Another successful weekend school
Despite doubts that we would be able to hold a weekend school this year with continuing Covid 19 restrictions in place during the organisational phase last autumn and with people rightly still cautious about mixing in face to face groups again in the winter and as the year turned, we were determined to go ahead unless prevented by the regulations. After a slow start, bookings for the school picked up and, in the event, we were able to attract one of the best attendances of recent years ensuring that all the seats in the conference room were taken for most of the talks and a full room for dinner to hear our speaker, Dr Mark Pack, President of the Liberal Democrats.
Unfortunately we lost one of speakers not long before the weekend but this gave the opportunity to bring the programme forward to ensure we had finished Saturday’s school before the start of the England-Wales Six Nations game at Twickenham. Earlier we had been entertained and enlightened by talks on the upcoming French elections and the prospects for President Macron by Lady Elizabeth Gibson-Morgan; a lively and detailed review of the current state of American politics by Dr Ian Stafford of Cardiff University; the political life of J T Davies, Lloyd George’s principal private secretary from 1912-1922 by Glenys Harrison; and also by another masterly lecture by Professor Lord K O Morgan, this time on Lloyd George and France.
On Sunday morning, Dr Jonathan Kirkup from Cardiff University gave a tour of the current state of the parties across the UK, followed by a challenging address by former Ceredigion MP Mark Williams concerning the prospects for centrist politics in Wales. This was followed as usual by the panel session with Jane Dodds MS, Mark Pack, Cllr Bill Powell, Mark Williams and Baroness Joan Walmsley.
This year we managed to attract a number of new people to attend the school and have every hope that they will wish to return to future Lloyd George Society events. We all hope and pray for a peaceful end to the awful war in Ukraine and a stabilisation of international relations. At the time of writing however things seem more likely to escalate than improve. All being well though we have a number of possible events over the course of 2022 and a strong intention to proceed with another weekend school next year.
