Local Groups - a good use of my time?

[Guest guest]

I have recently joined a small local Animal Rights group (and agreed to edit

their newsletter, heaven help me (and them!), but that's another story).

There are only about 25 members, and of them only about 8-10 actually do

anything (!). So far I have helped in a street collection for the National

Anti-Vivisection Society, attended a hunt meeting (where it was too

dangerous to protest as there were so few of us and so many of them and

people do get quite badly beaten up sometimes), acted as chauffeur to a

fund-raising evening, and helped at a couple of other fund-raising events.

 

Given that most of us have limited free time and we all want to be as

effective as possible with what time we have, I was wondering what you guys

think about local as opposed to national groups. Do you have any stories or

experiences which have convinced you that local groups are a.hugely

effective in raising awareness, funds etc or b.a total waste, it has to be a

national orgranisation or no-one takes any notice? I appreciate that a lot

depends on the group itself (and to give it its due it does seem to be

pretty active) but I would be interested to hear others' experiences. I

suppose what I'm really trying to decide is whether my very limited time is

well spent working locally, or whether I should stick to national and

international issues, go to big demos and write letters to huge corporations

etc. Any opinions anybody?

Cheers!

Cathy