White Christmas?
In the dark early morning I cleared the ice off my car while my neighbour Linda did the same to her car. She informed me that our planned excursion tonight was off as the bell-ringers had got their dates mixed up. Or something like that – my brain takes a while to warm up in the mornings. Anyway, I managed to pass the message on to Jackie.
By the time I arrived at Watford the weather was quite mild but the white fog remained; there has been no sign of the sun or stars for several days. I don’t think this is quite what people have in mind when they talk (or sing) about a “White Christmas”.
Tim from WBC Property Management arrived at 9:00 am as promised with a copy of the Woodside Community Association’s lease. It is dated 1958 and confirms that the freehold is owned by WBC.
Odds and ends
I talked to the people at Volbase about our adoption of their database sometime early in 2007 to manage our contacts and QA processes. Volbase will provide us with new installation disks and licences early in the new year. We will then load up onto Volbase the results of our current exercise to produce a new Community Directory for Watford. It will be a big change for us, but will enable us to deliver a much better service to our member groups.
I then chased up a missing CRB check. This check was originally requested in July. Then it was lost in HCC’s systems until October when it was finally forwarded for processing. The whole process should take “six to eight weeks”. To give HCC their credit, we have often had checks back within three weeks. But this particular check has now taken twenty-five weeks and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. Meanwhile, there is a chap who has waited nearly six months to take up a job offer.
Then a telephone call from Mary at the West Watford Community Centre about their funding from WBC, who are keen to see groups in West Watford working more closely together. Mary and I talked for some time and, following discussions earlier this week with the Indian Association and the African Caribbean Association, I am convinced that we need an initial informal discussion about community cohesion with interested groups.
Homework
I will address this in the new year. For today, I was too busy preparing for the Christmas break. I had some last minute updates for our website to organise with Maria, then taking backups of several directories so I can complete work at home over Christmas.
I have taken a full backup of the accounts which need to be reviewed in detail. Our bookkeeper Priti has kindly bagged up the supporting files too: what fun I’ll have unwrapping those at Christmas! We have a trustees meeting on 1 February and I need to make sure that the financial information is accurate and up to date.
I have also taken backups of all the files on WBC’s proposals for new lease arrangements as I need to get a final report completed by 8 January.
Finally, I have taken copies of all the latest available Compact documentation from Watford, Herts and the world beyond. Just in case I get bored.
One last thing
At 3:00, I warned everyone that the server was going off. I tried to reboot from the operating system on our HDD to see whether or not I could salvage our old Microsoft Exchange settings for Outlook. No luck. I took out the old HDD and installed a new one. The rebooted the server again, and everything looked fine. I left at 5:00. I’ve plenty of work to keep me happy over xmas. See you in the New Year.
Thursday, 21 December 2006
The Shortest Day
The weather was milder, but the fog persists causing havoc at Heathrow Airport where flights have again been cancelled. Fortunately Bobby and his mother have already escaped to America for Xmas. Few cars are on the roads and my journey into work was easy-peasy.
At 8:30, Sue was already in the office beginning to review the accounts and taking a call from the Police who are keen to recruit more volunteers.
A surprise visit
My work on accommodation was interrupted by Kim (our WBC grants officer) who hovered at my door expectantly. It slowly dawned on me that she and I must have a meeting. I knew nothing of this meeting, but recognise that this was probably my own oversight. Anyway, I was not otherwise committed so Kim and I talked through the detail of WCVS’s three-year “Service Level Agreement”.
WCVS’s Strategic Plan pretty much spells out everything we want to do, so the meeting was very productive. We identified lots of ways in which WCVS and WBC can work effectively together.
The main headings were:
· Updating the Watford Compact
· Developing local strategies for voluntary sector accommodation, fundraising, and quality assurance
· Working with WBC to restructure their grant and monitoring arrangements
· Working with WBC to restructure local arrangements for consultation and community engagement
· Supporting our members on quality assurance, training and fundraising
Of course we also discussed WCVS’s own accommodation needs, and other issues over WBC funding of some voluntary organisation. We exchanged xmas greetings and agreed to meet again in the new year.
Woodside Community Centre
In the afternoon, I returned to work on our report detailing the likely impact of WBC’s proposals for rationalising the basis of voluntary sector leases. Then I met with Daniel and Anne from the Woodside Community Centre: an unincorporated group that is only just breaking even but is providing a focus for much community activity including a pre-school group, football team, pensioners' group, bingo and darts. They are concerned that the Council’s lease proposals could force them to close down just as they approach their fiftieth anniversary early in 2007.
Given the turnover of committee members at the club, no-one there seems to have a copy of the current or most recent lease and there is some disagreement over who actually has the title to the building. I spoke with Tim at WBC who kindly agreed to send over copies of the relevant paperwork and Daniel and I agreed to meet again the following day.
After this, I caught up with some correspondence, including with the lawyer who has offered to provide pro bono advice for local charities.
Clubbishness
I love books. But I rarely buy books new: second-hand books have been a passion of mine since childhood. It comes from having a librarian as a father. Outside Charring Cross Road, Hay-on-Wye and a few provincial exceptions, second-hand bookshops seem to be a thing of the past. But just a few paces from the WCVS offices there are half a dozen charity shops each with a good selection of second-hand books. Occasionally I visit the library, but more often than not this turns out to be an expensive exercise when I receive reminders telling me to return books and pay a hefty fine (last time £6:50 for two overdue books on the seventeenth century witch-hunts in East Anglia). So charity shops are undoubtedly the best option, and I am also pretty good at recycling books (returning them to be resold) before they take over the house entirely. Although Jackie and the kids may dispute this.
This evening I began reading The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith. I didn’t get far. Set in Edinburgh, the story seemed to focus on a single middle-class woman who witnesses a murder at the Opera (lots of in-jokes and “U” references to singers and composers about which I know nothing). The following morning, she patronises her quaint savant working-class cleaner, visits her niece (who runs a swish coffee bar), and then returns home to have a sleep in the afternoon. I am not a class warrior by any means, but this had me longing for revolution. Strangely, I am quite tolerant of this sort of thing in Victorian and Edwardian literature. Or perhaps it’s because the leading character in this book was a woman? Or Scottish? I worried about my prejudices. Jackie as ever set me straight: “Life’s too short. If you don’t like it just move on”. Perhaps it was just her lovely way of telling me to shut up.
Instead I picked up The Rotters Club by Jonathan Coe. At first, this wasn’t promising either (the introduction featured some highly eccentric punctuation) but I persevered, and was amply rewarded: punctuation returned to normal and a well-written story developed about working-class school children in the 1970s (lots of in-jokes and “U” references to bands I remember rather well). U and Non-U just depend on where you stand.
The weather was milder, but the fog persists causing havoc at Heathrow Airport where flights have again been cancelled. Fortunately Bobby and his mother have already escaped to America for Xmas. Few cars are on the roads and my journey into work was easy-peasy.
At 8:30, Sue was already in the office beginning to review the accounts and taking a call from the Police who are keen to recruit more volunteers.
A surprise visit
My work on accommodation was interrupted by Kim (our WBC grants officer) who hovered at my door expectantly. It slowly dawned on me that she and I must have a meeting. I knew nothing of this meeting, but recognise that this was probably my own oversight. Anyway, I was not otherwise committed so Kim and I talked through the detail of WCVS’s three-year “Service Level Agreement”.
WCVS’s Strategic Plan pretty much spells out everything we want to do, so the meeting was very productive. We identified lots of ways in which WCVS and WBC can work effectively together.
The main headings were:
· Updating the Watford Compact
· Developing local strategies for voluntary sector accommodation, fundraising, and quality assurance
· Working with WBC to restructure their grant and monitoring arrangements
· Working with WBC to restructure local arrangements for consultation and community engagement
· Supporting our members on quality assurance, training and fundraising
Of course we also discussed WCVS’s own accommodation needs, and other issues over WBC funding of some voluntary organisation. We exchanged xmas greetings and agreed to meet again in the new year.
Woodside Community Centre
In the afternoon, I returned to work on our report detailing the likely impact of WBC’s proposals for rationalising the basis of voluntary sector leases. Then I met with Daniel and Anne from the Woodside Community Centre: an unincorporated group that is only just breaking even but is providing a focus for much community activity including a pre-school group, football team, pensioners' group, bingo and darts. They are concerned that the Council’s lease proposals could force them to close down just as they approach their fiftieth anniversary early in 2007.
Given the turnover of committee members at the club, no-one there seems to have a copy of the current or most recent lease and there is some disagreement over who actually has the title to the building. I spoke with Tim at WBC who kindly agreed to send over copies of the relevant paperwork and Daniel and I agreed to meet again the following day.
After this, I caught up with some correspondence, including with the lawyer who has offered to provide pro bono advice for local charities.
Clubbishness
I love books. But I rarely buy books new: second-hand books have been a passion of mine since childhood. It comes from having a librarian as a father. Outside Charring Cross Road, Hay-on-Wye and a few provincial exceptions, second-hand bookshops seem to be a thing of the past. But just a few paces from the WCVS offices there are half a dozen charity shops each with a good selection of second-hand books. Occasionally I visit the library, but more often than not this turns out to be an expensive exercise when I receive reminders telling me to return books and pay a hefty fine (last time £6:50 for two overdue books on the seventeenth century witch-hunts in East Anglia). So charity shops are undoubtedly the best option, and I am also pretty good at recycling books (returning them to be resold) before they take over the house entirely. Although Jackie and the kids may dispute this.
This evening I began reading The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith. I didn’t get far. Set in Edinburgh, the story seemed to focus on a single middle-class woman who witnesses a murder at the Opera (lots of in-jokes and “U” references to singers and composers about which I know nothing). The following morning, she patronises her quaint savant working-class cleaner, visits her niece (who runs a swish coffee bar), and then returns home to have a sleep in the afternoon. I am not a class warrior by any means, but this had me longing for revolution. Strangely, I am quite tolerant of this sort of thing in Victorian and Edwardian literature. Or perhaps it’s because the leading character in this book was a woman? Or Scottish? I worried about my prejudices. Jackie as ever set me straight: “Life’s too short. If you don’t like it just move on”. Perhaps it was just her lovely way of telling me to shut up.
