And I’m dead chuffed to find out (via a text from Will ) that I’ve won the Tim Garden Award for the Best Blog by a Lib Dem Holding Public Office.  

I just got back from Burlington today, and haven’t made it to Bournemouth yet  so couldn’t pick up the award in person – though Will tells me he made an erudite speech on my behalf… 

James has made me feel old by pointing out it’s nine years almost to the day since he recruited me to the Lib Dems at a freshers’ fair in Leeds.  He won best blog post for his post on Parliament, The Telegraph and Jo Swinson.  I seem to remember going to Sheffield with James a few weeks after I joined the party to help out with an action day in what was then Richard Allan’s Sheffield Hallam constituency – of course, now Nick Clegg’s home turf.  The person who trained us to canvass there was Jo, and she’s now MP for East Dunbartonshire, so a good few changes there over the course of nine years!

The other winners can be found here.

Update: Have added a photo of me picking up my statuette from LibDemVoice’s Helen Duffett.  Thanks to Alex Foster for taking the pic.