Debating, Public Speaking, Cocktails, Dancing and Mac and Cheese.

I love Aberdeen. It's a great city. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to get to for use Yorkshire folk. It's either an 8 hour drive or a 6 hour train ride away. Yes, we can always fly up as that only takes an hour in the air, but as there are no direct flights from Yorkshire, this means we have to cross to the wrong side of the Pennies to Manchester Airport, a less than pleasant experience for anyone from Gods own county.

I'm telling you this as a way demonstrates just how much we love our twins in JCI Aberdeen. We JCI Barnsley members never mind making the trip up, as no matter what the occasion, we are always welcomed with smiles, laughter and great hospitality and our latest trip up for the JCI Scotland 2015 National Conference was no different. A total of 7 members and 2 senators from JCI Barnsley made the trip up. It was the first Scottish conference I had attended, but I will certainly be going again as it was so enjoyable.

It would be so hard for me to pick a single highlight as the weekend had so many of them, but as a passionate debater, I think both the show debate and the debating competition were great. I'm always blown away by the standard show for all the public speaking disciplines within JCI Scotland, and don't mind admitting, slightly jealous as well.

I also really liked the little touches that made a great weekend into an excellent weekend, such as the Barrocca in the training rooms for the people who were feeling slightly worse for wear from the previous evening, or the Mac and Cheese late on Friday night to help stave off the munches.

But of course the thing that makes any event are the other people in attendance. The weekend provided us with the ability to catch up with old friends and make news one from not just Scotland, but further afield across Europe.

It's quite fortuitous that in this 100th year of the JCI Movement, that the twins of JCI Aberdeen and JCI Barnsley are both hosting their respective national conferences. After showing us such a good time in Scotland, we hope you will allow us to repay the favour by joining us in November for ours.

Hats off to JCI Aberdeen and the whole COC on a job well done, you can be really proud of the event you delivered, it was cracking.

By IPP Ben Hawley