Andrew Reeves

Sunday 20th September

I arrived in Brighton on Saturday around 12.30pm, just in time to check into the hotel and then a brisk walk along the seafront to the Brighton Centre for the stewards training. The briefing was precise and detailed and ended with a tour of the centre. Straight after I helped the other executive members of DELGA to finish off setting up the stall. I managed to squeeze an hours shopping into the day before going for dinner and then returned to the hotel for a well deserved sleep after a hectic day.

Sunday begin nice and early at 8.00am with a hearty breakfast and a brisk walk to the conference centre in the early morning mist. I began by collecting the amendments for the days debates and then straight to the DELGA stall to ensure the tickets for the party later tonight were ready and copies of the newsletter that I am editor of were all in place.

I had a couple of hours to kill so took the opportunity to browse around the many exhibitors and discuss some issues that affect constituents from Dartford. At 13.00pm I joined a friend who was standing for Chair of DELGA at tonight's AGM to distribute fliers for the party outside the conference centre. I then spent the remainder of the afternoon networking and plugging the party. At 17.00pm I met up with two fiends at the party venue to check the final details. We went off to grab a bite to eat and I ended up chatting to a prospective European candidate and then returned to my hotel to freshen up for the evening.

I arrived at the Metropole Hotel at 19.45pm to attend the DELGA AGM, which was very well attended. There were new officers to elect, constitutional amendments among other things to discuss. I had to dash at 21.00pm to the party venue to ensure everything was in place. The DELGA 10th Birthday Party was a huge success and again well attended with around 80-100 people there including Evan Harris MP, Jackie Ballard MP and Chris Morris from Youthspeak and Mark Watson from Stonewall. Paddy Ashdown made a great speech during his guest appearance proving yet again that the leader of the Party is in touch with members at grassroots level. The evening for me was over by 11.00pm, time for bed, what a day!