Goodnight, Regional Executive, and God bless...

I've served four years on the London Regional Executive, all of them as an Officer. The first two years were fun, the third not so much, and this year the least fun of all.

In many ways, I never really recovered from the sense of being undermined by the laughably incompetent attempt to remove me from office last January. It all began to seem like hard work and I began to feel increasingly unwelcome. Fortunately, Ros came along to restore me to my normal, cheery self...

In the usual way that things work on London Region (Flick talent spots and finds people that can be relied upon), I had my arm twisted to step in as our new Regional Conference Chair for 2008. I was still emerging from three years of doing things because people wanted them done, so I said yes. Not the greatest move...

And yet, if I say so myself, I produced a pretty good Spring Conference. People seemed to enjoy themselves, and with grateful thanks to Flick, Pete Dollimore and a number of others, attendance was very good.

I had a vision for the Autumn and, between campaign gigs, spoke to a number of people about ideas for sessions and fringe meetings. I had a plan. I didn't have a Conference Committee - well, I did but I don't delegate well. What I did have was a peanut gallery. There were mutterings of concern - "a few of us have been talking about Conference" - and Executive meetings where reports were given without any reference to me whatsoever - "hello, I'm in the room...".

However, I have reached the point where we have a final agenda, virtually everything is in place, and I can relax into the final preparation phase. So far, so good.

In the midst of all this though, it was time to run for re-election. I completed the nomination form, got two people to sign it, and then put it in my briefcase so that I could post it. Strange, really, because I was sitting in Cowley Street at the time and could have simply walked upstairs and put it on Flick's desk. But I didn't... and never actually got around to sending it in at all.

Strangely, I mentioned this to Sally Hamwee last week, and she suggested that there was a hint of the Freudian about it all. Smart woman, that Baroness...

And so, unless something unexpected happens, my time on the Regional Executive, and with it the Regional Candidates Committee, is at an end. Yet there is so much else to be done...