The ALDC Office will be open until 3.00pm on Friday 23 December 2011, and re-open at 9.30am on Tuesday 3 January 2012. 

Messages on the answerphone will be dealt with in the new year, so if there are any urgent advice queries please use the "Advice" facility on this website, which will be checked over the holiday period. 

If there are any urgent queries over the myCouncillor system, or any system problems, these should also be reported through the same link. 

Can we take the opportunity to wish all our members and friends a very Happy Christmas, and the very best for 2012. 

Anders, David, Eleanor, Emma, John, Mark and Tim!

Following on from the success of our 2011 artwork pack, ALDC has again commissioned a series of FOCUS and campaign material templates for use by Liberal Democrat campaigners. These are exclusively available to members of ALDC. 

Pack 1 was released at the start of August: 
The templates include: a range of A4 focus templates (to add to the A3 templates produced last year), and a wide variety of materials for "knocking on doors" - surveys (national and local), single issue door-knocking and candidate calling leaflets.   - all of which have been produced in black and white, two colour (for RISOs) and in full colour (Colour RISO or commercial printer). All the FOCUS leaflets have variations to allow for single and for two and three member wards and election campaigns, and different pull outs for  fighting the Tories and Labour. 

The templates use a standard set of fonts, which you need to install on your computer first - or the templates won't work correctly!

Remember you need to "log-in" as an ALDC member to download these files - your log-in details are the bottom of your weekly Campaigner email. 

ALDC members can download PDF and PagePlus files of all the Pack 1 templates from our website here. 

If you're not a member of ALDC please join us! Join today, without any paperwork here. 

G8 Grants for Local Campaigning (England and Wales)

The "G8 Grants" Committee is now seeking applications for funding for "Stage 1" grants in England and Wales. Separate information will be sent out for grants in Scotland.
Later in the year we hope to be running a "Stage 2" round of grants, subject to funding.

For stage 1, two types of grant are available:

A. 2012 Local Elections in England and Wales: Rewarding Early Campaigning

We know from experience that early campaigning activity works. We want to reward those that are starting early on their campaign for 2012 and are therefore making grants to local parties to reward early campaign activity in the summer and autumn of 2011 and help finance their campaign during the autumn.

- funding is for wards we are defending in 2012, and for gains where a local party can put forward a strong case for targeting
- where people have elections by 1/3rds we are keen to support wards that we are defending in 2012 but that we lost in 2011.

To be eligible for a grant we will need to see most of the following in place:

- delivery of literature has been taking place in summer 2011, and a literature plan in place up to the elections.
- knocking on doors has been taking place in summer 2011, and that a plan of knocking on doors, and phoning voters is in place up to the elections
- a candidate is in place, or you are well on track towards getting a candidate in place as early as possible
- you have agreed a clear and realistic strategy across the authority for the 2012 elections, and which wards will be targeted.

Link to application form  

B. 2012 Local Elections in England and Wales, and 2013 County and Unitary Elections in England: Kickstart Training We are keen to support campaign teams to develop their skills and ensure they have the right plan in place to win in 2012 and 2013. We will be providing grants to pay for 50% of the cost of attending the important Kickstart Training weekend 25-27 November 2011 in Birmingham. Priority will be given to teams who don't have the group funds available to pay for this and the limit is two subsidised places per authority area.

Link to application form

If you need further information about G8 , please email Eleanor Ritchie eleanor.ritchie@aldc.org

The deadline for applications is 29 August 2011

The Women Liberal Democrats are looking for nominations for the Patsy Calton Award 2011. Do you know of a woman/ women in your group, local branch or local party that should be celebrated?

The Patsy Calton Award aims to celebrate female activism at all levels within the Liberal Democrats. From MEP's, MP's, PPC's, AM's. MSP's to councillors and activists, we are looking for someone who is an inspiration to others and their achievements deserve to be rewarded. We hope that this will encorage other women to become involved in politics in some way.

Here is a form that explains exactly what the Patsy Calton Award is and how you can nominate someone.

We look forward to your nominations and learning about the fantastic achievements that women around the country have made. Deadline for nominations is 1st August 2011.

The Liberal Democrat "Council Group of the Year" awards were awarded at a special reception at Spring Conference in Sheffield.

The Awards are organised by the LGA Liberal Democrat Group.

Council Group of the Year: Sheffield (Highly Commended – Northampton)

Efficiency & Service Transformation: Oldham (Highly Commended – Wirral)

The Vice President’s Award: RB Kingston Green

Council of the Year: Joint winners Cambridge City and Newcastle City (Highly Commended – Hull)

Services to Children & Young People: Joint winners Oldham and RB Kingston

Strengthening Communities: Warrington

Teamwork: Burnley

Leader’s award: Peter Moore, Sheffield

Opposition Group of the Year: Joint winners LB Islington and Northamptonshire CC