Instead I picked up The Rotters Club by Jonathan Coe. At first, this wasn’t promising either (the introduction featured some highly eccentric punctuation) but I persevered, and was amply rewarded: punctuation returned to normal and a well-written story developed about working-class school children in the 1970s (lots of in-jokes and “U” references to bands I remember rather well). U and Non-U just depend on where you stand.
Wednesday, 20 December 2006
Another icy morning. But once again, bright sunshine broke through just as I entered Watford.
Local Area Agreements
The Hertfordshire LAA (Local Area Agreement) includes a target that 17% of adults across the county will be regularly volunteering by 2009. This is based on a county-wide MORI survey conducted in 2006 that shows 14% of adults currently volunteer. Watford has a difficult position because its MORI “baseline” is only 6%. The difficulty is that the survey was designed only to give statistical assurance across the county as a whole and not for individual areas of the county. In fact, in Watford just 100 people were interviewed, so no real confidence at all can be placed in the local baseline. A different group of 100 people might have produced a baseline of 20%, or 10%, or 4%.
When the exercise is repeated in 2009, 100 Watfordians will be asked “Do you regularly volunteer for at least two hours a week?” (I paraphrase slightly). We want as many Watfordians as possible (at least 17 out of 100) to respond “Yes”. But the actual response will of course depend wholly on which 100 people are randomly selected for interview.
Of course, people are looking to WCVS and the Watford Volunteer Centre to play a leading role promoting volunteering. And of course we will. But it’s not an easy position: the quality of baseline data is poor, there is no well-defined target to reach in Watford, no established method of getting from A to B, and no confidence in the system that will eventually be used to measure our actual achievement.
Our Volunteer Centre is supported by just one half-time worker: in three years can she really deliver a near three-fold increase in local volunteering? Helen is intelligent, experienced, hard working and her chutneys are held in high esteem - but she does not have supernatural powers.
It is important to demonstrate that WCVS (and Watford generally) can make a solid contribution to the LAA process. It is also important to be realistic. This raises all sorts of questions about two-tier local government and Local Area Agreements. Don’t get me started.
So this morning I called Hertfordshire County Council and spoke with Ben. He displayed a good understanding of the issues and put me in touch with a colleague of his who co-ordinates the County Council’s communications around the LAA.
We will talk in the new year, but some very useful markers have been laid down.
More property concerns
Back in the office, I talked again with the Woodside Community Centre about their lease with Watford Borough Council, and then spent some time working on the directory we are producing of Watford’s community groups alongside an exercise to assess the contribution these groups make to the local community and the economy.
I left the office about 6:00 PM and headed off into the icy fog that had once more descended.
Local Area Agreements
The Hertfordshire LAA (Local Area Agreement) includes a target that 17% of adults across the county will be regularly volunteering by 2009. This is based on a county-wide MORI survey conducted in 2006 that shows 14% of adults currently volunteer. Watford has a difficult position because its MORI “baseline” is only 6%. The difficulty is that the survey was designed only to give statistical assurance across the county as a whole and not for individual areas of the county. In fact, in Watford just 100 people were interviewed, so no real confidence at all can be placed in the local baseline. A different group of 100 people might have produced a baseline of 20%, or 10%, or 4%.
When the exercise is repeated in 2009, 100 Watfordians will be asked “Do you regularly volunteer for at least two hours a week?” (I paraphrase slightly). We want as many Watfordians as possible (at least 17 out of 100) to respond “Yes”. But the actual response will of course depend wholly on which 100 people are randomly selected for interview.
Of course, people are looking to WCVS and the Watford Volunteer Centre to play a leading role promoting volunteering. And of course we will. But it’s not an easy position: the quality of baseline data is poor, there is no well-defined target to reach in Watford, no established method of getting from A to B, and no confidence in the system that will eventually be used to measure our actual achievement.
Our Volunteer Centre is supported by just one half-time worker: in three years can she really deliver a near three-fold increase in local volunteering? Helen is intelligent, experienced, hard working and her chutneys are held in high esteem - but she does not have supernatural powers.
It is important to demonstrate that WCVS (and Watford generally) can make a solid contribution to the LAA process. It is also important to be realistic. This raises all sorts of questions about two-tier local government and Local Area Agreements. Don’t get me started.
So this morning I called Hertfordshire County Council and spoke with Ben. He displayed a good understanding of the issues and put me in touch with a colleague of his who co-ordinates the County Council’s communications around the LAA.
We will talk in the new year, but some very useful markers have been laid down.
More property concerns
Back in the office, I talked again with the Woodside Community Centre about their lease with Watford Borough Council, and then spent some time working on the directory we are producing of Watford’s community groups alongside an exercise to assess the contribution these groups make to the local community and the economy.
I left the office about 6:00 PM and headed off into the icy fog that had once more descended.
Tuesday, 19 December 2006
Blooming in the sunshine
When I left home, it was dark and icy - the first truly cold day of the winter. But by the time I arrived in Watford, the sun was shining through beautifully. Staff and volunteers alike bloomed in the sunshine.
The simple joys of life
Today was the day I finally sorted out my professional life. No-one would know – all the action took place inside my files and cabinets. Ably assisted by the remarkable Maria (treasured volunteer) I spent virtually the entire day finally sorting out my filing system. I have been seven months occasionally pruning my files, or grafting on to them. But enough is enough. Elsewhere, major sources of work-related stress are bullying, poor pay, overwork, etc. For me, nothing induces stress so much as a poor filing system.
Having completed the task, it is so thrilling to know where things are and to know where things should be. Instead of one file named “Accounts” I now have one named “Audited Accounts” and one named “Bank Accounts”. It is impossible to convey how much simple joy this gives me. But there is a serious side too; it is "de-cluttering", clearing the decks for action, preparing for what lies ahead: I feel ready for anything.
Three welcome interruptions
There were three welcome interruptions to my onslaught on the filing.
This morning, Sandra unexp[ectedly visited from Barnet CVS. She lives in Watford and is a trustee of both the African Caribbean Association and the Women’s Centre. We spoke for about an hour on the future for various local groups, voluntary sector accommodation needs, local grant programmes, national trends in funding, the Minority Ethnic forum, policy developments and so on. Very helpful.
Mid-way through the afternoon, we took delivery of a Thank You hamper from Angelo, our IT support contractor.
Finally, late on in the afternoon I was visited by Harry from Herts CDA to discuss the the Patient and Public Involvement Forums, now transforming into PCT Links. Harry updated me on the associated changes and what they might mean for Watford. Harry is also a member of the Watford Indian Association so we also discussed some of the same issues I’d covered earlier with Sandra.
Just before 6:00 pm I left the office a very contented man.
The only downside to the day is that my pile of Things To Read Over Christmas has now reached the daunting size of eight full inches; even this, I expect, will provide me with much opportunity tonight to indulge in inappropriate and puerile humour.
When I left home, it was dark and icy - the first truly cold day of the winter. But by the time I arrived in Watford, the sun was shining through beautifully. Staff and volunteers alike bloomed in the sunshine.
The simple joys of life
Today was the day I finally sorted out my professional life. No-one would know – all the action took place inside my files and cabinets. Ably assisted by the remarkable Maria (treasured volunteer) I spent virtually the entire day finally sorting out my filing system. I have been seven months occasionally pruning my files, or grafting on to them. But enough is enough. Elsewhere, major sources of work-related stress are bullying, poor pay, overwork, etc. For me, nothing induces stress so much as a poor filing system.
Having completed the task, it is so thrilling to know where things are and to know where things should be. Instead of one file named “Accounts” I now have one named “Audited Accounts” and one named “Bank Accounts”. It is impossible to convey how much simple joy this gives me. But there is a serious side too; it is "de-cluttering", clearing the decks for action, preparing for what lies ahead: I feel ready for anything.
Three welcome interruptions
There were three welcome interruptions to my onslaught on the filing.
This morning, Sandra unexp[ectedly visited from Barnet CVS. She lives in Watford and is a trustee of both the African Caribbean Association and the Women’s Centre. We spoke for about an hour on the future for various local groups, voluntary sector accommodation needs, local grant programmes, national trends in funding, the Minority Ethnic forum, policy developments and so on. Very helpful.
Mid-way through the afternoon, we took delivery of a Thank You hamper from Angelo, our IT support contractor.
Finally, late on in the afternoon I was visited by Harry from Herts CDA to discuss the the Patient and Public Involvement Forums, now transforming into PCT Links. Harry updated me on the associated changes and what they might mean for Watford. Harry is also a member of the Watford Indian Association so we also discussed some of the same issues I’d covered earlier with Sandra.
Just before 6:00 pm I left the office a very contented man.
The only downside to the day is that my pile of Things To Read Over Christmas has now reached the daunting size of eight full inches; even this, I expect, will provide me with much opportunity tonight to indulge in inappropriate and puerile humour.
Monday, 18 December 2006
Today began with a pleasant meeting with a lawyer willing to undertake occasional voluntary work supporting local charities. She is Australian, but very restrained about the latest English Ashes fiasco.
Also in the morning, I spent three hours with Len Simkins, our Investors in People mentor. We talked through the programme of activities WCVS needs to undertake in order to gain IiP accreditation. Under the funding programme, our IiP application needs to be submitted by the end of June 2007. There’s a lot of work to do, but most of it we would need to undertake in any event. Len was very helpful and we agreed on the timetable of activities.
Most of the afternoon, I spent arranging staff review meetings for early January and arranging a programme of work with Angelo for over Christmas.
In the evening, I enjoyed the concluding part of The Hogfather on television (possibly the first programme I have ever watched on Sky Television) and then dispatched a Daily Telegraph crossword ably assisted by the ever delightful Jackie.
Also in the morning, I spent three hours with Len Simkins, our Investors in People mentor. We talked through the programme of activities WCVS needs to undertake in order to gain IiP accreditation. Under the funding programme, our IiP application needs to be submitted by the end of June 2007. There’s a lot of work to do, but most of it we would need to undertake in any event. Len was very helpful and we agreed on the timetable of activities.
Most of the afternoon, I spent arranging staff review meetings for early January and arranging a programme of work with Angelo for over Christmas.
In the evening, I enjoyed the concluding part of The Hogfather on television (possibly the first programme I have ever watched on Sky Television) and then dispatched a Daily Telegraph crossword ably assisted by the ever delightful Jackie.
