A committee debut looms for a liberal bureaucrat

I did mention that I'd intended to get a bit more engaged with things this year and, whilst that has been more of an aspiration than actual activity, I have made a few steps towards achieving that.

It seemed that, having mentioned the Liberal Democrat European Group (LDEG), someone noticed, and I was invited to become the Executive Committee member representing the East of England (the position had been vacant for a little while). And now, I have my first meeting on Thursday. The agenda doesn't look to be anything other than gentle, which allows me to hopefully ease my way in and get up to speed with what is happening.

In some ways, you kind of wonder why I haven't been more involved over the years. After all, I've been involved in the international work of the party for more than thirty-five years on and off, I've attended ALDE Party Congresses and Councils for so long, I remember when it was ELDR, and I've served on Federal International Relations Committee. Perhaps I was too busy, or minded to leave the campaigning element to someone else, but whatever the reason, I'm hoping to add a little value to the work of the group.

That might be through my links to Liberal Democrat Voice, by helping with the management of the organisation, or by building links within my Region - we'll see. It helps that I already know most of the Executive Committee, in particular Rob Harrison, who I first worked with at a meeting of the Liberal and Radical Youth Movement of the European Community (LYMEC) in Paris in 1989. Ah, memories...

So, I'd better read my papers, I guess...