Session object in a Base class

[Mike]

I have an aspx.vb page that is inherits a base.vb class.
Within the class I am trying to check if a session cookie
exists (ie If session("name") = False Then). However I
keep getting the error:

Session state can only be used when enableSessionState is
set to true, either in a configuration file or in the Page
directive

So I put in my web.config file the following:
<pages enableSessionState="true"
autoEventWireup="true">
</pages>

but I still receive the same error. I also put a page
directive in the .aspx page <%@ Page
EnableSessionState="true" %> but still get the same error.