AFTER his gruelling eight hour spar session to raise funds for the upcoming Communist Party local elections, Stewart McGill thanked those who have contributed so far as he works towards his £5,000 target.

McGill’s “sponsored strike” saw him kick and punch fight pads between 10am and 6pm on Sunday. Having raised £1,510 at the time the Star went to press, McGill will continue to fundraise as he sets his sights on his local south-east London council.

“We did this to raise money for the party’s forthcoming local election campaigns,” he told the Star. “I’m going to be standing for election to a local council in south-east London in May 2022, and we will need to raise more cash for that so this was the first of what will be a succession of fundraising exercises.

“I’ve done a few of these ‘sponsored strike’ marathons before, most for Palestine and Yemen, they have raised over £15,000 for both those countries. They’re tough, I’m a reasonably fit 60 but I’m still 60, and I’ve been training since 1972 so the body does need a bit of a rest ... but not yet, there is too much to be done.

“I must confess that I feel like hell today but it’s been worth it. So far we have raised nearly £1,500 on the JustGiving page itself — particularly pleasing that a good proportion of that came from non-party members, these elections are all about getting our message and our policies out there so it’s good to see that it wasn’t just comrades supporting Sunday's event. 

“In addition to the monies raised on the page we had contributions made directly to the party from Italian Communists in Belgium and a Canadian carpenter, strange to contemplate the global reach that can be achieved from a small garage in south-east London.

“There’s plenty of time for people to make contribution after the event see the link here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/votecpb?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=20210301_&fbclid=IwAR0Bkf4vfvx1Kh8uv-eE9P4S-TDGhN93BH0UWzxnuv7ii7A04_202kgzFhQ.”