On Saturday 23 March 2019 I attended the Put It To The People march in London, involving wore than one million people in support of a final say on a EU referendum.

The march took place during excellent weather which required a number of pints of bitter!

It was organised by the People’s Vote campaign in conjunction with Britain for Europe, the European Movement UK, and Open Britain and other pro-European organisations.

I participated in UKGovCamp 2019, held at the Ministry of Justice on Saturday 19 January 2019.

The unconference was split into a number of parallel streams, with the sessions in each streams be taken by participants following an iniitial gathering at which the sessions were selected by those present.

The brlliant day concluded with a (large) number of drinks being consumed at a nearby local pub.

Many thanks to the organisers and sponsors for enabling another fantastic UKGovCamp.

Christina (below), Des, Mark and myself attended the Green Man Festival 2018, held at Glanusk Estate, Powys, Wales.

Christina, Des and myself have been to the festival every year since 2011, and since 2013, have stayed for seven days as Green Man Settlers – this was Mark’s second visit to the festival.

We got to the site on Monday 13 August, and we all (well, nearly all!) erected our tents. Two of us afterwards went to the Settlers Bar to sample the Growlers bitter.

Before the start of the actual festival, we enjoyed the entertainment and drink laid on for settlers as well as consuming the various sausages and other products available from the excellent and newly instigated Cashells stall which was a temporary offshoot of the shop in Crickhowell.

We particularly enjoyed during the festival Public Service Broadcasting (“teach the lessons of the past through the music of the future”), Joan As Police Woman (west coast influenced, definitely), Floating Points live (psychedelic dance with live generated visuals), Baxter Dury (London tunes mixed with a bottle of red wine), John Grant (great tunes), and headlining the festival The War on Drugs (Americana sung to a Kraftwerk beat) (below).

The Sunday evening concluded with traditional burning of the Green Man and associated firework display.

On Monday 20 August 2018 we transferred our campsite to Park Farm Camp Site in nearby Llangattock. Des went back to London, and we walked into Crickhowell and went to the Bridge End Inn and the Britannia Inn. In the evening we went to the Horse Show Inn (below) and met the friendly locals.

Mark returned home on Tuesday 28 August 2018, and Christina and myself continued to enjoy the local area, until returning home on the afternoon of Monday 10 September 2018.

Another excellent vacation in South Wales – we’re already looking forward to a return visit in August 2019!

I attended the fantastic Ealing Beer Festival on Friday 13 July 2018.

I participated in the Prospect National Conference 2018, held at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham on 3-6 June 2018.

This was the first National Conference BECTU had taken part in since the union amalgamated with Prospect in January 2017.

One of the highlights of the conference was a session on Brexit.

This started with a panel discussion chaired by comedian and political commentator Ayesha Hazarika and consisting of Hilary Benn MP, chair of the Commons Exiting the EU select committee, NATS chief executive Martin Rolfe and CBI chief economist Rain Newton-Smith.

Following the informative panel discussion, there followed a number of questions from conference delegates and a debate and vote to support a ‘peoples vote’ on the final form of words proposed on any future relationship between the EU and the UK.

There was also a speech by the BBC Director General Tony Hall, who took questions from conference delegates afterwards.

I also attended, as part of the break-out section of conference, an absorbing session on the future of work, looking at the impact of artificial intelligence.

A very interesting conference, helped by the nearby location of two Wetherspoon pubs.

I attended the seventh LPD Annual Members’ Forum on Sunday 4 February 2018.

The meeting, to which all BECTU LPD members where invited, included:

• The impact of Brexit on the film and TV industries – an overview of the state of play by Tony Lennon of BECTU Research
• TV Drama and Feature Film agreements – a briefing on the current situation concerning these important agreements
• #EyesHalfShut campaign update – a discussion about developing this campaign in the future

This event was followed by drinks in the Lock Tavern pub.

I participated in UKGovCamp 2018, held at the Ministry of Justice on Saturday 20 January 2018.

The unconference was split into a number of parallel streams, with the sessions in each streams be taken by participants following an iniitial gathering at which the sessions were selected by those present.

The fantastic day concluded with a number of drinks being consumed at a nearby local hostelry!

Many thanks to the organisers and sponsors for enabling another brilliant UKGovCamp.

Christina, Des, Mark and myself attended the Green Man Festival 2017, held at Glanusk Estate, Powys, Wales.

Christina, Des and myself have been to the festival every year since 2011, and since 2013, have stayed for seven days as Green Man Settlers – this was Mark’s first visit to the festival.

We got to the site on Monday 14 August, and we all (well, nearly all!) erected our tents. Afterwards we then went to the nearby Settlers Bar to sample the various alcoholic beverages available.

Before the start of the actual festival, we enjoyed the entertainment laid on for settlers, particularly Parobas in the Settlers Bar. We also visted nearby Crickhowell, making sure we went to both the Bridge End Inn and the Britannia Inn.

We particularly enjoyed during the festival Future Islands, Michael Kiwanuka, Shirley Collins, Tom Ravenscroft and his late night party, Saint Etienne, Julian Cope, P J Harvey along with a good dance in the Chai Wallahs.

On Sunday evening the festival concluded with traditional burning of the Green Man and associated firework display.

On the Monday Des returned to London (via Bristol!), whilst the rest of us stayed at the Park Farm Camp Site – the weather was so fantastic we stayed camping for a further two weeks!

Another fantastic holiday in South Wales – we’re already looking forward to Green Man 2018!