Above: Taking Liberties reader Peter Thurgood at Smoke On The Water
Woe betide anyone who arrived late for Forest's annual boat party last night.
Thirty minutes after The Elizabethan docked at Westminster Pier and with 220 guests on board, the captain turned to me said, "We can only take another ten, sir."
That wasn't strictly true. What he meant was, "You can have as many people on board as you like but we can't sail with more than 230."
Attendance at free events is notoriously difficult to estimate because not everyone who registers turns up.
Typically, 30 per cent drop out and if the weather's bad that figure can be far higher.
That's why we happily registered over 300 guests safe in the knowledge that approximately 100 would bale out.
Last night we got our estimate slightly wrong.
"Can we leave now," I asked, "before anyone else arrives?"
"We can leave whenever you want," replied the captain.
But it wasn't that simple.
The speeches were scheduled for 7.50 and one speaker, Philip Davies MP (the other was fellow MP David Nuttall), couldn't stay. He had to leave before the boat left the pier.
As did another MP, Ian Paisley.
To cut a long story short, I delegated the problem to a colleague, introduced our speakers, and as soon as the speeches were over and Philip and Ian were off the boat The Elizabethan set sail.
To the best of my knowledge everyone who wanted to be there was on the boat when it left. (Put it this way, we haven't received any complaints.)
So, a great turnout. For the benefit of Tobacco Tactics, the taxpayer-funded website that monitors these things, the following think tanks and pressure groups were all represented:
Adam Smith Institute, TaxPayers Alliance, Institute of Economic Affairs and The Freedom Association.
Libertarian bloggers were represented by Dick Puddlecote and Chris Snowdon. I also counted at least a dozen MPs' researchers but I think there were more.
All age groups (bar children) and social backgrounds were represented with students rubbing shoulders with OAPs and every decade in between.
That, I think, is what makes Forest events special.
Finally, you know it's been a good party when one of the guests is taken to hospital in an ambulance.
I think she'd had a bit too much to drink. I hope she's alright!
PS. More images here, courtesy of Dan Donovan.
Dan spent most of the evening filming. We should be able to post a short video of the event at the end of the week.
