There are martyrs who will do anything for the Liberal Democrats … except ask for help.

They drive themselves to an early grave delivering thousands of leaflets, canvassing, and organising everything else in their local party.

Nothing scares them … except asking for help.

They’ve bought into the myth that, supposedly, recruiting is something only a handful of experts can do, and they aren’t an expert.

Which is why the Bristol Regional Action Day on the 11th August was so encouraging. Fifty-plus people knocked and dropped residents surveys, delivered a ton of leaflets, and recruited a bunch of deliverers. Their work was a real boost in the campaign to elect Jon Rogers as the Mayor of Bristol.

But what excited me most was who did that recruiting.

I went on the doorstep with a member from a nearby constituency who had only ever done delivering before. She delivered in the morning, then in the afternoon decided to have a go at recruiting. And she found two new deliverers and one potential member. Her local party had sent her as a deliverer, and got her back as a successful recruiter!

Where she succeeded, we all can, and that includes the martyrs in the party. But it won’t happen until we give it a go.

For anyone wanting to have a go in their local area, have a read of this thread in the members forum. It has lots of suggestions including a script.

But why not do what our friend did in Bristol, and have a go at one of these Regional Action Days yourself? There are other options than going recruiting, but if you do there’ll be a briefing, a script, and you can go with someone who has done it before. If that’s not enough to entice you, there’s a free hot meal and time to socialise with other campaigners.

The next event is in Cardiff this coming Saturday, 1st September, where you can join Bablin Molik, our superb candidate for the by-election. Once you register, we’ll send you joining instructions.

If this Saturday isn’t convenient, you can help throughout the Cardiff by-election campaign. Or you could try one of six other Regional Action Days in regions around the country. See here for details. You can also help in Bristol. Indeed, they had another successful day last Saturday, finding a dozen new deliverers.

Recruitment isn’t rocket science. There are people just waiting to be asked, but they won’t offer help if no one asks them. If you’re worried that you won’t be an expert right from the start, don’t worry, no one is. But if we rely on our handful of experts, we’ll never get enough help to do the work we need to do.

So why not give it a go? You have nothing to lose but your martyrdom.

* George Kendall is the acting chair of the Social Democrat Group. He writes in a personal capacity.