As I pack up my bags from my last of five summer training events, having had far too little sleep and too many cringe worthy Karaoke moments, I am looking at the diary for the next term with a mixture of excitement and weariness.

NUS has always been known for trying to pull off a lot of events in a very short amount of time, but no-one has seen a term like the one we are about to face. In a matter of weeks we will be packing up the bags and hitting the road, taking our demands for a fairer higher education funding system to a town centre near you.

What is particularly exciting for me about this campaign action is I remember being sat in the Campaigns Convention in 2007 as an education officer discussing the need for an action like the Town Takeovers. In this session I and several others wanted to hear about how we were taking this campaign out of the campus and into the community. We knew it was vital to spread our message to the public, to engage our members in further education, and to put pressure on politicians in the public environment. 

This is exactly what the Town Takeovers are set to do.

What’s more for the Society and Citizenship zone this work is vital in building bridges in the local community, demonstrating the strains on student life, and communicating the consequences increased fees could have on the economic health of our towns and cities. This is exactly what UEA have done with their education funding leaflet, which I helped them deliver across the Norwich South constituency, earlier this month (photos below). This type of innovative campaigning is vital to engaging a cross range of people in our fight, and since they delivered the leaflets they have had numerous members of the community committing to helping them further in their campaign.

But it’s not just about engaging local residents, parents or politicians. With a general election around the corner, we need to encourage students to be putting pressure on their Councillors and MP’s. The Town Takeovers are just one action, but regardless of whether you are in one of the ten towns or not, you can help us in the fight for a fairer funding system by mobilising students to vote.

More information on how the Society & Citizenship campaign is contributing to the Town Takeover agenda can be seen here.

So get your gloves and walking boots on, pack the loudhailer and flyers were off to take over your town.

Liverpool here we come!

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