He may have been preaching to the converted but few would deny that Jeremy Corbyn can pull quite a crowd – even on a weekday afternoon.
They came in their hundreds to Beaumont Park – mums with children, retired teachers, health campaigners, students, Labour councillors and trades unionists – to listen to the Labour leader speak on the general election campaign trail.
There were cries of ‘Corbyn, Corbyn’ as he arrived on his party’s red battle bus at around 3.30pm today.
And he delighted supporters by posing for selfies and shaking lots of hands.
Teacher Louise Peace, a supporter of the Hands off HRI campaign, had initial reservations about Mr Corbyn but has been won over.
She said: “I was very sceptical about him.
“But the more I heard, the more he impressed me. He’s a very knowledgeable guy and what he says resonates with me. Nobody can say he’s not giving it his all.”
Asked if he would make a good Prime Minister, she said: “I am going to stick my neck out and say ‘yes’. I know people say he looks like their old geography teacher but we have had charismatic leaders before in sharp suits and that didn’t get us very far.”
A 53-year-old Labour Party member from Meltham, who asked not to be named, said the newly-launched manifesto was a “proper modern view of 21st century social democracy.”
He added: “People should just listen to his (Corbyn’s) views, rather than media bias which can be staggering. People need to make up their own minds and not act like sheep.”
John Mason, senior gardener at Beaumont Park, said: “If you care about things like this (park) you have got to vote Labour.”
The Party’s parliamentary candidate for Colne Valley, Thelma Walker, who is fighting to overturn Conservative Jason McCartney’s majority of more than 5,000, said Corbyn had a great deal of personal support because people saw him as trustworthy.
She said: “We are giving people hope in this election. On the doorstep one word comes through again and again – ‘enough’ – ‘we’ve had enough’.
“We have had enough of hospital closures, of threats of closure to our own A&E and local pharmacies.”
The former headteacher welcomed Mr Corbyn to the park, saying: “Let’s give a warm Yorkshire welcome to the next Prime Minister.”
Labour Party member Edward Carding-Moorhouse, 23, a student at Huddersfield University, showed off his ‘Jez We Can’ badge as he declared Mr Corbyn a “good leader”.
Mr Corbyn was cheered as he told the crowd that a Labour government would create a “decent caring society” but he warned that if people didn’t bother to vote then Colne Valley wouldn’t fall to Labour.
