Wednesday, 12 January 2011

Clarion Tour to deliver "young labour" from far North to deep South

A dozen young people are about to embark on the 2011 New Zealand Clarion Road Tour, stopping in towns across New Zealand, taking part in community activities and talking to their peers about the issues that they perceive to be most important for the coming election year.

From January 17th, the members of Young Labour will journey from the Rodney District in Auckland through to Queenstown putting the principles of social justice and community service into action.

This isn't the first time that Young Labour - the youth wing of the Labour party which has members spanning from 15-25 years of age - have organised a tour of this sort.

“The first Young Labour Clarion Bus Tour was undertaken in the summer of 2004 and travelled from Auckland to Invercargill in nine days. This time, we’ve expanded the length of the tour to an ambitious two weeks and we’re covering a lot more ground” said President of Young Labour, Analiese Jackson.

“Young Labour is really excited about getting out on the road and offering some, if you'll excuse the pun, 'young labour' to community groups who are in need of a helping hand."

"Over the next two weeks we’ll be undertaking tasks that range from cleaning up a kindergarten in Orewa to planting trees in Ohariu to repainting Plunket rooms in Otago.”

“There’s a common perception out there that our generation is apathetic and more interested in commodities then communities. We’re trying to challenge that stereotype whilst helping our local communities at the same time.” said Vice President Ella Hardy.

“Along the way, we will be blogging our adventures and keeping people up to date by way of our website, www.clariontour.co.nz, which we hope will be an interactive way of engaging local communities as we travel across New Zealand.”

The Clarion tour is named after the famed Clarion Cycling Club, which consisted of a group of dedicated British political activists who rode around the English country side in the 1890s talking about their vision for a better and fairer society.

If you are, or if you know of a group in your local area who may be in need of any assistance over the coming week, please contact vicepresident[at]younglabour.org.nz.

ENDS

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