Happy Harrogate

Lovely weekend here in Harrogate. Snow on Friday, bright sunshine today.

Harrogate is my favorite conference venue. It is a lovely town with a warm northern welcome.

I came to my first conference her in 1987 - the last Liberal Assembly -when I camped in atent and lived on fringe meeting food.

I did my first conference speech here - opposing a woolly arts motion and being savaged by Bob MacLennan as a result. (Well - okay - perhaps 'savaged' is a bit strong)

I also well remember coming up to stay with Phil Willis many years ago to help produce his first constituency newspaper. He was very impressive. Wonder what happened to him ;-)

This weekend has been very positive. Those that were involved in the leadership contests have been able to relax, there is a very positive sense that we are now moving forward. With Ming as Leader, Chris Huhne's profile high and a talented top team we are set to do very well against Cameron's phoney liberalism.

Everyone is now focussed on the local elections in May with campaigners reporting a positive response on the doorstep across the country.

And it was nice to see so many other Lib Dem bloggers here too!