Turning to the Covid-19 pandemic, Colum Eastwood pays a fitting tribute to the ‘Home Place’ where the conference is taking place.
“If we winter this one out, we can summer anywhere,” he quotes.
“We can now live with the real hope that a real summer is just around the corner.”
After a lengthy delay in proceedings, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood begins his speech by paying tribute to his party colleagues.
He says he believes Dolores Kelly will retain her seat in Upper Bann and that Pat Catney will hold on to his place in Lagan Valley.
“I want to say a few words about something that happened today,” says Mr Eastwood.
He says to those who carried out an attack on the John Hume Foundation in North Belfast and “the peacemakers in that room” - “we know you will never, ever succeed, the people of Ireland will succeed in setting out the future of this country”.
Deputy leader of the SDLP Nichola Mallon spoke at her party's conference.
She said the "society that has been created under the joint rule of the DUP and Sinn Féin over the past 15 years" has left her party "frustrated and angry".
"We want to turn anger into action," she told delegates.
"It's time for change. It is time to change who is in charge," she added.
Enda McClafferty
BBC News NI political editor
Image source, PA MediaSDLP leader Colum Eastwood will warn delegates at his party's conference that the forthcoming assembly election should not be framed along "the same old battles and same old arguments".
He will also says that voters in Northern Ireland deserve better than a choice between "bad government or no government".
The conference in Bellaghy was due to take place last month.
It was postponed after the sudden death of DUP MLA Christopher Stalford.
The party leader will use his address in County Londonderry to talk about his assembly candidates for the election, which is scheduled for 5 May.
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Hello and welcome to the live page.
We will be bringing you coverage of Colum Eastwood’s leader's speech at the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) conference in Bellaghy, Magherafelt.
Stay with us for news and reaction.