Last weekend was a Wendy’s 40th b’day party at a campsite in beautiful, quaint Dent. A special time to catch up with folk we’ve not seen for ages and ages. It made me remember that I need to think about friends and family and not just work, work, work! So with that in mind I surprised Mum when I popped in for a coffee, after college. Something I need to do more often!

Marking late coursework, an exam board key skill quality visit, case work and our councillor group meeting have filled the rest of the week nicely. The only fly in the ointment is being mis-quoted in this week’s Jewish Telegraph by Dr Wise. When Richard Baum and I met with him, he wanted to know why generally I avoid the press unless absolutely necessary – this is a stark reminder!

I was fortunate to be at our annual North West Lib Dem dinner last night - Nick Clegg’s after dinner speech was superb, motivational and without a prompt sheet! He’s knowledgeable and focused with the right carefully considerred policies to make a difference as well as a growing supportive army of MPs and party members! It’s a shame it wasn’t being filmed! He was also good at answering questions put to him. I liked the way that he didn’t over use hand gestures or sound bites - which the other two party leaders do - which makes them come across as puppets without originality! I also had the amazing opportunity to ask advice on how to approach Dr Wise and his article in JC from Jim Hancock. It was strange to be able to talk with somebody whom I’ve listened to on the radio, for so many years! He’s personable and genuinely interested in people, without the know-it all arrogance of many, which is how it should be.

It’s a showery day, making me not looking forward to touting for petition signatures against Post Office closures in Bury and Radcliffe! However, its important that we get our message across to people adn make sure they know whats happening! I also need to get our Focus leaflet into letter boxes this week before we circulate another about Bury’s Mayoral Referendum. My leaflets are delayed for a number of reasons, one being a war my chiropodist and I have been waging on a small army of warts on my foot, making walking painful for a while!