On Saturday 19th February, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) organised a Keep the Post Public demonstration in Beeston.

The march was an impressive size with over 1,000 people in attendance. Beginning at Beeston mail centre on Padge Road, it made its way through Beeston, along the High Street, down to the bridge on Station Road and ended at New Venture Social Club.

One of the more interesting landmarks on the route was the New Beeston Conservative Club (at Winston Churchill House). The march stopped here briefly to target some abuse, at the apparently empty building. A wreath was also laid, presumably to mark the death of the postal service.

It has to be said, that while relatively noisy, the march was not necessarily militant and the few police in attendance were mainly interested in stopping traffic. Certainly, you can't imagine the students being allowed to march past a major Tory target, without the police making some effort to protect it.

The Labour Party had apparently had a role in organising the protest (which must have been a new experience for most of them) and party banners were prominent. I noticed MP Lillian Greenwood, ex-MP Nick Palmer (remember him?) and councillor Steve Barber on the march. Despite the prevalence of banners it was difficult to gauge exactly how many people they had been able to turn out.

Presumably at least some of the party faithful feel that Labour's new found love for a nationalised postal service sits uncomfortably with their efforts, only a couple of years ago, to flog it off.

Beeston is represented in Parliament by Tory Anna Soubry. She has had a running battle with the local CWU in the Nottingham Post, after she claimed in Parliament that none of the postal workers in Beeston had written to her opposing privatisation of the Royal Mail. With Soubry taking the constituency with only a tiny majority (0.7%), it isn't surprising that the Labour Party should take an interest in her discomfort.

The choice to end that march at a social club struck me as an interesting one. Why leave at the end of a demonstration and go to the pub when you can just have the rally in licensed premises?

The panel on the platform was made up of 7 people and included Greeenwood, Palmer, Billy Hayes (General Secretary of the CWU) and Richard Buckwell (Notts Trades Council). This didn't exactly fill me with excitement so after taking advantage of the free food (sausage, chips, beans and/or mushy peas - less the sausage if you're vegetarian) I slipped out.

Palmer had just begun as I left and it has to be said that all the spare time he's had recently hasn't improved his oratory skills. From the corridor outside the main hall, he sounded like a less camp version of South Park's Mr Garrett.