We've made family trips to the Tolpuddle Martyr's Festival since the very first year that they allowed camping - in a recently-mown corn field that was still very spiky with stubble. We, and especially the children, have grown up with Tolpuddle, appreciating the new features each year: hot showers, children's entertainment, music on the Saturday, and more recently, the Friday night, and food now on sale throughout the weekend. That first year we went to Tolpuddle our only hope for Saturday lunch was a pasty bought from the village petrol station.

The petrol station closed the next year, and this year we noticed that a block of flats has been buit where it used to stand. Bad news for the villagers but no bother for us since the caterers at Tolpuddle now serve food from Friday until Monday.

Unison's Health Service Group Executive AGM is over, and we're heading to Trowbridge for the Folk Festival and the start of our holiday.

I don't think I can write a full report of the meeting on my BlackBerry whilst driving down the M6 (I know, I know, I'm a diletante) but I will just comment on the most important debate: that on the question of re-opening year two of the three-year pay deal.

There was a unanimous view that the re-opener clause will almost certainly need to be triggered. There was little or no support for the idea of Unison trying to re-negotiate the first year increase.

Tony Benn was on very good form in what amounted to a sermon on Tolpuddle Martyr's Field this afternoon. Directing his comments to the new generation of trade unionists he set out what can only be described as commandments: don't be demoralised, don't be divided, and don't be cynical.

Last night Mark Steel had done a pretty accurate and very funny impression of Tony Benn, in the course of which he talked about how when Tony Benn spoke at rock festivals he got encores like all the best acts. Sure enough, the Tolpuddle crowd bayed for more, and out he came to tell us a couple more stories. Closing he delivered a perfect warning to young workers.

TUC General Secretary addressed the Tolpuddle crowd. He was all shirt sleeves and open collar: the union bureaucracy on their day off, clearly. His speech was presumably intended to sound left-wing: he demanded various things from the government, paid tribute to striking workers and talked about the trade unions fighting for their rights.

But it struck me that the exact same speech could have been made ten years ago. Indeed it probably was. Saying that you want the government to "put fairness at the heart of its programme" is only something you could say if you didn't know we'd had a Labour government for the last eleven years. A Labour government which has pretty systematically gone about doing the exact opposite.

Once again Tolpuddle is blessed with fantastic weather. And the trade unionosts of South West England (and beyond) turned out in their thousands to commemorate the Tolpuddle Martyrs and renew their commitment to the class struggle. Here they all are...

After eight miles and nearly three hours we're within sight (and sound) of the Martyr's Field. I can hear the dulcet tones of my own union General Secretary wafting out over the fields. But I can't quite make out what he's saying!

Half way from Dorchester to Tolpuddle we pass the cottage in which Thomas Hardy was born. Very pretty.

A little-known feature of the Tolpuddle festival has been an eight-mile "hike for freedom" organised by the Prison Officers' Association from Dorchester jail to the Tpuddle site - retracing in reverse the route taken by the original Tolpuddle martyrs.

So at 9 this morning about two dozen of us from the camp came over to Dorchester and began the two-hour walk back to the campsite. Hopefully by the time we get there Kate will have figured out how to get the tent down.

Good day: UNISON members in local government, together with their colleagues from Unite, have started their 48 hour strike in support of their demand for an above-inflation pay rise. Picket lines were impressive and positive at various Leicester City Council offices this morning, and even a short speech from me didn't dampen their mood at the lunchtime rally in Leicester's Town Hall Square.

We finally took the stabilisers off Gregory's bike yesterday, and figured out how to adjust the handlebars and the seat so it was nearly big enough for him, and off we went to the park... where he learned to ride on two wheels in about three minutes flat! He's had the bike for ages, but been very reluctant to learn to ride it without the stabilisers. However in the autumn he's going on a school trip to Brancaster, where one of the activities is going to be a bike ride. Therefore there's a real incentive to learn to ride competently over the summer holiday.

He's clearly been practicing in secret, or something, though, as he pretty much nailed it on day one. Well done, Greg!