Yesterday's fun and games (see previous post) were followed by a four-hour drive to Blackpool.
Last night I was a guest at a dinner organised by the Working Men's Clubs & Institute Union ahead of their annual meeting at the Winter Gardens this morning.
The event took place in the Sponsor's Lounge overlooking the pitch at Blackpool Football Club. It was a good opportunity to catch up with our CIU contacts including former Labour MP David Clelland who helped launch Forest's Save Our Pubs and Clubs campaign and is now a consultant to the union.
The CIU celebrates its 150th anniversary this year but the past few decades have not been kind to working men's clubs. For many the smoking ban was the final nail in the coffin which is why we have been working with the union to lobby MPs to support a change in the legislation.
Last year the CIU helped Forest organise a well-attended reception at the House of Commons and we also co-hosted a very successful reception at the Labour conference in Liverpool.
The purpose of both events was to demonstrate our joint opposition to the smoking ban and this morning in Blackpool several hundred delegates will vote on a motion calling on the government to allow separate smoking rooms in licensed premises.
I'll keep you posted.
PS. I first visited Blackpool when I was a teenager. I was impressed by the Illuminations but experiencing the Big Dipper at the Pleasure Beach put me off fun fairs for life.
The problem was, having survived one rickety roller coaster I then found myself on another. It was called The Grand National but it wasn't obvious (to me) that it was a roller coaster because it was dark and the boarding point was under a large canopy that disguised the true nature of the ride. I thought it was a sedate ghost-train or something similar.
The truth dawned as soon as we began moving and we were winched, very slowly, up a very steep incline. The rest is a blur but if I remember anything it is the wave of relief that engulfed me when it was over. Yes, there was an adrenalin rush but the experience was worse than the Big Dipper because there was a second carriage alongside us. It felt like we were racing one another and that, in turn, made everything seem faster and more out of control.
I have visited Blackpool many times since, mainly for party conferences. (I am currently staying in the Hilton Hotel where Forest hosted a reception at the 2007 Conservative conference. It was shortly after the introduction of the smoking ban and speakers included Roger Helmer MEP and 'rebel landlord' Hamish Howitt.)
Anyway I woke this morning to find a clear blue sky and an uninterrupted view of the sea from my room. Blackpool has its detractors (I'm one of them) but there are worse places to be on a Saturday morning.
I'll think I'll go for a walk along the promenade.