Sunday, 17 December 2006
Another day of shopping and wrapping and we’re now set fair for Christmas. Except that I cannot find any Chocolate Brazil Nuts: is there a world-wide shortage - or has someone bought up all the nuts? Another question: when is someone going to invent a simple system for wrapping, perhaps using some highly viscous liquid that presents can be dunked in?
Oh Dear; Christmas is coming and the grouch is coming out.
Oh Dear; Christmas is coming and the grouch is coming out.
Saturday, 16 December 2006
A concentrated day of shopping, punctuated by lunch with my parents, who have finally accepted a one day a week place in "day care" for my father. The case worker was warned to raise the issue with care, so cunningly invited my father if he'd like to join her exclusive "Gentlemen's Club" once a week. He eagerly accepted and I hope he's not expecting pole dancers.
Today’s big question: at what point did young men start wearing perfume?
Today’s big question: at what point did young men start wearing perfume?
Friday, 15 December 2006
Accreditation achieved
With the morning's post, we learn that the Watford Volunteer Centre has achieved its quality accreditation from Volunteering England. This is excellent news and is some reward for the effort Helen has put in over months to steer us through the accreditation process. Well done Helen!
I had planned to spend the morning reviewing our accounts with Priti (bookkeeper) and Sue (Services Officer). Unfortunately, Priti called in sick and Sue called to say she had been at hospital with her sister since half way through the night.
Frustrated, I instead spent the day beginning to draft out a report on voluntary sector properties rented from WBC. Vanessa tidied up her desk ahead of some well-deserved leave, and Helen was running another of her successful workshops for potential volunteers.
After a sleepless night, Sue arrived at lunchtime and we had a productive hour or so looking through the accounts: everything is entered and the bank accounts are reconciled, but the nominal and project codings need a thorough overhaul. Another job for over Christmas.
Save me from myself
In the afternoon I spent time with our Connexions Personal Advisors showing them the IT network, and then took a call from the new Hertfordshire PCT about their position re: Compact. The caller was very apologetic on behalf of the PCT’s new CEO, but the fact of the matter is that the new PCT hasn’t yet appointed its Directors so no-one at present has responsibility for partnership and Compact issues. We agreed that the new Director would contact me as soon as they were appointed.
I left the office around 6:00 pm. As I promised myself (and my partner!) this has been a peaceful 9-to-5 sort of week after the dramas of the previous few weeks. But already the work is building up again. Most people look forward to Christmas as a break from work; I am beginning to see it as an opportunity to catch up with things while everyone else is away enjoying themselves. On this, as in so much else, I hope and trust that the wonderful Jackie will save me from myself.
With the morning's post, we learn that the Watford Volunteer Centre has achieved its quality accreditation from Volunteering England. This is excellent news and is some reward for the effort Helen has put in over months to steer us through the accreditation process. Well done Helen!
I had planned to spend the morning reviewing our accounts with Priti (bookkeeper) and Sue (Services Officer). Unfortunately, Priti called in sick and Sue called to say she had been at hospital with her sister since half way through the night.
Frustrated, I instead spent the day beginning to draft out a report on voluntary sector properties rented from WBC. Vanessa tidied up her desk ahead of some well-deserved leave, and Helen was running another of her successful workshops for potential volunteers.
After a sleepless night, Sue arrived at lunchtime and we had a productive hour or so looking through the accounts: everything is entered and the bank accounts are reconciled, but the nominal and project codings need a thorough overhaul. Another job for over Christmas.
Save me from myself
In the afternoon I spent time with our Connexions Personal Advisors showing them the IT network, and then took a call from the new Hertfordshire PCT about their position re: Compact. The caller was very apologetic on behalf of the PCT’s new CEO, but the fact of the matter is that the new PCT hasn’t yet appointed its Directors so no-one at present has responsibility for partnership and Compact issues. We agreed that the new Director would contact me as soon as they were appointed.
I left the office around 6:00 pm. As I promised myself (and my partner!) this has been a peaceful 9-to-5 sort of week after the dramas of the previous few weeks. But already the work is building up again. Most people look forward to Christmas as a break from work; I am beginning to see it as an opportunity to catch up with things while everyone else is away enjoying themselves. On this, as in so much else, I hope and trust that the wonderful Jackie will save me from myself.
Thursday, 14 December 2006
I had an extra cup of tea before leaving home, waiting for Bobby to ready himself for his return to Brighton. We arrived at the office a bit after 9:00 and Bobby left for Brighton: it’s the last I’ll see of him until after xmas.
The big event of the day was the Volunteers’ Lunch given every xmas as a "thank you" to the dozens of volunters who help WCVS deliver its services. Our volunteers have had a particularly trying 2006 coping with the many changes I’ve introduced; they deserve particular thanks, and Sue has worked hard to produce a splendid spread.
But first I had to check the new security settings on the new network. It ought to be simple to get these right but Angelo and I have had a bit of a nightmare getting the right settings to stay in place; people are starting to fear that they are the victims of a spiteful practical joke. Thankfully, the settings seem now to be stable.
I received a call from young Steph who helps HIC (the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium) to manage its ChangeUp monies. She tells me I am the only one who has expressed any willingness to take on the role of HIC Chair. Of course I could still say “no” but why should I? Kate (the outgoing Chairperson) will be around as vice-chair to support me and it is only for six months. What could possibly go wrong? Subject to the Consortium’s agreement, I accepted the nomination. After hanging up the telephone, I felt like a big fat fly caught in Steph’s silken web.
The Volunteers’ Lunch was a great success. The food was a triumph for Sue and her willing helpers, and there was a good turn out from volunteers and trustees alike.
There was a surreal quiet about the afternoon. Staff tidied away the lunch things, and I busied myself on e-mails and correspondence. I left at the not indecent hour of 6:00 to take Jackie to her xmas meal at the Mill Green Golf Club. She looked gorgeous. In charge of food for the night, I treated Bryan and his friends to take-away Pizza; all I could taste was salt.
The big event of the day was the Volunteers’ Lunch given every xmas as a "thank you" to the dozens of volunters who help WCVS deliver its services. Our volunteers have had a particularly trying 2006 coping with the many changes I’ve introduced; they deserve particular thanks, and Sue has worked hard to produce a splendid spread.
But first I had to check the new security settings on the new network. It ought to be simple to get these right but Angelo and I have had a bit of a nightmare getting the right settings to stay in place; people are starting to fear that they are the victims of a spiteful practical joke. Thankfully, the settings seem now to be stable.
I received a call from young Steph who helps HIC (the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium) to manage its ChangeUp monies. She tells me I am the only one who has expressed any willingness to take on the role of HIC Chair. Of course I could still say “no” but why should I? Kate (the outgoing Chairperson) will be around as vice-chair to support me and it is only for six months. What could possibly go wrong? Subject to the Consortium’s agreement, I accepted the nomination. After hanging up the telephone, I felt like a big fat fly caught in Steph’s silken web.
The Volunteers’ Lunch was a great success. The food was a triumph for Sue and her willing helpers, and there was a good turn out from volunteers and trustees alike.
There was a surreal quiet about the afternoon. Staff tidied away the lunch things, and I busied myself on e-mails and correspondence. I left at the not indecent hour of 6:00 to take Jackie to her xmas meal at the Mill Green Golf Club. She looked gorgeous. In charge of food for the night, I treated Bryan and his friends to take-away Pizza; all I could taste was salt.
Wednesday, 13 December 2006
I arrived this morning to discover that during my absence yesterday, the office fairies had substantially tidied and reorganised my room using furniture donated by some local shop fitters. I must buy Sue another coffee.
Early on I caught up with correspondence, and then met with Des and Farzana, our Connexions Personal Advisors. We talked through our contract targets, working methods and communications, where it became clear that they need full membership of our network. Following the meeting I set up accounts for them and joined their computers to the domain.
Watford Borough Council
After more correspondence, I had a meeting with Sarah and Kim from Watford Borough Council. We met to discuss WBC’s new one-year grant programme and we had a good talk through the procedure and possible pitfalls, bugbears, bottlenecks and complications. I think we made some good progress simplifying and streamlining, but the only real proof of the pudding is in the eating. Perhaps the biggest development for WCVS is that I agreed that we would send an “observer” to WBC’s Grants Panel. This seems an good move, securing some degree of transparency while saving WCVS from the currently difficult position of taking decisions on its members’ funding applications.
After this, we had a more wide ranging discussion updating each other on various matters. I learnt of the latest discussions with those organisations for which WBC had delayed funding decisions, and we also discussed WCVS’s accommodation needs, wider accommodation issues for Watford charities, and the review of the Watford Compact.
Donors and beneficiaries
When this meeting ended, I did some maintenance on the server and then took a call from a local businessman who was raising significant monies for locla charities and wanted advice on possible beneficiaries. He had been referred to WCVS by Watford's Mayor Dorothy Thornhill. His concerns to secure a proper strategic approach to local funding closely matched my own, and we agreed to talk again in the new year. I do hope something comes of it.
At 7:15 I left for our office Xmas meal. Nearly all staff met at a Greek restaurant in Bushey. The food was good and the company excellent.
Early on I caught up with correspondence, and then met with Des and Farzana, our Connexions Personal Advisors. We talked through our contract targets, working methods and communications, where it became clear that they need full membership of our network. Following the meeting I set up accounts for them and joined their computers to the domain.
Watford Borough Council
After more correspondence, I had a meeting with Sarah and Kim from Watford Borough Council. We met to discuss WBC’s new one-year grant programme and we had a good talk through the procedure and possible pitfalls, bugbears, bottlenecks and complications. I think we made some good progress simplifying and streamlining, but the only real proof of the pudding is in the eating. Perhaps the biggest development for WCVS is that I agreed that we would send an “observer” to WBC’s Grants Panel. This seems an good move, securing some degree of transparency while saving WCVS from the currently difficult position of taking decisions on its members’ funding applications.
After this, we had a more wide ranging discussion updating each other on various matters. I learnt of the latest discussions with those organisations for which WBC had delayed funding decisions, and we also discussed WCVS’s accommodation needs, wider accommodation issues for Watford charities, and the review of the Watford Compact.
