Thank you Bath University Students’ Union for the invite to the Annual Reception. The councillor’s never ending round of pothole maintenance is always enlivened by a  good drinks and nibbles reception. Rest assured that I was hard at work between the sausage rolls and odd chicken bites, though.

The evening was very well attended, which started auspiciously when I got off the 18 bus and spotted my colleague, Cllr David Bellotti, in the Council Chair’s car. Apparently the slightly tatty BathNES flag which caught my attention is due to be replaced soon with the new logo. I have been to ‘Elements’ (the Union bar) countless times, but walking up with the Chair of the Council was the first time that I have been escorted by SU staff!

Deputy Mayor of Bath, Cllr Paul Crossley, was also in a attendance – he lives in Sham Castle Lane, so it wasn’t far to come. With the two Oldfield councillors there too it made a total of 5 Lib Dems to an event that the Conservatives had ignored. I am always reassured to be at an event that the Tories don’t care for.

Around the formal speeches the rest of the evenign was a flurry of networking with the Vice Chancellor and University management, Student Union sabbatical officers and staff and the local residents’ associations with plenty to discuss. I am getting better at working a reception after a year’s experince of drinks and nibbles but there is still much room for improvement. I have never bettered my first function, at the launch of the Bath Music Festival last year, when expert hosts passed me effortlessly from the Mayor to Vice Chancellor to Joanna MacGregor, pianist and Festival director.