So it’s over. Part of me says “Thank goodness” as I feel exhausted! Running the social action project on the one hand in Grange Park, and racing up and down to the Winter Gdns for TV interviews that always got cancelled by the time I got there.

I also got to pen the “Livewire” column for the Blackpool Gazette, containing my thoughts on the “Conference Experience”

“So the Conservative Party is back in Blackpool again. The Tower is blue, there’s a tram festooned with Conservative livery, and I am hoping to turn Blackpool blue again whenever Gordon calls the election.

I’ve spent most of my time so far in jeans, T-shirt and fluorescent orange jacket digging away on Grange Park. We’re helping to renovate a plot of waste land off Chepstow Road – and it is a transformation compared to what was originally there. It makes a nice change to see our MPs getting their hands grubby planting the fruit trees, and turning the earth over! Local residents have been digging in alongside us, and everyone’s been complimentary about the changes. Grange Park is on the up thanks to the community spirit, the work of the Grange Park Junior Residents and the willingness of everyone to work together.

I made my ‘debut’ on the conference stage yesterday morning, talking about the project with my fellow candidate for Blackpool South Ron Bell. But I know for a fact that we were both overshadowed by Theresa May’s leopard-skin wellington boots as she interviewed us. I’ve been stopped ever since by delegates asking me how to get to Grange Park to lend a hand.

Another odd thing is realising how often I go past the Imperial Hotel in ‘normal’ times without ever going in. And then Conference comes round, and suddenly it’s packed like a tin of sardines. There are always interesting fringe meetings on in the Imperial. Tonight I’m aiming to be at a meeting about Liverpool Capital of Culture to see what I can learn that we can add to Blackpool’s regeneration plans – even if it’s how not to do it. After that it’s a joint Age Concern/Help the Aged event where I want to put the case forcefully that we need to end the disgrace of mixed-sex and dirty wards now- not ten years on. I’m also hoping to find some health meetings on long-term medical conditions – not just because having epilepsy, I’m keen to improve epilepsy care, but also because over 40% of people in Blackpool live in households where at least one person has a long-term medical condition. And because we don’t always feature in the waiting lists, we sometimes get overlooked.

The other attraction of the Imperial is hanging round the bars chatting to your fellow delegates, and getting a sense of how it’s all going round the country. We’ve got more than ever before here. We in Blackpool still obviously have our tails up from last May’s triumphs, but everybody else seems very optimistic too. All this media talk about an election sometime soon spelling doom for us doesn’t reflect the upbeat mood around me! Even the wind and rain has kept away, and the sun is shining on the Conservatives at long last …”

I also got to two other fringe meetings I didn’t mention. One was with Mind where I raised the issue of long waiting times for adolescent mental health services in the area, and how that can impact on educational achievement and life chances as well. Mental health is an issue which is often overlooked, and one I feel really strongly about. It’s easy to forget that one in five us will have some type of mental health problem at some point in our lives.

The second was an inspirational meeting at which Shami Chakrabarti of the group Liberty spoke along with one of our spokesmen, Dominic Grieve. Liberty campaigns to protect our civil liberties, and highlights issues like the dangers of ID cards and the amount of surveillance in our society. It was a wide-ranging discussion on a number of issues – I raised the problem of how things like road charging mean large amounts of personal data on where you go everywhere will get stored.

The final excitement was spending a morning with the top class at Christ the King Junior running an environmental action group with them. They were really engaged with discussing practical ways in which they can help the environment – remembering to turn the taps off when you’re not using them, or switching the light off when you leave the room, or sharing a car to school with someone else in your class. They put all their ideas down on big posters that they could take home and involve their parents too. It was absolutely exhausting, as they were so lively and enthusiastic. I have a new appreciation of the work primary teachers do.

If you want to see a video of the garden, the Blackpool Gazette has a video of it at: http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/blackpool-news/Tories-get-down-to-work.3256607.jp.

This won’t be the last that Grange Park sees of us Tories though … … … … !