Another cold, dark evening... it must be time for the Local Party AGM

The Annual General Meeting of the Local Party is one of the things that marks the passing of the year. Good, bad or indifferent, it is time to reflect a little, twist arms to fill places on the Executive Committee, and dream of better days ahead.

Inevitably, it takes place in the dark, and this year, I set off after work to Bury St Edmunds to give my report as Treasurer and seek re-election, not only as Treasurer, but as a Representative to the Regional and Federal Conferences. Equally inevitably, I was delayed on route by a signal fault at Stowmarket, and so only made it to the meeting in time to the Chair to ask the Treasurer to give his report. Luckily, I was not only ready, but had copies of the report to distribute.

As I noted, my job as Treasurer is a pretty easy one, as a lot of activity goes on at Branch level, and the Branch Treasurers are pretty good at what they do.

The report delivered, I sat back and waited for the elections. Surprisingly, after Brij Sharma, our Chair, noted that he really wanted to stand down, but would continue if absolutely necessary, there was a distinct lack of willing volunteers. I suspect that Brij has learnt a valuable lesson from this, i.e. that any sign of willingness, no matter how grudging, will generally be rewarded with the awarding of a job in a Local Party.

I wasn't opposed, not surprisingly, as the idea that somebody might actually be keen to continue wasn't going to be lost, and we went on to elect someone to fill most places eventually.

So, all in all, a pretty easy evening. All that is left is to deal with the financial stuff that has emerged for me to do, and I can move on to the next task...