Conference Blog - Day 1
September 13, 2008 10:12 PM
After an early morning drive to Bournemouth, I managed to get to the 5-19 education consultation session with just two minutes to spare.
After catching my breath, I listened to the remit of the working party and joined the breakout group discussing the philosophy and purpose of 5-19 education. We had a really interesting discussion about why we should lock our children into a room for six to seven hours a day for thirteen years! An interesting question indeed!
The consensus seemed to be that the purpose of education was to try to produce well-rounded individuals with a range of life skills, interpersonal skills and confidence that could make informed and rational decisions throughout their subsequent life, and be able to choose from a variety of options that their rounded knowledge and experience provided to them. It was interesting how many of us thought academic achievement alone simply didn't deliver this!
I feel positive about the discussion and I genuinely feel that the policy our working group finally presents to Spring conference may have some radical and positive aspects that will help more of our children gain all the life skills, interpersonal skills and confidence they need from our education system. I know I'd like to see both my daughters achieve this as they grow.
After checking in to my hotel and grabbing a spot of lunch, I headed over to a training session on membership issues. This was very informative, really letting us have some hard facts gleaned from the recent member surveys you may have filled out. It became really clear that although there are many and varied reasons that people join the Liberal Democrats, we all tend to stay members because we share a belief in the fundamental aspects of who we are as a party, the values so eloquently stated in the preamble to our constitution. "We exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity". This is who we are as a party, and by being a member or joining us, you are stating that these are your values too. It's good to know so many people share the same fundamental values I have.
After the training session over-ran, there wasn't enough time to get to the next session I had planned to attend, so I headed for the exhibition. The exhibition had a number of stands I wanted to see, including the Association of Liberal Democrat Engineers and Scientists. This group exists to provide an informed pool of members who can advise policy groups on subjects including Climate Change, nuclear power, biodiversity issues, pollution science and renewable energy options, to name but a few.
I then headed to the Lib Dem Image stand to look for nick-nacks for our new student society freshers fair stand. I found pencils, pens, rulers and coasters, and I've bought a few for the students who decide to join. Hopefully we'll get a fair number to join the party.
Then I had to depart for dinner at a friend's house in Bournemouth and meet up with my family. Unfortunately I therefore missed the party rally, but as there are quite a few of us here from Welwyn Hatfield, I'm sure one of our other representatives can fill me in tomorrow.
All in all a very good start and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow when I should have a chance to meet Vince Cable in person. I'll be sure to let you know how tomorrow goes.
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