The Shaggy dog story continues.....

Well the shaggy dog story goes on at the RPA, yes its a bit of slow news week..... The RPA have this fancy paperless system where inbound letters are scanned and then allocated as tasks to various handlers. So this I call the call centre and speak to this bloke, the bloke looks up the case and tells me again that my document has been scanned but is not sure why it has not been allocated. I say well its been 15 days, he says hummmm it has hasn't it. All of the peeps at the call centre are very helpful and unlike any other call centre I have come across when they say they'll call you back they actually do, in the time they said they would. I say well let us have the number of the person concerned and I'll call them, sorry says the bloke I'm not allowed to do that, I know says the bloke helpfully, if you don't mind holding I'll call the person. OK I say. Sorry the bloke says, the person is on lunch, but I'll try again later and email them to get in touch, and confirms my number. Thank you I say and Hang up, thinking I'll follow up in a couple of days. Two hours later this phone rings and its a lass from the RPA who is in charge of the scanning, who very helpfully and honestly informs me that the no matter what I've been told so far, that the letter was scanned incorrectly and allocated as a "Supporting document". Hummmm I say that's OK just change the classification and we can move on. Sorry says the lass, the document will need to be rescanned......OK I say, how long will that take, a few days she says, but I'll forward your note to the person that its likely to be allocated letting her know the situation, and they should be in touch soon. Thank I say for being so open and honest and i look forward to hearing from you......(to be continued)....

Thanks this week go to SEKA (South East Kiting Association) who have volunteered to fly the supporting banner on their website and include a piece in their newsletter, so we're looking forward to reading that. There were an extra 37 signatures added this week, thank you all. The score on the door of No10 is currently 629 and we're almost in the top 300 most popular petitions. I have noticed that petitions with over 60000 signatures get a comment from No10....we've a way to go, we know you're out there so keep talking and signing.

A landmark week....

Another soggy summer week, all of this seems unimportant when there are farmers who have lost livestock and crops in the floods, and there a families who are homeless. Our best wishes for a speedy recovery go out to those who are suffering in the floods.

As far as the campaign goes, the last week has seen some great progress. Phil Hope MP has continued to impress us with the speed of his offices response and strong support. We received a copy of the letter that has gone to the Minister of State for Culture Media and Sport, last Wednesday. We are eagerley awaiting the Minister of State's response. We had a response from Glenis Willmott's (MEP East Midlands) office on Friday, informing us that a letter has been sent to the European Commissioner supporting our position. Again we look forward to reading the response to that letter. Powerkite Mag wrote us up in the latest issue with an excellant piece, for which we are extremely thankful. The BPKA have said they are happy to support our campaign in whatever way they can, it's good to have the backing of a Sporting Association. The Heroic action of the week came from Al at Atmosphere Kite who sent out and Email to his 400 strong address book, which produced an almost record equalling responce for daily website views and increase in signatures. Thank you again for such a strong vote of confidence and support for the cause. Ainsdale on sea Powerkite club have taken up the cause and in an impressive show of cross sport unity so have the Avon Kite Flyers with a write up in their next newsletter. The blog got some comments!! Great stuff, thank you and wise words also...so just click on the comments at the bottom and have your say, you don't need register.

The score on No 10's door is just shy of 600 votes and we are one place below a petition to legalise same sex marriages, which is due to end in Spetember 2007. I take this as positive indication that kiters are passionate about their sport and are willing to stand up and back it. So thanks to all, we still have a long way to go so keep talking, suggesting and signing.

Parliamentary Support.......

I have to admit to being impressed, I sent an email to my local MP (Phil Hope) a week ago today and was expecting to still be twiddling my thumbs waiting for a response, but no I got a letter back on Saturday. The response was incredibly encouraging as he offered to write on the campaigns behalf to the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) to push for their support. I have of course snapped his arm off!! There were also some other leads worth following, so the emails have gone out this morning.

I am surprised that no one has commented on my posts as yet, there are some strong opinions on the forums. Please feel free to click on "Comments" and let me know what you're thinking....as always all thoughts suggestions or ideas are gratefully received.

The numbers on the petition continue to grow congratulations to Lewis Reeves signature 500....sorry you don't win anything, but hopefully you and the other 517 will have helped to Free the Fields for powerkiters current and future!

Thanks again to all .........Keep talking and signing!!

Back to it....

Well I've been away for a week, the weather wasn't much better there.

I was hoping to have had a response to the letter that was sent to DEFRA, in early June. Unfortunately there wasn't one. I have called them and found that the person I needed ( was a nice bloke) but had not been the right bloke for 18 months and that the letter had been forwarded to another bloke. That bloke was on holiday, but spoke to that bloke's colleague (also a good and helpful fella) who tells me that the letter has been forwarded onto another department the other side of the country, but he can't tell me the name of the person who will be dealing with it. I am currently waiting for the results of his digging.....watch this space. :0) we'll get there.......the helpful fella called me back to say that I will hear in a couple of weeks.

I'm glad to see that support keeps building almost 500 signatures. Its been really positive to see support coming in from clubs, shops and brands. As you can see I've added their banner links of those who have posted our banner with a link on their site, in the sidebar. Flexifoil have added an article in the news section of their website, The Highwaymen have added a whole page for the campaign, any and all supporting links are a major bonus so please feel free to help spread the word. Take a banner from the sidebar and add it to your site, and do a test click through. I will see the link on the activity report and add a reciprocal link and let you know, with much thanks.

I've also added some tunes for your listening pleasure whilst you're reading, just click on the Finetune Player, in the sidebox.