I’m sitting in the lounge of the Holiday Inn in Cardiff with all a blogger really needs, wifi, coffee and Macbook. I arrived in Cardiff early this morning on a flight which contained a very joyful stag party. I’m sure their mothers would be very worried to see them consuming quite so much vodka at barely past the crack of dawn.

This is only the second time I’ve been to Wales. The first visit was for a Doctor Who convention in 2012 and this one is to cover the Welsh Liberal Democrats’ vital pre-election Spring Conference, so it’s a place very associated with the things that I love. Last time I saw very little other than the hotel and the Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. This time, I’ve already had a wander through the beautiful centre of Cardiff and at the moment am looking out on the castle. When I’ve finished writing, I’m off to the Doctor Who Experience for my fix of everyone’s favourite Time Lord. I saw the exhibition in Newcastle and London before it found its permanent home, just across fron the BBC studios where the programme is filmed.

So, why have I come 400 miles from home for this? Firstly because it’s important. Kirsty Williams leads a group of five Welsh Liberal Democrat AMs. In the last five years, they have been as highly effective an opposition to Labour as Willie and his team have been to the SNP in Holyrood. Kirsty persuaded Labour to introduce the Pupil Premium so that Liberal Democrat idea is already helping children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Welsh schools. Kirsty’s bill to ensure safe nursing levels in Welsh hospital faces its final parliamentary hurdle next week.

However, like the rest of us, the results for the Welsh Liberal Democrats last May were devastating, losing talented former minister Jenny Willott and Roger Williams. Mark Williams retained his Ceredigion seat and it is to be hoped that Elizabeth Evans will gain it at Assembly level.

It’s a challenging time and, as the party sets out its stall, we wanted to bring you a flavour of what’s going on here, what the key issues are, how the party is shaping up for another tough electoral test. I’m not going to lie – I also want to motivate those of you who are nearer Wales than London or Scotland to plan to spend some time here in the next few months. Daisy Benson recently headed to Kirsty’s Brecon seat for a lively action day. Everyone had a brilliant time and it would be great to see much more of that sort of co-operation in the weeks ahead.

Another thing I want to do this weekend is to promote Liberal Democrat Voice and encourage people to write for us and to sign up to the Members’ Forum.

If you’re here in Cardiff, please come and say hello.

The festivities kick off tonight with a rally at 6 and then dinner with Lynne Featherstone. She may even have some copies of her wonderful new book. I have never heard her do an after-dinner speech before and I’m really looking forward to it.

You shall hear all about it much later but for the moment, I have a TARDIS to catch…

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social