The day sessions on Saturday, 29th March, were the main event of this year’s conference on club management. This year we had over 80 visitors from 23 clubs, 8 ACC approved suppliers of services to clubs, and a number of guests from local Conservative Associations. This was a good turn out from the 108 Conservative Clubs in Yorkshire, and is the highest response we have had in the last 5 years that I have been involved in organising the conference. The speech from William Hague, Shadow Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and President of the Yorkshire Region Conservative Clubs’ Council, was not only entertaining but also very inspiring. The link between Conservative Clubs and Conservative Associations is a very important one, the continuing survival of Conservative Clubs as a base for influencing local opinion is also very important. William demonstrated how close we were to getting a Conservative Government at the next General Election. Timothy Kirkhope MEP gave us an informative and reasoned speech on European affairs and why we can’t afford to ignore the European Union and its effect on our daily lives. We learned about the various subterfuges the New Labour Government has adopted in adapting European Legislation and directives to its own ends to increase its “big brother” control over the British population in ways that most of our European partners have found unnecessary. We also had a refreshing address from John Wilson, from a local solicitors’ group, on Employment legislation and learned that we need not be in continuous and total fear of Employment Tribunals, and that we could use these Employment Tribunals to our own advantage provided that clubs carried out straightforward and sensible practices in managing its own employees. Let your employees know what duties and standards of service are expected from them right from the start and make sure that they are continually aware of what is expected from them. Lastly we had our usual entertaining, informative and practical advice from Philip Smith, the Secretary of the Association of Conservative Clubs. Visitors to the day session also had the opportunity to visit displays from Scottish & Newcastle, D B Walker & Sons (Stocktakers), Thompson & Bryan (Loss Assessors and Valuers), Bennett—Kaye (Chartered Surveyors and Valuers), Inco UK (Security and Cash Registers), Environmental Technology (Air Conditioning, Lighting, etc), Dransfields (Gaming Machines), and Lottery King/Kelly’s Eye (Lottery machines, bingo cards, raffle tickets, etc). Ken Hargreaves and Susan Haworth represented the ACC. Support was also received in the form of donations from The Co-operative Bank and BOC Sureserve who were unfortunately unable to be with us this year. Raffle Prizes were donated by Dransfields, Environmental Technology, and Lottery King – the prizes: a TV/DVD set, a dozen bottles of wine (both won by different delegates from Marsden Conservative Club, and the third prize of £50 in Argos Vouchers won by a ticket with a stub marked “Smith”, as yet unclaimed. Scottish & Newcastle provided free samples throughout the day from their draught bitter and cider, as well as bottles of Bulmers cider, and their new Jaques line of fruit ciders.

The Conference ended with a Gala Dinner enjoyed by 33 guests followed by entertainment by the Burmese Duo. The Trophy for the Yorkshire Conservative Club of the Year was presented by Sir Irvine Patnick to Jennifer Miller, Nancy Murray, and Bill Hudson of the recently amalgamated Guiseley & Rawdon Conservative Club. This is just one example of the Conservative Clubs that have thrived and succeeded through the untiring efforts of its managing Officers and Committee in organising events and activities to bring its members back into fuller use of their club and binding its membership into a fully inclusive social community.

Everyone who attended our weekend Conference received a Welcome pack which included a time-table of events, a list of all the names of people attending and the organisations they represented, and a copy of the Yorkshire Region Conservative Clubs 2008 Year Book which not only gives details about the YRCC Council and ACC approved suppliers, but also 4 pages of hopefully, helpful advice to clubs on management issues, as well as another 3 pages on specific advice on choosing a supplier of a specific service. Finally I would like to thank the Council of the Association of Conservative Clubs and its Secretary, Philip Smith, without whose help and financial support this event would not have been possible.