Please help us to seize this opportunity

[Christine Burns <Christine_Burns@compuserve.com>]

Thursday 7th August

PLEASE ENABLE US TO SEIZE THIS OPPORTUNITY

An Unrecedented Lobby Opportunity For the Taking

So long as we can raise the cash

----------------------

Press for Change has, today, been offered a chance to take an exhibition
stand at this year's Labour Party conference in Brighton. We need your
help to seize the opportunity though.

After three years of patiently campaigning in hotel rooms on the fringes of
the UK's main party conferences, this has to be the most important
opportunity we've ever had to be seen .. and to talk to .. the people who
matter to us politically.

We had *hoped* to be able to get a stand like this before, right in the
heart of the conference venue, but failed because the Labour confernece
was (hardly surprisingly) a sell out.

Rather reluctantly we had decided to settle for another fringe
meeting, along the lines we've campaigned in the previous two years.

Today, however, the phone rang .. and the conference organisers told us
that they've had a late cancellation .. and would we like to book the
space instead ?

It is hard to overstate the opportunity which this represents.

The governing party's conference is, of course, attended by literally
thousands
of grass roots activists .. the people who hold the power of life and death
over
an MP's long term political career. The back bench MP's themselves, and 
government ministers are also there, of course .. along with
representatives
of most of the trade unions and one of the largest single assemblies of 
journalists in the annual news calendar.

As a conference go-er myself I can tell you .. EVERYBODY visits the
exhibition
stands at least once. For the businesses, charities and campaign groups
fighting 
over a limited a limited number of stand spaces, this is one of the most
valuable
opportunities to spend an entire week being seen .. and talking to people.

Not surprisingly, however, it's also .. for that reason .. not cheap !

The "rub" is that the week's exhibition space will cost Press for Change
just under
three thousand pounds .. plus a few hidden extras. 

Of course, three thousand pounds is just peanuts to many of the businesses
that
attend .. and quite a few charities too. For an organisation which has
managed 
till now to exist on just over four thousand a year though (!) it is a very
ambitious
step.

Ambitious .. that is .. unless you think of it as sixty pence for every
transsexual we aim to represent .. 

.. And certainly NOT ambitious if you want to take up an opportunity that
comes
just once a year to let the entire governing establishment SEE who and what
we
are .. what sort of people are ASKING for their rights back .. and
UNDERSTAND
what we stand for.

We want to take the stand and seize that opportunity.

As this is a cancellation place, however, we have just hours in which to
make 
that decision .. to figure out what chances we have to *raise* that sort of
money.

Some of us are prepared to underwrite PFC's debt in the short term .. up to
a point.
We'll do that to buy time to seek out possible sponsorship from supportive
trade unions and publishers (whose books we'll promote and sell during
that week).

The lions share of the cash is probably going to HAVE to come from the
people
who stand to benefit the most, however .. YOU !

If you can afford an email account then we'd like you to contribute at
least ten pounds
this weekend (better still, FIFTY) to help us raise the money to put YOUR
case in
front of TEN THOUSAND DECISION MAKERS.

There are 147 members of this list. If you ALL contributed just ten pounds
then, at least,
we'd be half way there. If you got one friend each to chip in another ten
pounds then
we might actually make it.

The more you send, the easier it will be to get sponsors to plug the gap
too.

This is NOT a tomorrow decision though. We need your pledges and cash NOW.

Here's how to help ...

Send cheques payable to "Press for Change" to our normal postal address
(that's Press for Change, BM Network, London, WC1N 3XX).

If you're one of our overseas supporters simply visit or write to your bank

and ask them to transfer the amount you want to give to :

Press for Change
c/o National Westminster Bank PLC
280 Claremont Road
Manchester
M14 4EP
ENGLAND

Bank sort code : 01-02-02
Account : 21752486

The bank makes a five pounds charge for each credit received from the 
international banking system (CHAPS), so please bear this in mind when 
deciding how much to give.

EITHER WAY let us know what you're sending (or plan to send) by 
emailing our pledge address :

        Press_For_Change@Compuserve.com

But PLEASE don't leave it .. or expect everyone else to cough up on
your behalf. Press for Change has never made a specific campaign
funding request of this kind before. Instead, we scrape by every year on
the kind donations of a handful of people, supplemented by the
priceless contributions of an even smaller number of people willing
to give up almost all their free time to campaign for
everyone's benefit.

Miss this bus though and the next one doesn't come down
this street for another year.

Send us what you can .. and we'll DO what we can to make this autumn
the time when Press for Change comes of age. The time when ten thousand
people go home from Brighton seriously questionning WHY the law abuses
us as it does.

For a hundred pounds it's good value. For ten pounds .. it's a once in a
lifetime opportunity.

Kindest Regards

Christine Burns
Vice President
Press for Change