Having been in office for a couple of weeks now, I decided it was about time I wrote my first blog, which I have to say I’ve been looking forward to. As an officer I used to check the blogs now and again and found it interesting to get an insight into what the NEC actual do on a day to day basis. Also, coming from a union where we were very accountable and reported back to exec every week on what we’d been doing, I find it really strange there’s we as a NEC don’t do so, so blogs seem like a pretty good democratic tool to me.

June 20th-24th
I started doing my handover on June 20th, and since conference I’d been trying not to neglect my duties in the Guild, but still doing some NUS work, and at times I felt like I’ve spent the last few months on the Liverpool to London pendellino, so it was good to be in London full time at last. I had various meeting with people I’ll be working with next year, and Helen, James Lloyd and the Welfare Unit did my handover, so thank you to all of them.

June 27th-July 2nd
The following Monday and Tuesday we went away to Ribby Hall Village, near Blackpool for NEC training. It was an absolutely brilliant event, one of the best training things I’ve ever been on and filled me with so much hope for the next year. Between conference and taking office, the only time I’d seen most of the NEC was in NEC meetings and National Council, which were quite bitter and fraught environments, which are factionally dominated, and can sometimes get a bit personal, so I wasn’t sure how training would go. But it was a really pleasant surprise. We were all completely mixed up in terms of groups we worked in and who was sharing a cottage with and it really helped us to bond, and discover, shock horror, we all actually quite like each other. I was sharing a cottage with Will (who turned out to be a ruthless hoarder of towels) and Jess but she unfortunately couldn’t make it. It seems like we’re all striving for a lot of the same common objectives over the next year, and I really believe the majority of us want nothing more than to work well with each other.

I was in HQ for the next few days, writing my project plan for the welfare campaign. I really enjoyed doing that, and can’t wait to get the campaign rolling for 05/06.

On Friday 1st It was up to Edinburgh for me for the Make Poverty History Rally on the Saturday. What an amazing day that was. It was such a positive event, with people of all ages doing their bit. I helped Lloyde out in Speakers Corner, in the Generation Youth Zone, which was really interesting and as I got back to London very late on Saturday night I felt like I’d been part of something really special.

July 4th-July 11th
Monday and Tuesday I was in Nottingham for Aldwych handover. I was there in dual capacity as NEC and outgoing officer from Liverpool, and myself and Wes did the majority of the training sessions. It was good to see female representation increase on the group, as it has been a bug bear of mine all year and good luck to the new officers. Wednesday it was back to HQ, trying to catch up with stuff, and then on to the emergency NEC meeting.

As we’d had a late meeting on Wednesday night, Sian, Julian and Stephen all stayed at me and Derfel’s flat on Wednesday night. The next morning we were all meant to be travelling all over the country. I was meant to be doing in-house training at Manchester Met in the afternoon. I’d heard from Derfel and my other flatmate there were delays on the Northern line but didn’t think much of it, and sent Julian Stephen and Sian all over to the tube, to catch tranins from all over the place when I put the radio on and saw what was happening. It felt so surreal to be in London, watching it unfold, and trying to come to terms with what had happened. Then followed the chaos of trying to track everyone down. In particular my flatmate Ellie who works in Russell Square and had sent me a message saying she was on a bus. Those minutes of fearing the worst were appalling and I can’t imagine how the families of those still missing must be feeling. I’m sure we all offer our condolences to them.

I never made it to Manchester, so apologies to Man Met for that. I did eventually manage to get out of London on Thursday night, as I was due in Liverpool on Friday. It was the Guild’s graduation ball and during the day myself and the other sabbs were awarded medals from the University for our hard work, which is a really nice tradition. The ball went well, it was really good to see a lot of my old friends and colleagues for a final momentus occasion. After 4 happy years in Liverpool it was a first-class way to celebrate leaving.

Yesterday was our first NEC meeting, at Camden Town Hall. We discussed plans for next year, sorted out the priority campaigns and responsibilities, and passed some emergency motions, in particular a couple on the London bombings.

Everyone was in a fairly sombre mood, and as we walked past Kings Cross and Russell Square to get to the meeting I think things were put into perspective for us all. One thing that has made me feel a lot better and stronger, as a new Londoner, is seeing the way that people here have picked themselves up and tried to get as near back to normal as possible. As an NEC we are determined to play our part in fighting racism, terrorism and war, and to supporting all those affected, including the London Unions.

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