John's 70 years of campaigning for fair society
A former South Shropshire district councillor and Green Party activist is marking the 70th anniversary of his first general election campaign in 1945 by trying to increase the Green vote in and around Ludlow.
John Lloyd, who lives in All Stretton, has been spent this week organising Green Pparty posters, contacting new members and supporting parliamentary candidate Janet Helen Philips.
Mr Lloyd was active in the 1945 general election, attending hustings and debating the need for radical change.
In the post war period, John went on to be one of the founders of the Colchester Labour Youth League and campaign for the Common Wealth party and the Ecology party, both of which were the political forbears of the Green Party.
He then went on to be a well-known Green activist standing in elections in Burnham, in Buckinghamshire, and then becoming a councillor in South Shropshire from 1995 until the adoption of unitary status.
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He said: "It has been a pleasure and privilege to be so active and so involved for seven decades. In that time the Green party has made dramatic progress to the point where we have over 50,000 members, one MP, three MEPs and a huge influence on dozens of local council.
"The task of creating a better world that is more equal, kinder to all age groups, less greedy and more attentive to the needs of a finite planet is not yet done."
Janet Helen Phillips paid tribute to Mr Lloyd's work over the decades.
She said: "John has made an outstanding contribution both nationally and locally to Green party visibility and to the election prospects of all our candidates both locally and in the general election.
"His patient, determined, calm and polite approach to politics and creating a better world and informing people that it is a good idea to vote for what you want and vote for real change is an inspiration. This is what he did in 1945 and what he is doing in Shropshire in 2015."
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