The European Hustings day at Winsford Civic hall on Saturday 29th September was a great success. Helen gave her speech and was pleased to receive so many "well done!" messages from the audience.

Below is a review of the day from Pauline Banham, a Liberal Democrat campaigner in Cheadle constituency.

"The European hustings at the North West Regional Conference on Saturday was a real eye-opener for me, being the first ever hustings other than Patsy's I've ever been to.

In all truth, I went along to support Helen, whom I have got to know well through our late dear friend Patsy Calton M.P. We work together closely as key members of Mark Hunter M.P.'s team.

Helen at the European hustings in Winsford

It was certainly fun and I hugely enjoyed the speeches by all the candidates. It didn't feel like a chore as I had expected, listening to 9 candidates for ten minutes each, and I didn't bang my watch once to check if it was working! Judging by the warm applause Helen received, I was only disappointed that there were only a few hundred members there to hear her. She's always such an inspiring speaker and makes me want to run round canvassing afterwards. But then again I suppose I am a little biased as I've seen first hand how she won her Council seat, and watched all the people who told me they don't usually bother to vote turn-out in droves in Bramhall. Yes, I think she got her message across clearly on Saturday and left no-one in any doubt that she is certainly anything but a paper candidate!

Talking to members from across the region afterwards, the comments were fantastic and I know she struck a chord with our membership. I'm glad she emphasised her European credentials and experience of working with the European Parliament, the Commission and the Ministers, and I think that came across almost as well as her dedication to people and liberal democrat values. Even I never knew she had worked in every single member state and introduced large scale environmental technology in so many projects across Europe.

All nine candidates managed time for questions and I was taken aback when, after Helen stopped speaking, and the applause finally died down, no-one seemed to feel the need to ask any questions - there was a real comfortable silence and smiles all round. How unusual after all the hands had shot up after the other 8 speakers! Although she was smiling, as she always does, I could tell she was dying for someone to ask something - anything! Eventually one chap asked her about UKIP and the euro-sceptic vote and how she would deal with it. She loved it and we all laughed when she described her conversation with Nigel Farage, the UKIP MEP, at the fringe in Brighton the other week!

I see its written 'Drive, Determination and Enthusiasm' on her website. Well if the drive and success I've seen her display time and time again is anything to go by, I think we might end up with 3 Lib Dem MEP's in the North West after all. She always says to our team, "nothing is impossible - we'll blaze a trail together!" and she does.

I wish all the candidates well in this European selection race. If she lets me post this review on her website, I'll be pleased because then I can tell everyone who I am voting for as No. 1 - HELEN!"