But now we need your help.

We will be delivering leaflets and knocking on doors this Saturday 27th Feb in Bearsden and on Sunday 28th Feb in Bishopbriggs.

On Saturday please turn up at 3 Stirling Drive, Bearsden, G61 4NX between 10am-5pm for leaflet delivery, with a door-knocking session starting at 2pm.

On Sunday, please turn up at the local party offices 4a Springfield House, Emerson Road, Bishopbriggs, G64 1QE between 12noon-5pm. We will be delivering leaflets to local residents.

Full training will be given on both days. Newcomers are welcome. If you have any questions, or would like to RSVP please contact Jamie at the office on 0141 772 8444.

Jo has further information on her site at www.joswinson.org.uk/youngpeople. You can also join the KSI group on Facebook. Speaking about KSI, Jo said:

“Kirkintilloch Skatepark offers an excellent example of how young people can come together to make a difference to their community and achieve their goals at the same time. A group of young people in Kirkintilloch decided in 2003 they wanted to go about setting a skatepark built in the town, so they set up the Kirkintilloch Skatepark Initiative (KSI). They lobbied politicians – including me – and they raised £500,000 through grants and fundraising events in order to pay for the work needed to build the park.”

Jo has recorded a special video message on YouTube encouraging people to come forward and get involved before the General Election.

If you would like to get involved you can come and help in the office any time during the week, or come to one of our evening or weekend canvass sessions.

Our next Action Weekend is on 27th and 28th Feb – but we have several canvassing sessions a week until then.

You can find details of all of our activities on www.flocktogether.org.uk/east-dunbartonshire

Please do call Jamie at the office on 0141 772 8444 to let us know what you’re able to do, or to request more information.

Ashay Ghai has won the Bearsden South by-election, taking a seat on the Council from the Tories.

The final vote after redistribution of the Labour and SNP votes was: LD 1770, Con 1499.

You can see further coverage on Lib Dem Voice, and in the Bearsden Herald.

Well done Ashay! Thank you to all the members and supporters who turned out to help Ashay win!

All local Lib Dem members and supporters are invited to help Ashay Ghai in the Bearsden South by-election, this weekend – the 5th and 6th December.

We will be out canvassing local residents and delivering Ashay’s campaign leaflets.

We’ve had a really positive response so far – local people want a Councillor who will stand up for our area, and listen to local residents.

We will be meeting at 12 North Erskine Park, Bearsden from 10am-5pm on Saturday and Sunday.

If you are available to help please contact Jamie at the Lib Dem office on 0141 772 8444. For details of what’s going on, or to RSVP you can check out the event on Facebook.

Alastair McPhee is the Managing Director of local charity ‘Cue and Review: Print Speaking to the Blind’. He was the Lib Dem candidate for the Bishopbriggs South By-Election in June 2009.

Alastair joined the Social Democrats in 1984 after meeting Keith Moody, the current local party chair. He was a founding member of the Social Liberal Democrats. He has held several roles in the local community including Bishopbriggs Community Councillor, and North Glasgow Health Councillor.

As the founding Managing Director of Cue and Review, Alastair is passionate about ensuring that visually and reading impaired people have access to print materials in audio, Braille and large print formats.

Alastair said:

” I founded the charity while a prefect as Bishopbriggs High School, 27 years later I still work to ensure that East Dunbartonshire’s 750 blind people and the 188,000 Scot’s who are visually impaired can access print materials such as the Focus and Standard newsletters in audio and large print. I will be campaigning to ensure that the party’s manifesto and other materials can be downloaded as mp3 files from our various websites and other social media platforms.”

“I would love to see local people re-engaging with the community they live in; instead of complaining about litter in the streets bend your back and pick some up, instead of complaining about young people being on street corners get involved with groups such as my own who would love people to join them in running evening groups for young people. “

Alastair’s links are:

• Cue and Review’s Facebook page
• RNIB campaign to ensure the NHS are providing alternative format literature
• Alastair’s personal view on Bishopbriggs

In celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the Scottish Bible Society, three churches in Lenzie, combined with the Lenzie Action Group and Lenzie Flower Society, organised a three day flower festival. The event, held at St Cyprian’s Church, was opened by Walter Gilmour of the Beechgrove Garden and Jo Swinson who gave a speech and viewed the displays.

The event was raising money for the Scottish Bible Society’s project to “bring bibles and bandages to Brazil”, which it describes as its “most ambitious overseas project ever”. Partnering with the Bible Society of Brazil, the project will convert a bus to become a “multifunctional mobile medical and spiritual care centre”, travelling around the poor urban and rural regions of north-east Brazil.

Commenting, Jo Swinson said:

“It was a pleasure to open Lenzie Flower Festival, I really enjoyed the day and thought the displays were lovely. It is wonderful to see how many creative people there are in East Dunbartonshire. Well done to all those involved.”

Our local MP, Jo Swinson has been listed as one of the 50 most influential Lib Dems. The Telegraph stated:

Until very recently the youngest MP in the House of Commons, Swinson has been an active campaigner for the environment and gender equality amongst other issues – her stance against unnecessary airbrushing of models in photographs has seen her win media attention, and she showed initiative in realising quickly how useful Twitter could be as a communication and publicity tool for MPs.

You can view and comment on the list of influential Lib Dems at the Telegraph website.