Conservative Future signed up record numbers of students at the Queen's University freshers' fair in Belfast, last week. The society added 66 new members, from Northern Ireland as well as other regions of the UK.
Chairman of Conservative Future at QUB, Conal O'Hare, congratulated his team on its performance, "this represents great success for the society here at Queen's and it also demonstrates huge interest in the Conservative Party in Northern Ireland. Of course it helped that we had some fantastic merchandise to give away, from CF itself, from the Conservative group in the European Parliament and from Suresign, whose alcohol testing kits will no doubt help our new members to enjoy Belfast's legendary nights out safely and responsibly".
"I'd like to thank everyone who lent a hand", Conal continued, "The Queen's CF can look foward to a very productive and active year. Hopefully our success will prove a key moment in expanding Conservative Future in Northern Ireland".
Regional Chairman of Northern Ireland Conservative Future, Matthew Robinson, who helped man the stall, said,"This impressive showing by Queen's CF emphaises that Northern Ireland Conservative Future is 'open for business,' and is most definitely at the heart of our national organisation. Students we met at the bazaar will insure our growing presence in student politics in Belfast. This surge amongst young Conservatives in Northern Ireland is a trend we must sustain in the months and years to come, a challenge I believe we will meet."
"I look forward to reporting this progress to the Conservative Future Regional College meeting at the Annual Party Conference in Manchester next week.
"The chairman of the Northern Ireland Conservatives, Irwin Armstrong, added his congratulations for a successful event.
"I must thank CF in Northern Ireland and at Queen's in particular for their hard work. It's a notable achievement to sign up 66 new Conservative Future members on one day and it just goes to show that our young people have an enormous appetite to develop centre-right politics and national politics here. This points to a bright future for Conservatives in Northern Ireland".