Conference season

Autumn has arrived... that season of mists, mellow fruitfulness and Liberal Democrat conferences! The main party conference was in Brighton last weekend, finishing on Tuesday, and you can read more about it on the party website at www.libdems.org.uk/news.

Geographically closer to home is the upcoming East of England Regional Conference, which is a one-day event to be held (this year) in Peterborough, on Saturday 15 October from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Norman Lamb MP will open the proceedings, and Baroness Lynne Featherstone will be the keynote speaker, with planned policy motions to include "Next steps following the EU referendum" and "A low carbon economy for the East of England". Just as at the main party conference, there will be reports and feedback from our Lib Dem MP and peers, and on elections and constitutional issues, and there is a slot for an emergency motion to be decided closer to the time. There will also be training sessions and fringe meetings. You can read more details at http://eastlibdems.org.uk/en/page/regional-conference-2016, and the preliminary draft agenda is available for download from here.

More local still is the Suffolk County Conference, to be held on Saturday 29 October from 10 a.m until 4 p.m at Henley Community Centre, Henley (near Ipswich). This year's conference is on the theme of Preparing for the 2017 Suffolk County Council Elections. The conference will include discussion of the Liberal Democrat Draft County Manifesto, debates, campaigning workshops, briefings for candidates, and keynote speakers. The conference fee is £10 per person, to include buffet lunch plus refreshments (Liberal Youth members £5), and you can download full details and an application form here.

So if you have caught the conference bug, or if you just want to try a short conference to get the flavour of what Liberal Democrat democracy is all about, do think about coming along to one or (better still) both of these events.