If the answer is yes, then would you be interested in talking about your experiences as part of a research project on the history of petitioning and campaigning? The project, based at the universities of Durham, Leeds, and Liverpool, is undertaking oral history interviews with a range of people with different experiences of petitioning and campaigning to offer new insights into the history of democracy in Britain.  To give a few examples, they are interested in speaking to:

• People who signed a petition or petitions before the year 2000.
• Activists, campaigners or campaign officers who organised petitioning as part of national campaigns on particular issues
• Local organisers or activists who organised the signature gathering on behalf of national campaigns run by political parties, trade unions, pressure groups, students unions, and other types of voluntary association
• People who organised a petition on a specific local issue of concern to them, such as parents starting a petition about road safety or the local school.
• Retired officials who received and handled petitions as civil servants or public servants working in central or local government.
• Journalists and editors who worked in the local press and had experience of reporting on petitioning and campaigning in their community.

If you have these or similar experiences, then please get in touch with the project team by emailing Dr. Henry Miller, at henry.j.miller@durham.ac.uk. Interviews are conducted over the phone and be arranged to be at a convenient time.