Sports College Conference 2009

Bugger- just changed my picture and lost all my text ...

Conference today ....freebie hunting a plenty ...two stress balls, memory stick, sweatshirt, two bags, many pens and post it notes and some quite groovy 3 in 1 highlighter pens.

Key note speaker - Dame Stella Rimington - former Director General of MI5 - witty, unassuming, great stories - fantastic to listen to.

Followed, disappointingly by Ed Balls, who did not perform well. At all. Which is a little sad, as he came across as quite a reasonable bloke when he came to visit us - yesterday, complete opposite - he appeared to be unprepared and exceptionally nervous.

Workshops and learning sessions during the day - some useful, some definitely not.

Back to the weird hotel around 4.30 - watched telly, then got glammed up for Gala Dinner.

Impressive set-up - the hall shown in the picture was converted into a large dining area for 1200 guests, including former and current olympians and other athletes. Brian Robson and Darren Campbell had been mooching about during the day. performances, speeches and awards, followed by 4 course meal, served with almost military precision - was quite impressive.

After dinner entertainment by these guys who I later spoke to and managed to blag a signed copy of their CD from. They were quite good.

Back to hotel at midnight, sat up chatting till 1.30 in the morning - which was not a great idea in many respects, as I was already suffering with earache, sore throat and runny nose ...so I was not well at all on Thursday morning (although at least I can say it wasn't drink related as I was designated driver for the evening).