Raaj Shamji & Cameron Uppal (Cam)

When Cam (Andy Street’s Community Engagement & Outreach Manager) asked Raaj (a volunteer Campaign Managers) to think about how best to involve those that traditionally campaign for the region on the door step but could not due to the lockdown (March 2021) they came up with a Monday evening Connect Calling session for starters.

No ordinary session as it featured a member of the Party (James Higgs, Ted Fitter and Max Barnby) who provided training with the virtual side room that was used. The rest were given support throughout the calling session hosted by Raaj. Manju Gill (the other more sensible Campaign Manager for Jay Singh Sohal) with Mattie Heaven, and then later Neil Shastri Hurst, became mentors for this diverse team of activists.

As lockdown eased this same group morphed into a strong physical campaign team that showed agility by covering the region as best as possible. Cam would source intelligence from the Campaign Director and Raaj would merge it with Manju’s intelligence and then we would send out a #TeamAgile post on where these merry band were required. As the Monday online sessions continued, Raaj changed the name to Masala Monday, hoping that no one would notice it soon became a strong West Midlands grass roots campaign outfit. With a diverse team representative of the region.

We soon started to believe our own hype and would give titles to those that help promote our madness such as making stalwart Petro Nicolaides the Social Media Coordinator and Wasim Uzzaman our Go-To-Man when all else failed.

After the intensity of the Mayoral and PCC campaign, where many hard hours were given to the cause, we all took a well deserved break and reflected on a job well done.

As a summer came upon us and we enjoyed the Euros, we all knew that we couldn’t let the hard work and momentum slip away.

So today, we have a a networking format for all those that wanted to be involved in coming together to eat and learn from an array of fantastic well known Conservatives. This is about grass roots Conservatives coming together regardless of class, origin or membership to the Party. These networking events occur seasonally and core elements will include:

• A 3 course meal with chef commentary
• 2 Guest Conservatives that will give a talk on why they are Conservatives and what is Conservatism to them?
• An opportunity to learn and be informally mentored by others for those that want to develop activism skills.
• Engage and engage with other members from across the region