Autumn 2024 Conference Diary

Tues 17 Sept - Final day of conference. Up early as I had to be down at the Grand for my first training event at 9.00 am. Arrived in plenty of time to find that there were loads of seats. Suppose I shouldn't have been surprised as I had passed quite a few attendees making their way to the train station both yesterday evening and this morning. Finished my first training and made my way to the Centre. Security was a lot less fraught this morning with fewer people going through the system. Grabbed a coffee, found a seat and a table and found I was sharing it with a parliamentary reporter from Associated Press. They are the agency who quietly get on with reporting news stories without receiving all the publicity that other media get. Quite an interesting little chat. Duly coffeed up I made my way to the Grand for my final training event of the conference. Training now over, networking back on. Chatted with a member from the area just north of London who is actually Dutch and had quite a few interesting things to say about our city cycle paths. He confirmed what I had thought for some time, that compared to Europe our cycle paths are very poorly planned and fail to properly accomodate pedestrians, making them in some cases quite dangerous. I was going to go into to see Ed Davey's closing speech but realised I was just too tired to survive another hour. I will catch up with it online. Went for a relaxing cup of tea away from conference and then headed home for an afternoon nap.

Mon 16th Sept - Up, booted and suited, as the phrase goes, when my plans suddenly collapsed around me. As, I checked my emails from yesterday there tucked amongst them was the culprit. I had to wait in for an urgent phone call to do with work and there was no excaping it. The phone call arrived and with it a number of things that had to be dealt with immediately. Paperwork, phone calls and emails finally completed I turned to look at the clock and found my morning and lunchtime had disappeared and with it all my plans for the first part of the day. How to rescue the remainder? Walked down to the Centre, got a coffee and did some thinking. Came up with an idea for the website about conference and branch participation so set about getting the material for it. Had to break mid way through to go off for a training event in the Grand. Training completed made a beeline for the ALDC stand to pick up campaigning material to enhance the lessons and knowledge acquired. Back to getting content material for my website idea. By now though it was getting late and people were drifting off so thought I would call it a day. A pint to refresh the legs for the walk home duly fulfilled, I made my way home to a meal and bed.

• Sun, 15th Sept - Decided I needed a lie in this morning to recover from yesterday. Got up as the sun started to shine into the bedroom, looks promising for the day. Updated the diary, got myself ready and wended my way down to St Pauls to meet the Friends of Ukraine. They provided lunch and we had some talks from various people, one of whom was Yevheniia Kravchuk, a Ukrainian MP. Managed to say hello to her and grabbed a photo of her with Alison Bennett MP (Mid-Sussex) and Michael Wang our candidate for Hove & Portslade at the last election. With time running short made a dash to the Grand for my first training session. Wow, that was a bit of a tough one as they crammed what seemed half a day's session into an hour and a quarter. A short break and then into the final training session for me today. The room was packed solid and the temperature became quite oppresive but I made it through, seemingly unscathed. A pint beckoned, so contacted other Brighton & Hove members about meeting up. Found them in a bar round the corner from the Centre so joined them. The pint turned into a few and I had visions of me staggering home the worse for wear. Fortunately common sense prevailed and we called a halt for food and the way home.

• Sat 14th Sept - First day of conference. Up at 6.15 to get myself ready and make sure all phones, emergency charger and tablet are fully tanked up. Had my breakfast, showered and kitted up ready for the day's travails. Got down to the conference centre only to be confronted by a massive queue as we all wended our way through security. The delay meant I missed the conference opening. Guess I'll have to wait until our local AGM now to hear Alison. Finally entered the conference hall with my lanyard and identity badge safely introduced, had a quick shufty around the ground floor exhibitors, met up with some fellow B & H members and one from Lewes over a coffee and then departed from the Centre to make my way to the Grand for the first of my two training events of the morning. Morning training over. I am feeling in desperate need of a break so made my way to the Centre. Another long security break. Finally got into the centre, thought I would find a nice corner and relax and have my lunch. No chance, the only seating was in the cafe areas and they were all full up. Decided to be a bit naughty and attached myself to a County Councillor and snuck into the Councillors' lounge where I was able to get a coffee and swiftly demolish my salmon and pasta salad. Lunch over, I made my way to my next training event. Disaster, there was no seating so it meant standing for the hour and a bit with little chance of being able to take notes. Decided that was not even a starter so got a promise from with one of our local members that I could crib their notes and memory. Spent the time now available chatting to Lib Dem organisations for material for the website. My chats successfully completed, made my way to my final two training events in the Grand. Finished for the day, popped into one of my locals for a quick pint then home for a meal. By this time I was too knackered and so decided to give the first timers' reception a miss and went to bed early to ready myself for the fray tomorrow. 

• Fri 13th Sept - I hope the date is not a portent to anything. Will just have to keep my fingers crossed. Don't you just love superstition. Now that my agenda for Saturday is settled I have turned my attention to Sunday. I have received an invitation to lunch for an unofficial event organised by one of our local parliamentary candidates and the local branch of the Friends of Ukraine with lunch provided (typical Ukraine cuisine is on the menu). Think I will most probably attend to give them my support and let them know that we are thinking of them as Putin massages his pathetic ego. Early to bed tonight as I have to be up early to prepare myself and do some essential shopping on my walk down to conference tomorrow.
• Thur 12th Sept - Started to get my first day's agenda sorted. Thought it best to concentrate on one subject matter where possible. Being a contributor to the website decided that perhaps I should work to improve my technical knowledge and allied campaigning aspects so have opted to concentrate on training events. As I mentioned yesterday that means missing some aspects of conference and fringe events that I really wanted to attend. Perhaps next time. Looked at the weather forecast and it is looking as though the sun will be making it's presence felt throughout. That's a promising start.
• Wed 11th Sept - Emails regarding conference are starting to flow through and I have started to look at the fringe events taking place. I have a feeling that with all that is taking place in the digital world that is a subject that is going to have to feature high on my list. My problem though is that the events I would like to go to all seem to clash with one another or with other things. This always happens no matter whose conference you attend. Life just gets so complicated sometimes.
• Tues 10th Sept - Suddenly realised that conference starts on Saturday and I haven't decided on what I want to do. Time to go to the conference website and see what's on. I see that Alison Bennett MP (Mid-Sussex) is opening conference, that should be interesting as she is the guest speaker at our AGM in November. The Young Liberals have an interesting motion on Sunday Trading Laws. They refer to the liberalised trading laws in Scotland. That made me remember how it used to be in part of Sotland when it was not possible to even catch the ferry between Ullapool and Stornaway on a Sunday because of the strict observance of the Sabbath. Of course it's very different now.