Donors and beneficiaries
When this meeting ended, I did some maintenance on the server and then took a call from a local businessman who was raising significant monies for locla charities and wanted advice on possible beneficiaries. He had been referred to WCVS by Watford's Mayor Dorothy Thornhill. His concerns to secure a proper strategic approach to local funding closely matched my own, and we agreed to talk again in the new year. I do hope something comes of it.
At 7:15 I left for our office Xmas meal. Nearly all staff met at a Greek restaurant in Bushey. The food was good and the company excellent.
Tuesday, 12 December 2006
Letchworth
I drove to Letchworth for a meeting of Herts CVS. On the way, I had time for a brief cup of tea with my Letchworthian parents. My father is three years into Alzheimers and this morning was again seeking news of his missing wife. Across the table, my mother (his wife of more than 50 years) is recovering well after her eye operation, and seems to have limitless reserves of endurance, strength, patience and kindness. I return the book on Alzheimers to my mother and had a brief talk encouraging my parents to get some additional support for themselves and arranging some Christmas dates.
Herts CVS
Herts CVS is a grouping of the CEOs of the nine CVS organisations in the county. We meet about every two months to organise and co-ordinate ourselves. Herts CVS administers the HCC Strategic Leadership fund for the voluntary sector, and HCC expect this fund to deliver step changes in the quality and effectiveness of CVS infrastructure support. This particular meeting was to agree the heads of a strategic plan for CVS activity across Hertfordshire to deliver these changes.
The Herts CEOs are a disparate bunch. Present today were Jacquie (North Herts), Ann (Stevenage), Mark (Dacorum), Ian (Broxbourne and East Herts), Laura (St Albans) and Robin (Hertsmere). Absent were Carmen (Welwyn Hatfield) and Mary (Three Rivers).
Royal Albert Hall
Having made good progress, the meeting broke up shortly after lunch and I returned home to sort out some domestic matters, including the aftermath of last week’s flood. I spoke with my daughter Nancy who is eagerly anticipating Christmas and who told me that on 19 December she is singing with the Southend Girls’ Choir at the Royal Albert Hall!
I drove to Letchworth for a meeting of Herts CVS. On the way, I had time for a brief cup of tea with my Letchworthian parents. My father is three years into Alzheimers and this morning was again seeking news of his missing wife. Across the table, my mother (his wife of more than 50 years) is recovering well after her eye operation, and seems to have limitless reserves of endurance, strength, patience and kindness. I return the book on Alzheimers to my mother and had a brief talk encouraging my parents to get some additional support for themselves and arranging some Christmas dates.
Herts CVS
Herts CVS is a grouping of the CEOs of the nine CVS organisations in the county. We meet about every two months to organise and co-ordinate ourselves. Herts CVS administers the HCC Strategic Leadership fund for the voluntary sector, and HCC expect this fund to deliver step changes in the quality and effectiveness of CVS infrastructure support. This particular meeting was to agree the heads of a strategic plan for CVS activity across Hertfordshire to deliver these changes.
The Herts CEOs are a disparate bunch. Present today were Jacquie (North Herts), Ann (Stevenage), Mark (Dacorum), Ian (Broxbourne and East Herts), Laura (St Albans) and Robin (Hertsmere). Absent were Carmen (Welwyn Hatfield) and Mary (Three Rivers).
Royal Albert Hall
Having made good progress, the meeting broke up shortly after lunch and I returned home to sort out some domestic matters, including the aftermath of last week’s flood. I spoke with my daughter Nancy who is eagerly anticipating Christmas and who told me that on 19 December she is singing with the Southend Girls’ Choir at the Royal Albert Hall!
Monday, 11 December 2006
Taking stock
Reviewing my efforts of the previous week, I find I spent 74 hours working and a further 10 hours travelling to and from work. During this time I worked as a furniture shifter, IT technician, meetings chair, fundraiser, press officer, driver, manager, contract negotiator, trainer, strategic planner, business consultant, and a few other things beside. Of course it was a very exceptional week, with all manner to things piling up and coming to a head.
As of last Friday, we have now completed our major application for Reaching Communities funding, we have hosted our Sunflower Centres meeting, and our network is now 99% recovered with only a few remaining problems.
This week, I plan to work reasonable hours. My wonderful partner Jackie insists!
Unless a new emergency arises, I don’t face any major deadlines until the New Year. But of course there are still some things to do before Christmas. There is a bit of follow-up work from the Sunflower Centres meeting, our fundraising advisor Anne has lost some files on the new network, I have a meeting of Herts CVS to prepare for, our Volunteers xmas lunch is on Thursday, out accounts need some attention, there are some PCs to move, I have some meetings with Watford Borough Council, and I need to complete a report on local voluntary sector accommodation. And there’s a few other things. But compared to the difficulties of the past week, this is pedestrian stuff.
OPn my journey to work, I passed a nasty looking accident in Coopers Green Lane involving a car and a van. I was delayed only slightly. Three police cars and an ambulance were in attendance.
I arrived in the office at 9:00 am and worked steadily through the day. I met with several of the staff on different matters, agreed the text of a press release on the Sunflower Centres, and spoke with someone about what might be involved if I agreed to take on the chair of the Herts Infrastructure Consortium.
Alien Ant Farm
My son Bobby arrived from Brighton at about 5:00 and shortly after we left for home. On the drive home, Bobby took control of the music and I was pleased to see (or hear) that he is now listening to some sensible Rock music (Alien Ant Farm and someone whose name I forget). It was a little loud for my taste, but so much better than that appalling rap that always sounds like angry pre-pubescents shouting nursery rhymes above the sound of a pneumatic drill.
On arriving home, I discovered that the car involved in this morning's nasty looking accident was in fact driven by Jackie's brother Steve. He had spent most of the day in hospital but had suffered only bad bruising and a sore neck and no-one else was seriously injured.
Recent reading
Somehow over the past week or so, I have completed Lucky Man (the autobiography of actor and Parkinson’s sufferer Michael J Fox), Rich Cohen’s The Avengers (the extraordinary story of the extraordinary people who ran the Jewish resistance in Poland and Lithuania during the last war), and a book on Alzheimer’s lent me by my mother. I am now tackling Mark Kurlansky’s book The History of Cod which is well-written and surprisingly interesting.
Reviewing my efforts of the previous week, I find I spent 74 hours working and a further 10 hours travelling to and from work. During this time I worked as a furniture shifter, IT technician, meetings chair, fundraiser, press officer, driver, manager, contract negotiator, trainer, strategic planner, business consultant, and a few other things beside. Of course it was a very exceptional week, with all manner to things piling up and coming to a head.
As of last Friday, we have now completed our major application for Reaching Communities funding, we have hosted our Sunflower Centres meeting, and our network is now 99% recovered with only a few remaining problems.
This week, I plan to work reasonable hours. My wonderful partner Jackie insists!
Unless a new emergency arises, I don’t face any major deadlines until the New Year. But of course there are still some things to do before Christmas. There is a bit of follow-up work from the Sunflower Centres meeting, our fundraising advisor Anne has lost some files on the new network, I have a meeting of Herts CVS to prepare for, our Volunteers xmas lunch is on Thursday, out accounts need some attention, there are some PCs to move, I have some meetings with Watford Borough Council, and I need to complete a report on local voluntary sector accommodation. And there’s a few other things. But compared to the difficulties of the past week, this is pedestrian stuff.
OPn my journey to work, I passed a nasty looking accident in Coopers Green Lane involving a car and a van. I was delayed only slightly. Three police cars and an ambulance were in attendance.
I arrived in the office at 9:00 am and worked steadily through the day. I met with several of the staff on different matters, agreed the text of a press release on the Sunflower Centres, and spoke with someone about what might be involved if I agreed to take on the chair of the Herts Infrastructure Consortium.
Alien Ant Farm
My son Bobby arrived from Brighton at about 5:00 and shortly after we left for home. On the drive home, Bobby took control of the music and I was pleased to see (or hear) that he is now listening to some sensible Rock music (Alien Ant Farm and someone whose name I forget). It was a little loud for my taste, but so much better than that appalling rap that always sounds like angry pre-pubescents shouting nursery rhymes above the sound of a pneumatic drill.
On arriving home, I discovered that the car involved in this morning's nasty looking accident was in fact driven by Jackie's brother Steve. He had spent most of the day in hospital but had suffered only bad bruising and a sore neck and no-one else was seriously injured.
Recent reading
Somehow over the past week or so, I have completed Lucky Man (the autobiography of actor and Parkinson’s sufferer Michael J Fox), Rich Cohen’s The Avengers (the extraordinary story of the extraordinary people who ran the Jewish resistance in Poland and Lithuania during the last war), and a book on Alzheimer’s lent me by my mother. I am now tackling Mark Kurlansky’s book The History of Cod which is well-written and surprisingly interesting.
Sunday, 10 December 2006
The day was taken up with more Christmas shopping, carefully balancing various bank accounts, and then a talk with Angelo about changing various WCVS network settings. Somehow during the day I managed to catch some or all of three cracking films: Pimpernel Smith with Leslie Howard; Murder at the Gallop with the peerless Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple; and Carve Her Name With Pride with Virginia McKenna giving a superb performance as the war hero Violette Szabo.
Saturday, 9 December 2006
In the morning: Christmas shopping. At lunchtime: decorators visiting to provide quotes for repairing flood damage. In the afternoon: the putting up of the Christmas tree. In the evening: the delights of Foyle’s War and an early night.
Friday, 8 December 2006
Now sit back and wait
Anne was already at the office when I arrived about 7:30. We collaborated on the final stages of collating the application, and by about 11:00 it was all done. Anyone who has submitted large fundraising applications will understand how complex they can be. And this was a complex project involving three major partners and a wide range of activities to be delivered at sites throughout Watford. If approved for funding, the project will bring more than £300,000 into the borough and underpin much of the Watford Learning Partnership’s strategy for the next five years. My chair of Trustees, Pam, arrived at 12:00 to sign the finished application.
Vanessa, Anne and I have each invested hours and hours in preparing the application, all the while knowing that it only has about a 10% chance of success. We were all satisfied with the final application, and all took a professional pride in doing a good job a meeting the deadline. Vanessa and Anne have done a truly wonderful job. Now all we can do is wait patiently for a funding decision sometime in the next six months. Or longer.
