Election night live

Is it just me - a self-confessed political geek - or is there nothing quite like the buzz of the night after polls close in a general election?

The exit poll that may or may not prove accurate, the mad rush of collecting North East ballot boxes in a bid to be the first constituency to declare, the high-profile wins and losses, the swingometer... I could go on.

Work commitments have never allowed me to experience an election night unfolding in real-time - until last night, when I had a great time covering the local count from the press gallery for Winchester Radio.

Having watched the shock exit poll result at 10pm, I travelled to River Park Leisure Centre where counting was taking place for the Winchester and Meon Valley constituencies.

• While Meon Valley is a Tory stronghold, the BBC were forecasting a 63% chance of a Liberal Democrat gain in remain-voting Winchester.

• The incumbent, Conservative MP Steve Brine, held on at the last general election two years ago with a 52% share of the vote, down from 55% in 2015. His majority also decreased from 16,914 to 9,999.

• The Lib Dems increased their share of the vote by just over 10 percentage points last time around - up from 24.4% (13,511) to 34.5% (19,730) and they took control of the City Council from the Tories in May.

• The Green Party didn’t field a candidate in Winchester supporting Paula Ferguson (Lib Dems) as part of the 'Remain Alliance' pact between the two pro-EU parties.

Winchester Radio had its own table overlooking the count from the balcony viewing gallery and we were in esteemed company alongside colleagues from the BBC, ITV, Newsquest and the University of Winchester amongst others.

We kept listeners up-to-date throughout the night with as-live links and the result came in pretty much on schedule shortly after 5am (FYI the Tories hung on with a majority of just 985 - down by more than 9k - with the Lib Dems closing the gap by adding 7,715 votes).

Us radio people have all recorded, edited and/or uploaded things in a plethora of random places over the course of our careers. I polished our post-declaration interviews in Audition and uploaded them to Winchester Radio's Myriad playout system from the comfort of the balcony at River Park Leisure Centre.

Arriving home just before 8am, after a long and busy but thoroughly enjoyable (and fascinating) night, that horrible combination of needing to sleep immediately but also needing to eat immediately struck!

A few Birdseye waffles later, I was soundo! See you in 2024...?