IT’S BEEN a while since we wrote about our campaign to win new readers. This isn’t due to lack of activity – far from it.  The workload at one time had quite distinct bursts of activity particularly around key calendar dates and conferences, but with the continued strike wave and since the crisis in Gaza began there has been no time for complacency.  

Our ambassadors on the ground the readers and supporters’ groups, Communist Party branches/regions and trades councils have been taking advantage of the editor’s decision to always provide papers for free distribution at picket lines and demonstrations and stalls supporting the people of Gaza.  

This weekend we are sending papers to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Torquay, Newcastle, and Shrewsbury. Make sure that ordering the paper is high on the agenda when organising any event.

As a small title we often get forgotten about by the trade so when we heard that October had been designated Home News Delivery (HND) month we leapt into action and organised an advertising campaign and spoke to our principal trading partners to ensure that we too could make an offer to our readers.  

Martin McColls have been a long-term retail partner who have seen many changes recently. Morrisons purchased McColls and saved the high street retailer.  

They have been rebranding and upgrading all the McColls shops as Morrison’s Daily. Newspapers are still seen as a profitable commodity and indeed HND is back being promoted. During October we ensured that every Morrisons Daily and McColls store received copy and we promoted offers against other titles and promoted HND.  This has proved successful, and we have agreed to work closely in the year ahead and have built into our contract the ability to carry out more promotional activities. Our HND partner NewsTeam also saw an increase in new subscribers in October too. 

This week another HND agent, Pipers, came to our attention. A family-owned business, they cover East Sussex, West Sussex, South Surrey and West Kent. Using Pipers, we been able to facilitate HND to one of our digital readers who wished to read the print edition.  

By signing up for HND six days a week this reader will benefit from a free digital subscription package going forward. If you are in the areas served by Pipers visit their website www.pipersnews.co.uk or phone 01323 840-753.

During the week ahead we will be gearing up to participate in the large demonstration in London in support of Palestinians. With over half a million taking part last weekend, we expect next Saturday’s demonstration to be at least as large. Look out for notices in the paper and on social media seeking helpers to distribute and details of where we will be. 

Please do let us know if you can help as it assists us in our decision-making on papers to be printed.  

The mantra Read, Buy and Sell the Morning Star never gets old – let’s all see what we can do.