Sunflower Project
At 1:00, Anthony Wills arrived, the facilitator for the 2:00 meeting on the future of the Sunflower Project. Anthony Wills is a leading expert on Domestic Violence and his role today was paid for by the Police who had also briefed him on the meeting. The poor communication around this meeting seems to continue and does not auger well: a brief conversation with Anthony revealed that he anticipated a small meeting of about a dozen people and I had to explain that we were expecting nearer forty. We talked through the expected composition of the audience and key issues and I left him to adjust his plans accordingly.
The Sunflower Centres (one in Watford and one in Hemel Hempstead) were created to provide bases for a combined response to Domestic Violence and Hate Crimes in the West of Hertfordshire. The Police have provided the buildings, secured most of the funding, and have been highly supportive (especially the local Commander Jerry Alford). Additional funding has been provided by Herts County, Watford and Dacorum councils. No funding has been forthcoming from Three Rivers District Council or from the local PCTs, and now Dacorum District Council has apparently indicated that it will withdraw support early in 2007. Dacorum’s decision has precipitated a crisis for the Sunflower Project.
Problems have been exacerbated by historically poor communications with the voluntary sector. Today’s meeting offered a chance to clear the air, face up to the funding realities, and establish a genuine partnership to find a way forward.
The Sunflower Project meeting
Having personally pushed hard for this meeting, I was delighted by the turnout. The Police’s continued support for the Sunflower Project does them great credit and they were well represented at the meeting. On the statutory side, there was also good representation from Watford Borough, Dacorum District and Herts County Councils, and the Probation Service. Sadly, there was no presence from Three Rivers District Council or from the PCT.
But all the effort was made worthwhile by the excellent turnout from the voluntary including (amongst many others) Watford Domestic Violence Forum, Watford Women’s Centre, Watford and Three Rivers Relate, Dacorum Domestic Violence Forum, Herts Community Development Agency, Dacorum Voluntary Action, Watford and Three Rivers HomeStart, Victim Support, Watford Turnaround, and West Herts Against Crime.
Anthony Wills did a good job of managing the meeting, encouraging and maintaining the dialogue. Jerry Alford explained that the Police could not indefinitely pay for two Centres without the support of key statutory partners, and without the engagement of the voluntary sector. Voluntary sector representatives explained the problems they had encountered in the past when trying to engage with the Sunflower Centres.
Key contributors to the debate included Sylvia (Watford Women’s Centre), John and Sarifa (Turnaround), Adele (Relate) and Val (Dacorum Domestic Violence Forum). From all sides, there was openness and goodwill, and a common commitment to making the Sunflower Centres work.
Issues left unresolved included: future funding, the management structure for the Sunflower Project and how the Sunflower Centre will balance work tackling Domestic Violence and work tackling Hate Crime. But Anthony Wills did secure agreement on a clear plan of action involving further discussions among all the key organisations, and so a good basis has been established for future work. Whether this will be enough to save both Sunflower Centres remains to be seen.
Certainly the mood was very positive and the voluntary sector people I talked with were very happy with the way things had gone. Several were also paid compliments to the conference room that Sue and Vanessa had worked had to improve.
Home at last: after the flood
When I arrived home, Jackie was nearing the end of her tether, having taken the day off work to resolve our flood problems and having spent a highly frustrating day doing so, while seeing carpets ripped up from two rooms and while having to endure constant noise from two industrial strength de-humidifiers.
We patched together the living room as best we could, retrieved ancient rugs from the attic and opened a bottle of wine.
Anne was already at the office when I arrived about 7:30. We collaborated on the final stages of collating the application, and by about 11:00 it was all done. Anyone who has submitted large fundraising applications will understand how complex they can be. And this was a complex project involving three major partners and a wide range of activities to be delivered at sites throughout Watford. If approved for funding, the project will bring more than £300,000 into the borough and underpin much of the Watford Learning Partnership’s strategy for the next five years. My chair of Trustees, Pam, arrived at 12:00 to sign the finished application.
Vanessa, Anne and I have each invested hours and hours in preparing the application, all the while knowing that it only has about a 10% chance of success. We were all satisfied with the final application, and all took a professional pride in doing a good job a meeting the deadline. Vanessa and Anne have done a truly wonderful job. Now all we can do is wait patiently for a funding decision sometime in the next six months. Or longer.
Sunflower Project
At 1:00, Anthony Wills arrived, the facilitator for the 2:00 meeting on the future of the Sunflower Project. Anthony Wills is a leading expert on Domestic Violence and his role today was paid for by the Police who had also briefed him on the meeting. The poor communication around this meeting seems to continue and does not auger well: a brief conversation with Anthony revealed that he anticipated a small meeting of about a dozen people and I had to explain that we were expecting nearer forty. We talked through the expected composition of the audience and key issues and I left him to adjust his plans accordingly.
The Sunflower Centres (one in Watford and one in Hemel Hempstead) were created to provide bases for a combined response to Domestic Violence and Hate Crimes in the West of Hertfordshire. The Police have provided the buildings, secured most of the funding, and have been highly supportive (especially the local Commander Jerry Alford). Additional funding has been provided by Herts County, Watford and Dacorum councils. No funding has been forthcoming from Three Rivers District Council or from the local PCTs, and now Dacorum District Council has apparently indicated that it will withdraw support early in 2007. Dacorum’s decision has precipitated a crisis for the Sunflower Project.
Problems have been exacerbated by historically poor communications with the voluntary sector. Today’s meeting offered a chance to clear the air, face up to the funding realities, and establish a genuine partnership to find a way forward.
The Sunflower Project meeting
Having personally pushed hard for this meeting, I was delighted by the turnout. The Police’s continued support for the Sunflower Project does them great credit and they were well represented at the meeting. On the statutory side, there was also good representation from Watford Borough, Dacorum District and Herts County Councils, and the Probation Service. Sadly, there was no presence from Three Rivers District Council or from the PCT.
But all the effort was made worthwhile by the excellent turnout from the voluntary including (amongst many others) Watford Domestic Violence Forum, Watford Women’s Centre, Watford and Three Rivers Relate, Dacorum Domestic Violence Forum, Herts Community Development Agency, Dacorum Voluntary Action, Watford and Three Rivers HomeStart, Victim Support, Watford Turnaround, and West Herts Against Crime.
Anthony Wills did a good job of managing the meeting, encouraging and maintaining the dialogue. Jerry Alford explained that the Police could not indefinitely pay for two Centres without the support of key statutory partners, and without the engagement of the voluntary sector. Voluntary sector representatives explained the problems they had encountered in the past when trying to engage with the Sunflower Centres.
Key contributors to the debate included Sylvia (Watford Women’s Centre), John and Sarifa (Turnaround), Adele (Relate) and Val (Dacorum Domestic Violence Forum). From all sides, there was openness and goodwill, and a common commitment to making the Sunflower Centres work.
Issues left unresolved included: future funding, the management structure for the Sunflower Project and how the Sunflower Centre will balance work tackling Domestic Violence and work tackling Hate Crime. But Anthony Wills did secure agreement on a clear plan of action involving further discussions among all the key organisations, and so a good basis has been established for future work. Whether this will be enough to save both Sunflower Centres remains to be seen.
Certainly the mood was very positive and the voluntary sector people I talked with were very happy with the way things had gone. Several were also paid compliments to the conference room that Sue and Vanessa had worked had to improve.
Home at last: after the flood
When I arrived home, Jackie was nearing the end of her tether, having taken the day off work to resolve our flood problems and having spent a highly frustrating day doing so, while seeing carpets ripped up from two rooms and while having to endure constant noise from two industrial strength de-humidifiers.
We patched together the living room as best we could, retrieved ancient rugs from the attic and opened a bottle of wine.
Thursday, 7 December 2006
Watery encounters of the first kind
When does a puddle become a flood? I drove to work this morning through torrential rain. Driving to the back of WCVS’s offices along the romantic-sounding “Service Road Q” I encountered such extremely large puddles that I genuinely feared my car would stall. Fortunately I survived a watery disaster. For now.
After arrival at 7:00 am, I was soon working on our Reaching Communities bid. A check of my e-mails revealed that Three Rivers CVS had received a rejection for their bid to Reaching Communities. I felt awful for our close neighbours, but tried to put it out of my head. There were one or two interruptions over continuing problems on the network (and to check and authorise the December salary payments) but I made good progress. Around 10:15 I paused to check whether my morning’s meeting at Bushey Hall School was at 11:00 or 11:30 and was mortified to discover that it had started at 10:00 so telephoned my profuse apologies.
Watery encounters of the second kind
Shortly after, I left for a meeting at Nine Lives Furniture in Rickmansworth - and the heavens opened. I quite enjoy a heavy downpour when I’m safely in the dry, and I am pleased to report that the rain miraculously stopped shortly before I reached Rickmansworth: I had escaped the day’s second brush with damp disaster.
Queen’s School
From Nine Lives, I rushed off to Queen’s School to meet the Kerry, the Deputy Head and Connexions co-ordinator. She seemed very personable and a no-nonsense sort of woman; so naturally I liked her. I was there to introduce myself (as a new Connexions contract manager) and Farzana as a new Personal Advisor working at Queens.
From Queen’s I hurried back to the office, and worked further on our bid – ever conscious that the deadline was less than 24 hours away. I had a brief meeting with Anne and Vanessa to plan the final few stages to getting our application completed. Anne and I ploughed on while Vanessa and Sue devoted their energies to preparing our conference room. Despite the difficulties of the past week, I think everyone felt a real buzz about the office.
21 hours and counting
Then we received a DVD that the police wanted shown at the Sunflower Centre meeting we were to host the next day. We had no DVD player, and so had to set up a PC and projector. Except we had no PC with a DVD drive, and so I spent a fruitless hour or so trying to download decoding software; all the while wondering how I would complete the budget forecasts to accompany the Reaching Communities bid (deadline for posting was now “21 hours and counting”). Then I remembered that a laptop I had at home ought to have a DVD player and I hatched a plan: I would leave Anne in the office collating the remainder of the bid, and I would go home to check out the laptop there. If it worked; fine. If not, I would bring in the home DVD player. And after doing this I would spend a few hours working on the budget, and then get into work early the next morning to finish off the bid and set up the projector for the meeting.
Watery encounters of the third kind
But when I arrived home at 8:00 pm I found the house in some disarray: my water-borne disaster had finally arrived.
