I'm catching up with the pictures from our record-breaking conference last week which saw over 200 eager participants making their way to Builth Wells from all parts of Wales - and they definitely had a good time as we score nine out of ten in the evaluation, also I think a record although we do get consistently good marks for our events thanks to the tireless effort of the organisers and a lot of care taken on the day with our guests who include many very vulnerable people for whom the day is quite a challenge. It was great to see a lot of new faces from new services which we have developed since last year in the teeth of the financial squeeze.
The most popular side-show of the day was the paint job on our life-size model VW camper (the real thing was just outside though represented indoors by our surreal camper tent visible in the picture above).
There is some discussion about the identity of the driver painted in the left-hand seat (correctly - it is left-hand drive), a shifty-looking, crop-haired rogue in a Hafal tee-shirt peering over Tesco Value glasses. Later in the day someone adds a halo which is confusing.
As last year the most stressful part of my day was not Hafal's AGM which passes off in swift good order but the "Camper Cookery Master Class" in which I pretend to prepare a three course meal while our bomb-proof Company Sec Nicola Thomas does the real work, impressively managing not to get food on her posh red sari.
This year we knock out smoked mackerel paté, pitta pockets with griddled beef and mixed vegetables plus couscous, and fresh pineapple with cream and a cherry highlight.
It's all going quite well until I attack the pineapple with a knife and, regretting my failure to practise beforehand, I slash aimlessly at the fruit and in the panic my specs fall off into the sticky juice (luckily they are just Tesco Value ones - a snip at £10 including prescription lenses).
