicated Brighton Komedia’s Christmas Treason Show last week to Rowan’s memory – he was a big fan of the satire show.

Once again, the branch offers condolences to Rowan’s family. And spare a thought for Argus staff – as one reporter said: “It’s been like a morgue ever since he died.” That was three weeks ago and Argus journalists have bravely carried on despite the pain. The branch hopes from the heart that the Argus has a happier 2006.

Thanks once again to Karen Hoy for keeping us informed and I understand Phil Mills will be penning a fuller, and better, report in today’s (Thursday’s) edition of the Argus. Click on the headline and you can link through to the Argus site.

And there's a touching few pars from the Roy Greenslade's Telegraph column here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/12/27/ccnote27.xml

03 January 2006

ADM motions

The preliminary agenda for the ADM is now available. If you want the branch to propose an amendment to any of the 175 motions then you have to come along to this month's meeting on the 17th and have it accepted and backed by the branch. This will be the only chance you have left to influence union policy as the deadline for amendments to motions is January 23.

So come and make your case. Click on this item's headline to access the NUJ site where you can download the full agenda, if you do not have a copy.