About the time that Jackie and I left for work in the morning, the ball-cock in our header tank had failed. By the evening, the tank had been overflowing for about eight hours. The slow motion deluge had passed through my son Bobby’s bedroom and through the airing cupboard, then down into the living room through the ceiling rose, and into the kitchen through the stud-wall partition: wallpaper peeled off the walls, carpets squelched underfoot and stored bed lined was wet through with filthy water.
Having arrived home earlier than me, my step-son Bryan (18) had acted quickly to turn off the stopcock, and Jackie had contacted a plumber, an electrician and the insurance company. But meanwhile, there was no electricity and no heating. With an inexorable inevitability, we got in Fish’n’Chips and sat around cheerfully talking about the Blitz and the Three Day Week. All the while, I fretted over arrangements for the coming day.
By about 10:30, an emergency plumber and electrician had finally restored essential services, and I was able to resume work about 11:00 after Jackie and Bryan set off to bed.
14 hours and counting
Fortunately, the laptop had no difficulty running the DVD so one problem at least was quickly resolved. I then addressed the difficulty of how to display seven different budgets, each running over five years, on one side of A4 paper. I was fast running out of time to resolve this problem that had perplexed me on and off for several weeks: the deadline was now 14 hours and counting.
Around midnight, I had one of those Eureka! moments and finally saw the solution. I will not attempt to explain my thinking here: while I consider it an elegant and creative solution, anyone else will doubtless think: Obvious! why was that so difficult, dummy? and that will rather spoil the moment for me.
By 2:00 in the morning, I was fast asleep with the alarm set for 6:00.
When does a puddle become a flood? I drove to work this morning through torrential rain. Driving to the back of WCVS’s offices along the romantic-sounding “Service Road Q” I encountered such extremely large puddles that I genuinely feared my car would stall. Fortunately I survived a watery disaster. For now.
After arrival at 7:00 am, I was soon working on our Reaching Communities bid. A check of my e-mails revealed that Three Rivers CVS had received a rejection for their bid to Reaching Communities. I felt awful for our close neighbours, but tried to put it out of my head. There were one or two interruptions over continuing problems on the network (and to check and authorise the December salary payments) but I made good progress. Around 10:15 I paused to check whether my morning’s meeting at Bushey Hall School was at 11:00 or 11:30 and was mortified to discover that it had started at 10:00 so telephoned my profuse apologies.
Watery encounters of the second kind
Shortly after, I left for a meeting at Nine Lives Furniture in Rickmansworth - and the heavens opened. I quite enjoy a heavy downpour when I’m safely in the dry, and I am pleased to report that the rain miraculously stopped shortly before I reached Rickmansworth: I had escaped the day’s second brush with damp disaster.
Queen’s School
From Nine Lives, I rushed off to Queen’s School to meet the Kerry, the Deputy Head and Connexions co-ordinator. She seemed very personable and a no-nonsense sort of woman; so naturally I liked her. I was there to introduce myself (as a new Connexions contract manager) and Farzana as a new Personal Advisor working at Queens.
From Queen’s I hurried back to the office, and worked further on our bid – ever conscious that the deadline was less than 24 hours away. I had a brief meeting with Anne and Vanessa to plan the final few stages to getting our application completed. Anne and I ploughed on while Vanessa and Sue devoted their energies to preparing our conference room. Despite the difficulties of the past week, I think everyone felt a real buzz about the office.
21 hours and counting
Then we received a DVD that the police wanted shown at the Sunflower Centre meeting we were to host the next day. We had no DVD player, and so had to set up a PC and projector. Except we had no PC with a DVD drive, and so I spent a fruitless hour or so trying to download decoding software; all the while wondering how I would complete the budget forecasts to accompany the Reaching Communities bid (deadline for posting was now “21 hours and counting”). Then I remembered that a laptop I had at home ought to have a DVD player and I hatched a plan: I would leave Anne in the office collating the remainder of the bid, and I would go home to check out the laptop there. If it worked; fine. If not, I would bring in the home DVD player. And after doing this I would spend a few hours working on the budget, and then get into work early the next morning to finish off the bid and set up the projector for the meeting.
Watery encounters of the third kind
But when I arrived home at 8:00 pm I found the house in some disarray: my water-borne disaster had finally arrived.
About the time that Jackie and I left for work in the morning, the ball-cock in our header tank had failed. By the evening, the tank had been overflowing for about eight hours. The slow motion deluge had passed through my son Bobby’s bedroom and through the airing cupboard, then down into the living room through the ceiling rose, and into the kitchen through the stud-wall partition: wallpaper peeled off the walls, carpets squelched underfoot and stored bed lined was wet through with filthy water.
Having arrived home earlier than me, my step-son Bryan (18) had acted quickly to turn off the stopcock, and Jackie had contacted a plumber, an electrician and the insurance company. But meanwhile, there was no electricity and no heating. With an inexorable inevitability, we got in Fish’n’Chips and sat around cheerfully talking about the Blitz and the Three Day Week. All the while, I fretted over arrangements for the coming day.
By about 10:30, an emergency plumber and electrician had finally restored essential services, and I was able to resume work about 11:00 after Jackie and Bryan set off to bed.
14 hours and counting
Fortunately, the laptop had no difficulty running the DVD so one problem at least was quickly resolved. I then addressed the difficulty of how to display seven different budgets, each running over five years, on one side of A4 paper. I was fast running out of time to resolve this problem that had perplexed me on and off for several weeks: the deadline was now 14 hours and counting.
Around midnight, I had one of those Eureka! moments and finally saw the solution. I will not attempt to explain my thinking here: while I consider it an elegant and creative solution, anyone else will doubtless think: Obvious! why was that so difficult, dummy? and that will rather spoil the moment for me.
By 2:00 in the morning, I was fast asleep with the alarm set for 6:00.
Wednesday, 6 December 2006
I must try it more often
I slept late this morning and arrived at the office only at 9:30. I felt very much refreshed after a decent night’s sleep: I must try it more often.
There were of course still computer issues to resolve. Angelo and I agreed a list of priorities. My number one priority was to get Sue’s PC back up and running, but it frustrated me at every turn. Eventually, I abandoned the wireless connection and cabled Sue’s computer directly to the server – and finally it began to install the networked software.
At lunchtime I had a call from my son Bobby, who told me he was spending Christmas with his relatives in America. I was rather gutted, but he’s old enough now to make his own decisions.
Hertfordshire Compact
In the afternoon, WCVS hosted a meeting of the Hertfordshire Compact group. Attendance was sparse and the group’s two key members had sent apologies so we had no report from Ann (my counterpart in Stevenage CVS and the voluntary sector representative on the Hertfordshire Forward planning group) or from Andrew (Hertfordshire County Council’s chief link officer with the voluntary sector and all-round good chap). There were only two statutory sector representatives from LSC and HCC. I must talk with Watford Borough Council to make sure they are aware of these meetings.
Reaching communities, reaching deadlines
After this, I met with Vanessa and Anne to discuss our application to the Big Lottery’s Reaching Communities fund. The final deadline for our application is this Friday – two day’s left!
Vanessa and Anne have done a really splendid job getting the application into focus, but there is still some work to do. We settled on a plan of sorts, working around the outstanding network problems, and then got to work. Anne stayed late making final adjustments to the project budget while I worked on the supporting documentation.
I finally left the office around 9:00 pm, satisfied that the remaining bits of the application could be completed on Thursday.
I slept late this morning and arrived at the office only at 9:30. I felt very much refreshed after a decent night’s sleep: I must try it more often.
There were of course still computer issues to resolve. Angelo and I agreed a list of priorities. My number one priority was to get Sue’s PC back up and running, but it frustrated me at every turn. Eventually, I abandoned the wireless connection and cabled Sue’s computer directly to the server – and finally it began to install the networked software.
At lunchtime I had a call from my son Bobby, who told me he was spending Christmas with his relatives in America. I was rather gutted, but he’s old enough now to make his own decisions.
Hertfordshire Compact
In the afternoon, WCVS hosted a meeting of the Hertfordshire Compact group. Attendance was sparse and the group’s two key members had sent apologies so we had no report from Ann (my counterpart in Stevenage CVS and the voluntary sector representative on the Hertfordshire Forward planning group) or from Andrew (Hertfordshire County Council’s chief link officer with the voluntary sector and all-round good chap). There were only two statutory sector representatives from LSC and HCC. I must talk with Watford Borough Council to make sure they are aware of these meetings.
Reaching communities, reaching deadlines
After this, I met with Vanessa and Anne to discuss our application to the Big Lottery’s Reaching Communities fund. The final deadline for our application is this Friday – two day’s left!
Vanessa and Anne have done a really splendid job getting the application into focus, but there is still some work to do. We settled on a plan of sorts, working around the outstanding network problems, and then got to work. Anne stayed late making final adjustments to the project budget while I worked on the supporting documentation.
I finally left the office around 9:00 pm, satisfied that the remaining bits of the application could be completed on Thursday.
Tuesday, 5 December 2006
Rejoining battle
Despite arriving home from work in the wee small hours, I rose early to rejoin battle with our recalcitrant network. I got to the office at 7:00 am to find (oh joy!) that our exertions of the previous night had paid dividends and the new network was substantially up and running. Not only that but much of the follow up work had also been completed. I’d left the office at about 1:00 am, but Angelo must have worked for a good few hours longer to progress things this far. I tested a few of the settings, and found that the new desktop and security settings hadn’t fully deployed. Shortly after 8:00 I called Angelo who admitted he had worked until 4:00 am, but he soon logged onto our server again to tackle the security problems.
As it was now light enough, I went outside to try and sort out my poor car. I managed to change the tyre, and then scrubbed like fury to remove the oil and grime from my delicate office-boy hands. Our exchange server had meanwhile kicked into life depositing dozens of e-mails into my in-box. I quickly scanned them, deleting the spam and responding to the most urgent.
Shortly before 9:00, some of my colleagues started arriving and I busied myself showing them the new network. Mostly this involved advising them how to work around the ongoing problems, and reassuring them that things would soon improve.
Kwik-fit
Around mid-morning, I drove to the local Kwik-fit to let them sort my car out. What a wonderful invention Kwik-fit is! I have never experienced any difficulties there and have consistently found their staff to be helpful and polite. Today, they performed to their usual high standards and I confidently left my car in their hands. I had only found the garage by following Sue in her car, and she now gave me a lift back to the office. After tackling the most urgent needs at the office, we went out for a coffee together.
