OUR region, Mid Scotland and Fife, has a divergent economy.

We have wealthy land owners and businesses, coastal communities at times scratching a living and dependent on tourism, urban centres with employment. We also have urban and rural poverty.

The messages that are best employed to reach such a diverse population are largely the same: well-presented, punchy, non-party-political information – e.g. Scotland the Brief, which nails the lies about Scotland lacking resources – about taking control of our future and taking care of ourselves.

Stating that we CAN vote people out needs driving home as does advertising our energy potential. People are interested in our energy and renewable resources, but only if we are clear about how we will use them to benefit the country.

We’ve had success with the wellbeing pension, but that success will continue only if we can explain the “wellbeing” concept properly – and it would work better with a Scottish Government announcement.

But will they do it?

The strongest message we have for convincing people that supporting and voting for Scottish independence is the best solution for our country arises when the idea of the wellbeing economy is coupled with rejoining the EU. As Brexit takes hold, interest becomes higher.

Generally, people expect us to be able to respond positively to questioning, be honest about the unknowns as yet.

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Top concerns in our region right now are day-job issues; the ferries, energy costs and the general cost of living – particularly around food and heating choices.

The NHS is another. “Can they get the staff they need and can I get the help I need” are the questions being asked. And people are also noticing the hospitality sector’s difficulty in getting enough staff to open.

In rural Perthshire, farmers are struggling with seasonal workforce shortages and the loss of EU financial support, with access to export markets becoming more difficult and concerns about poor-quality imported food competing with high-quality local produce. We heard about fruit rotting in fields last summer.

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Among undecided visitors to stalls and friends, because of the police investigations, the credibility of the SNP is taking a battering. The party need to break out of the negative news cycle somehow. If we can lead the narrative, we control the outcome. The method that we have found works best in our campaigning is to keep our stalls party neutral.

People are simply attracted to the EU flag and engage. Rejoining the world’s most successful trading bloc gives our farmers and food industry easy access to markets, freedom of movement obviously, and from independence all else flows.

What our region would like from a summer campaign is for activists in different “camps” to stop badmouthing each other. Not everyone does it, but it only takes a few.

We would also like to see a more effective pushback against the anti-indy media narrative – particularly regarding scare stories in England which are extrapolated to include Scotland, such as fears over water quality.

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And as hinted at earlier, our region would like to emphasise a big push on wellbeing and the EU – which I think is coming, so let’s make it stick.

If we could get a statement from the Scottish Government on an independence “wellbeing pension”, explaining funding, that would be brilliant.

We must also fight back against the Labour narrative regarding their plans for OUR energy.

We have had a lot of good things in the past nine months: a Supreme Court rally in Perth, “Lights on for the EU”, a showing of Stone of Destiny, and an early event with Lesley Riddoch on her Estonia, The Baltic Tiger film. This was also paired with her new book Thrive more recently. Perth also has an indy women’s group that any woman is free to join.

Coming up we have a picnic in the park event, Yes Hub events including stalls across the region and a women’s conference event later on. Lots of possibilities, but we would love to see more people take on the responsibility of organising things.

Hub volunteers and member numbers in Perthshire have remained broadly the same, and the Yes Perth City email list is nudging upwards. However, there are some signs elsewhere in Perthshire and Kinross of people being deflated, and we need to find some way of reversing that. A good summer push might help.

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Something often discussed is getting young people involved. It isn’t a major problem as things stand, as the younger age groups seem to be more strongly in favour of independence than others.

The challenge may be in getting them all to vote when the time comes but, broadly speaking, expecting working folk in their twenties and thirties to get involved in campaigning activities with retired folk 40 or 50 years older is probably never going to work.

They will do their thing, we’ll do ours, and maybe it’s better to let that be.

But, of course, we should encourage and – if it’s required and if they want it – assist the younger campaigners who do move in our circles. We do have young people increasingly involved in marches and in student circles.

When we get a definitive proposition for the next General Election that brings on a more focused campaign, it’s quite possible that younger folk will come to the fore spontaneously.