Dr Spencer Pitfield JP, reviews the Northern CF Christmas dinner. Spencer is a Sheffield Association Board Representative and former PPC Candidate for Penistone and Stocksbridge.
On Saturday 26th November members of Conservative Future from across the Northern Region together with CF colleagues from further afield held their inaugural Christmas Dinner at the Mecure Hotel, Sheffield. Over One Hundred guests attended this black tie event in what was clearly the largest such gathering of CF members for many a year.
The event was organised by Philip Smith, Northern CF Partnership Chairman, together with other senior CF colleagues including Yorkshire and Humber Chairman Sarah Nazer and Regional Fundraising Officer James Gould. All congratulations must be given to Philip, Sarah and James for what was without doubt a hugely successful evening.
The City of Sheffield Association was of course extremely grateful to the organisers for choosing our City for this major Party event. It has been difficult in recent years to attract high profile visits. We hope this Christmas dinner will be the first of many such events in Sheffield.
Speakers for the evening included Timothy Kirkhope MEP and CF Vice-presidents Eric Ollerenshaw MP and James Wharton MP. The guest list was as you would expect for such an event a ‘who’s who’ for not just the North of England but other parts of the country. However, special mention should be made of the attendance of Robert Winfield – long-serving supporter of CF across the northern region, Area Chairman for South Yorkshire Debbie Toon, and Party Board member Charles Heslop who travelled from Newcastle to show his support. Ben Howlett, National CF Chairman, also kindly joined us coming up from London.
The author of this short article had to leave after the speeches completed just after 10.30pm, but I am reliably informed that in true CF tradition the party remained going well into the small hours! A fantastic event that truly confirms that CF is going from strength to strength across the North of England.