This meeting was arranged some weeks ago to talk through Sue’s job. Since I started at WCVS, she has acted in several different roles as circumstances have demanded and as I have requested. She has never complained and has offered reliable and practical advice. Over two Café Mochas, we talked through the main heads of a clarified role for her in the new year, both of us relieved that she can finally settle down to a consistent role.
After another few hours in the office, Sue and I drove to her house in her Citroen, and we then walked together to Kwik-fit. I thanked Sue profusely and then thanked the Kwik-fit people with almost equal enthusiasm, before driving myself and Sue back to work.
Home at last
It was now about 4:00 and I was nearing exhaustion. After a few rather pathetic attempts to fix Sue’s PC, and a brief telephone call to Angelo, I headed off to WGC.
Jackie was delighted to see me. I will always love her for that. And for feeding me Steak and Chips. We spent some time discussing our Christmas, and then I settled down to finish The Idea of North. This has been a curious book, exploring mythical, social, literary and artistic references to “North”. The author delights in leaping from one subject to another. At first I found this irritating but eventually I grew to appreciate its eccentric charm: Ovid, Norwegian mythology, Auden and Isherwood, Bergman and Ibsen, Nabokov, Moomintrolls. How I yearn to read the Moomintrolls again.
In the evening, Jackie and I settled down to a double offering of Poirot and Midsummer Murders. And then I slept.
Despite arriving home from work in the wee small hours, I rose early to rejoin battle with our recalcitrant network. I got to the office at 7:00 am to find (oh joy!) that our exertions of the previous night had paid dividends and the new network was substantially up and running. Not only that but much of the follow up work had also been completed. I’d left the office at about 1:00 am, but Angelo must have worked for a good few hours longer to progress things this far. I tested a few of the settings, and found that the new desktop and security settings hadn’t fully deployed. Shortly after 8:00 I called Angelo who admitted he had worked until 4:00 am, but he soon logged onto our server again to tackle the security problems.
As it was now light enough, I went outside to try and sort out my poor car. I managed to change the tyre, and then scrubbed like fury to remove the oil and grime from my delicate office-boy hands. Our exchange server had meanwhile kicked into life depositing dozens of e-mails into my in-box. I quickly scanned them, deleting the spam and responding to the most urgent.
Shortly before 9:00, some of my colleagues started arriving and I busied myself showing them the new network. Mostly this involved advising them how to work around the ongoing problems, and reassuring them that things would soon improve.
Kwik-fit
Around mid-morning, I drove to the local Kwik-fit to let them sort my car out. What a wonderful invention Kwik-fit is! I have never experienced any difficulties there and have consistently found their staff to be helpful and polite. Today, they performed to their usual high standards and I confidently left my car in their hands. I had only found the garage by following Sue in her car, and she now gave me a lift back to the office. After tackling the most urgent needs at the office, we went out for a coffee together.
This meeting was arranged some weeks ago to talk through Sue’s job. Since I started at WCVS, she has acted in several different roles as circumstances have demanded and as I have requested. She has never complained and has offered reliable and practical advice. Over two Café Mochas, we talked through the main heads of a clarified role for her in the new year, both of us relieved that she can finally settle down to a consistent role.
After another few hours in the office, Sue and I drove to her house in her Citroen, and we then walked together to Kwik-fit. I thanked Sue profusely and then thanked the Kwik-fit people with almost equal enthusiasm, before driving myself and Sue back to work.
Home at last
It was now about 4:00 and I was nearing exhaustion. After a few rather pathetic attempts to fix Sue’s PC, and a brief telephone call to Angelo, I headed off to WGC.
Jackie was delighted to see me. I will always love her for that. And for feeding me Steak and Chips. We spent some time discussing our Christmas, and then I settled down to finish The Idea of North. This has been a curious book, exploring mythical, social, literary and artistic references to “North”. The author delights in leaping from one subject to another. At first I found this irritating but eventually I grew to appreciate its eccentric charm: Ovid, Norwegian mythology, Auden and Isherwood, Bergman and Ibsen, Nabokov, Moomintrolls. How I yearn to read the Moomintrolls again.
In the evening, Jackie and I settled down to a double offering of Poirot and Midsummer Murders. And then I slept.
Monday, 4 December 2006
Monday monday
7:00 Monday morning, I was in the office backing up everyone’s documents and settings ready for the new network installation. Angelo called about 8:30 to say he was leaving home with the rebuilt server.
Around 10:00, people started heading off to St Thomas’s Church for one of our regular networking lunches, capably run by Sue and Anne with Margaret (one of our trustees) co-ordinating the food. Shortly after leaving, Sha-Lee telephoned to ask me if I knew I had a flat tyre. Sadly for me, I took little notice as I was too preoccupied with the immediate business of servers and networking lunches. Anyone who read my blog of 12 November will know something about this.
Although the atmosphere at WCVS’s networking lunches is very informal, the format is fairly rigid: brief introductions, followed by an external speaker addressing an issue of the moment, then lunch, and finally a presentation from one of the local groups. More than forty people had booked to attend today’s event. Last time out, we had a very well received presentation from the Woodside Community Motorcycle Project; this time around there were presentations from the British Arrhythmia Nurses Association and from Watford Borough Council about their new grant programmes. I had fully expected to attend, but we need to resolve our IT issues and so I sent my apologies for the lunch.
As the networking event was starting, Angelo was installing our rebuilt server and testing the settings.
Office space
At 2:30 I met with Shamim from CAB and Adele from Relate. We looked at the prospects of WCVS taking over vacant space in the building they currently share, but it is clearly a non-starter. Even grasping every opportunity for sharing office space and services, and using every space-saving gadget that has ever been patented, we could not all squeeze into the building. The three of us had a productive talk through current local issues and future strategic needs, and an hour later I returned to WCVS.
Angelo had completed his immediate tasks on the server and was returning to Walthamstow. I busied myself testing some of the settings. In the middle of the afternoon, just after darkness fell, Sue returned asked me what I had done about my puncture. Oh dear. Calls to the AA and to local garages soon revealed that I had left it too late to get things sorted out today.
Fortunately, at this point I had an appointment with a chap called Barry, who wanted advice on an ambitious development project he was planning. He waited patiently while I finished off my final calls, and then we had a very interesting chat about his plans, charitable status, community interest companies, the Hertfordshire Community Foundation, social enterprise, fundraising, and so on. As Barry left, Sue asked me if I would like to borrow her family’s spare car for the evening. Such kindness is not to be spurned, and I gratefully (and, I hope graciously) accepted. Sue chauffeured me to her house on the outskirts of Watford and (after meeting her partner and a grand-daughter, and politely declining the offer of tea) I took charge of a 2 litre Citroen diesel.
It always takes a while to become familiar with a new car. This was very different – a diesel automatic with a ferocious brake pedal - and it was dark and raining. I tootled back to WCVS as slow as the other traffic would allow me.
Deployment
At 6:30, I returned to the office. One of our rooms was being used by Mind in SW Herts for a counselling session. I got down to the serious work of reinstalling MS Office on the first of our ten workstations. The counselling session finished at 7:30 and our guests departed. My first trial installation of MS Office still hadn’t completed.
Finally, at 8:00, the installation did complete – with an error msg. Angelo tackled the error msg while I double-checked that all documents were backed up on the local PCs, and then disjoined the PCs from the now redundant old domain. We then recreated a new MS Office installation file, and finally at 10:00 pm we began deploying this across the wireless network.
Only one computer didn’t want to play and that was Sue’s. I tried hard, but it was determined not to join in with its other little friends. I left the office well after midnight feeling some trepidation about whether the deployment would be completed by the next morning, whether the new installation file would work, and whether I would successfully complete the journey home in a strange car.
7:00 Monday morning, I was in the office backing up everyone’s documents and settings ready for the new network installation. Angelo called about 8:30 to say he was leaving home with the rebuilt server.
Around 10:00, people started heading off to St Thomas’s Church for one of our regular networking lunches, capably run by Sue and Anne with Margaret (one of our trustees) co-ordinating the food. Shortly after leaving, Sha-Lee telephoned to ask me if I knew I had a flat tyre. Sadly for me, I took little notice as I was too preoccupied with the immediate business of servers and networking lunches. Anyone who read my blog of 12 November will know something about this.
Although the atmosphere at WCVS’s networking lunches is very informal, the format is fairly rigid: brief introductions, followed by an external speaker addressing an issue of the moment, then lunch, and finally a presentation from one of the local groups. More than forty people had booked to attend today’s event. Last time out, we had a very well received presentation from the Woodside Community Motorcycle Project; this time around there were presentations from the British Arrhythmia Nurses Association and from Watford Borough Council about their new grant programmes. I had fully expected to attend, but we need to resolve our IT issues and so I sent my apologies for the lunch.
As the networking event was starting, Angelo was installing our rebuilt server and testing the settings.
Office space
At 2:30 I met with Shamim from CAB and Adele from Relate. We looked at the prospects of WCVS taking over vacant space in the building they currently share, but it is clearly a non-starter. Even grasping every opportunity for sharing office space and services, and using every space-saving gadget that has ever been patented, we could not all squeeze into the building. The three of us had a productive talk through current local issues and future strategic needs, and an hour later I returned to WCVS.
Angelo had completed his immediate tasks on the server and was returning to Walthamstow. I busied myself testing some of the settings. In the middle of the afternoon, just after darkness fell, Sue returned asked me what I had done about my puncture. Oh dear. Calls to the AA and to local garages soon revealed that I had left it too late to get things sorted out today.
Fortunately, at this point I had an appointment with a chap called Barry, who wanted advice on an ambitious development project he was planning. He waited patiently while I finished off my final calls, and then we had a very interesting chat about his plans, charitable status, community interest companies, the Hertfordshire Community Foundation, social enterprise, fundraising, and so on. As Barry left, Sue asked me if I would like to borrow her family’s spare car for the evening. Such kindness is not to be spurned, and I gratefully (and, I hope graciously) accepted. Sue chauffeured me to her house on the outskirts of Watford and (after meeting her partner and a grand-daughter, and politely declining the offer of tea) I took charge of a 2 litre Citroen diesel.
