Five years ago I met Tom Steinberg at a conference workshop where he was tentatively proposing the idea of a “Civic Hacking Fund”. Last night Tom and friends, including social media Minister Tom Watson, celebrated the fifth birthday of mySociety, the high-successful organisation now justifiably proud that:

Using our services, 200,000 people have written to their MP for the first time, over 8,000 potholes and other broken things have been fixed, nearly 9,000,000 signatures have been left on petitions to the Prime Minister, and at least 77 tiny hats have been knitted for charity.

I went along to The Hub in Kings Cross with video camera in pocket, but just as Tom launched into his account of what’s happened over the past five years – with heartfelt tributes to the many hackers and other volunteers who have made mySociety possible – I found I had left the data card at home. Disaster!