After many months up in Hull, where I’m currently at University, I jumped at the chance to get back to my home turf of Watford for an action weekend, and what a weekend it was.

First things first, much of the credit has to go to Nassar who managed to get such a great turn out, including a large number of fellow Liberal Youth members, as well as an appearance by Mike Thornton, Jo Swinson, Duncan Hames and Norman Lamb. It was a fantastic weekend and if I heard correctly we managed to knock on over 5000 doors on Saturday alone! We all know what a challenge it is to organise Lib-Dems.

Secondly a massive thanks to the wonderful Richmonds who put up their home as our base of operations; to stand having 20+ Liberal Youth in your home is a feat that would make Hercules himself sweat with fear.

The number of people from outside the area was fantastic, with a good showing from across the country, including the Birmingham Uni Lib-Dems (hoodies and all), including Sophie Thornton, chair of LY-England and a couple of fellow Lib-Dems from Hull. I know the large number of Liberal Youth members was welcomed by members of the Watford party, with one commenting how good it was to see their enthusiasm and reminded them of their days in the youth.

The response on the door was largely positive from what I’ve heard, and a great deal of data was collected regardless of the response, which will prove vital in the coming weeks and months before the all-up council elections in May. We currently hold Watford council, but only just, having lost seats in that dreadful election last year. It will be so important to have a good showing in Watford this year, the way Watford goes could be seen as a sign of how the Liberal Democrats as a whole in England are going. We were reminded of the importance of our work both locally and as part of the fightback as a whole by talks from Jo Swinson, Norman Lamb and Watford local Sal Brinton (who had taken off her “president’s hat” for that talk).

After the first day we gathered in a local church hall for a thank you gathering, where we were greeted by a short talk from some local party figures, as well as a brief recorded message from Tim Farron thanking us for our hard work. Nothing like a vibrant liberal gathering to get you excited for Conference next week.

If anyone feels like helping out in Watford, there’s another action weekend planned for the 2^nd-3^rd of April. Facebook link here.

A little side note: In response to the comments on Sal in the press recently, I say this. I was out with Sal with several others on Saturday morning, with her running a board and chatting to us all merrily and never talking down to even the younger members of liberal youth. Also, later on in the evening at the thank you party I witnessed her giving words of encouragement to several Liberal Youth member. She also gave a brief reminder to everyone at the party that the party has been in worse positions before, and that we can and will come back, instilling a new determination to keep fighting. I wouldn’t ask for a better person as party president.

* Will Wilshere is a member of Watford Liberal Democrats. He blogs here.