It always takes a while to become familiar with a new car. This was very different – a diesel automatic with a ferocious brake pedal - and it was dark and raining. I tootled back to WCVS as slow as the other traffic would allow me.
Deployment
At 6:30, I returned to the office. One of our rooms was being used by Mind in SW Herts for a counselling session. I got down to the serious work of reinstalling MS Office on the first of our ten workstations. The counselling session finished at 7:30 and our guests departed. My first trial installation of MS Office still hadn’t completed.
Finally, at 8:00, the installation did complete – with an error msg. Angelo tackled the error msg while I double-checked that all documents were backed up on the local PCs, and then disjoined the PCs from the now redundant old domain. We then recreated a new MS Office installation file, and finally at 10:00 pm we began deploying this across the wireless network.
Only one computer didn’t want to play and that was Sue’s. I tried hard, but it was determined not to join in with its other little friends. I left the office well after midnight feeling some trepidation about whether the deployment would be completed by the next morning, whether the new installation file would work, and whether I would successfully complete the journey home in a strange car.
Sunday, 3 December 2006
Sunday began quietly, but around lunchtime Angelo and I agreed that the best solution to our server problem was a complete rebuild. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to drive to the WCVS office to retrieve the installation disks and passwords and then deliver them to Walthamstow. The traffic was mercifully clear but the round journey still took the entire afternoon. When I returned home about 6:00, Jackie rewarded me with a full Sunday roast with all the trimmings. Lovely.
Saturday, 2 December 2006
A pleasingly quiet day, punctuated only by several telephone calls with Angelo to discuss options for resurrecting WCVS’s server. Jackie and I had one brief shopping excursion to the local farmers' market in pursuit of Christmas presents and spent the evening watching Foyle’s War.
Friday, 1 December 2006
The first day of December, Friday began with suitably grim weather and another early start to complete a few hours of work on the budget and business plan to accompany our Reaching Communities bid to the lottery. The deadline for submission of our second stage application is now only a week away and looming large.
Watford Learning Partnership
At 10:00 am I was at the Cassio campus of West Herts College for a meeting of the WLP, the Watford Learning Partnership. This is a loose and ill-resourced grouping of disparate statutory and voluntary agencies attempting to co-ordinate their training and education activities into a coherent strategy. The meeting was chaired by Alison Stainsby, Head of Leisure and Community Services at WBC. At one point, as chair of the WLP, she had to explain why WBC had rejected the WLP’s grant application. My heart went out to her. She did a sterling job.
I had to leave the meeting sharp at 12:00 to return to the office. The traffic was crazy (Xmas shoppers?) and in teeming rain I completed the 2 mile journey just in time for my 12:30 meeting with Frazer, deputy editor of the Watford Observer. Our volunteer Maria joined us and we had a very good talk – Frazer helping us understand how best to get coverage in his paper for the local voluntary sector. It will also help Frazer access stories and make contacts, of course, so we can both be winners.
Investors in People
At 2:00 the entire staff team met with Len, the mentor allocated to WCVS for our Investors In People programme, for an initial IIP awareness-raising session. WCVS accessed this free programme of support for IIP accreditation through the East of England voluntary sector co-ordinating body COVER-East. Len explained the process to everyone and there was a high level of commitment, but there are several big issues to resolve (as with every organisation) and there is a very short timetable (six months to get IiP accreditation before the funding runs out).
I was pleased to leave the office at about 6:00 and head straight off to my baby-sitting.
Watford Learning Partnership
At 10:00 am I was at the Cassio campus of West Herts College for a meeting of the WLP, the Watford Learning Partnership. This is a loose and ill-resourced grouping of disparate statutory and voluntary agencies attempting to co-ordinate their training and education activities into a coherent strategy. The meeting was chaired by Alison Stainsby, Head of Leisure and Community Services at WBC. At one point, as chair of the WLP, she had to explain why WBC had rejected the WLP’s grant application. My heart went out to her. She did a sterling job.
I had to leave the meeting sharp at 12:00 to return to the office. The traffic was crazy (Xmas shoppers?) and in teeming rain I completed the 2 mile journey just in time for my 12:30 meeting with Frazer, deputy editor of the Watford Observer. Our volunteer Maria joined us and we had a very good talk – Frazer helping us understand how best to get coverage in his paper for the local voluntary sector. It will also help Frazer access stories and make contacts, of course, so we can both be winners.
Investors in People
At 2:00 the entire staff team met with Len, the mentor allocated to WCVS for our Investors In People programme, for an initial IIP awareness-raising session. WCVS accessed this free programme of support for IIP accreditation through the East of England voluntary sector co-ordinating body COVER-East. Len explained the process to everyone and there was a high level of commitment, but there are several big issues to resolve (as with every organisation) and there is a very short timetable (six months to get IiP accreditation before the funding runs out).
I was pleased to leave the office at about 6:00 and head straight off to my baby-sitting.
Thursday, 30 November 2006
Shouldn't servers serve?
Following the ups and downs of yesterday, this morning demanded another early start; I arrived at 7:00 am to find that our server was still failing to reboot properly. I roused Angelo from his bed and we soon decided that the best option was for me to deliver the server to him tonight, and for him to rebuild it over the weekend with two new hard drives. So my journey home tonight will be via South Mimms service station. Meanwhile, we managed at least to get internet access, but there is still no e-mail or access to shared services.
My day proper began with communicating this news to staff, already under some pressures. Everyone takes the news well; although it is difficult to tell whether this is from professional understanding, philosophical stoicism or mere resignation.
After this I went for a coffee with Helen to talk through future plans for the Volunteer Centre. We had a very helpful and interesting talk.
On returning to the office, I spoke with colleagues at Three Rivers CVS and then with Alan, new chair of the Sunflower project, about the 8 December meeting on the future of the project. It looks like the meeting will be extremely busy.
Fundraising
I next spent some time with Anne, our fundraising advisor, who is deluged with requests for support. She has developed an excellent client list including the Watford Hindu Group, the Dolphina Gymnasium, Woodside Community Motorcycle Club, Playskill, the Jets Table Tennis Club and the Orbit Bowls Club. These are exactly the sort of groups we should be targeting for support. But Anne’s very proper concern is that some of these groups have no prior experience of fundraising and often need support getting basic documentation together such as constitutions, diversity policies, childcare policies, and so on. I agreed with Anne that this developmental support should properly be delivered by myself or Vanessa. The three of us will need to meet soon to establish a proper structure for providing fundraising support so that organisations receive the best possible service, and we make the most use of everyone’s time.
Westfield School
After this, I hurried off with Farzana to meet staff at Westfield School. This is the first time I have seen Farzana in a “live” meeting, and she handled herself very capably. My confidence in her grew accordingly, and back at the office I told her so. Meanwhile, Helen was delivering a workshop for future volunteers: there were about fifteen people present engaged in some animated discussions and activities.
Coffee and home
At 4:30, I was visited by Mary from neighbouring Three Rivers CVS, and we went for a coffee. We talked through several matters of mutual interest, including our joint training programme, the Sunflower Centre, WBC funding for the West Watford Community Centre (where Mary is the new Chair of trustees), bids to the Big Lottery, and elderly domestic cats. When we finished talking at 5:30 and I was startled to discover that four coffees had cost us £12.
Back in the office, I completed some paperwork, loaded the server in the car and left about 7:00 to deliver the server to Angelo in Walthamstow. From Watford to Walthamstow I listened to Johnny Walker’s C&W show, and from Walthamstow to WGC I listed to R4 programmes about philanthropy, higher education and space.
I arrived home around 10:00 to discover that our delightful neighbour Kathy had put up her spectacular Christmas decorations: environmentally unfriendly, too American, too gaudy and too early. But they did make me smile. At home, I first called my dear old Mum who underwent a minor operation earlier in the day: she was uncomfortable but recovering well. Jackie was meanwhile rather distressed about the various problems of our various kids. Not reports-in-the-newspaper or drug-and-alcohol sort of problems, more the oh-no-they-didn’t-did-they sort of problem. One result is that our precious Friday night will this week be taken up baby-sitting our wonderful-at-any-other-time-of-the-week grand-daughter Bethany. Jackie and I talk through everything and finally got to bed around midnight. Kids, eh?
Following the ups and downs of yesterday, this morning demanded another early start; I arrived at 7:00 am to find that our server was still failing to reboot properly. I roused Angelo from his bed and we soon decided that the best option was for me to deliver the server to him tonight, and for him to rebuild it over the weekend with two new hard drives. So my journey home tonight will be via South Mimms service station. Meanwhile, we managed at least to get internet access, but there is still no e-mail or access to shared services.
My day proper began with communicating this news to staff, already under some pressures. Everyone takes the news well; although it is difficult to tell whether this is from professional understanding, philosophical stoicism or mere resignation.
After this I went for a coffee with Helen to talk through future plans for the Volunteer Centre. We had a very helpful and interesting talk.
On returning to the office, I spoke with colleagues at Three Rivers CVS and then with Alan, new chair of the Sunflower project, about the 8 December meeting on the future of the project. It looks like the meeting will be extremely busy.
Fundraising
I next spent some time with Anne, our fundraising advisor, who is deluged with requests for support. She has developed an excellent client list including the Watford Hindu Group, the Dolphina Gymnasium, Woodside Community Motorcycle Club, Playskill, the Jets Table Tennis Club and the Orbit Bowls Club. These are exactly the sort of groups we should be targeting for support. But Anne’s very proper concern is that some of these groups have no prior experience of fundraising and often need support getting basic documentation together such as constitutions, diversity policies, childcare policies, and so on. I agreed with Anne that this developmental support should properly be delivered by myself or Vanessa. The three of us will need to meet soon to establish a proper structure for providing fundraising support so that organisations receive the best possible service, and we make the most use of everyone’s time.
Westfield School
After this, I hurried off with Farzana to meet staff at Westfield School. This is the first time I have seen Farzana in a “live” meeting, and she handled herself very capably. My confidence in her grew accordingly, and back at the office I told her so. Meanwhile, Helen was delivering a workshop for future volunteers: there were about fifteen people present engaged in some animated discussions and activities.
Coffee and home
At 4:30, I was visited by Mary from neighbouring Three Rivers CVS, and we went for a coffee. We talked through several matters of mutual interest, including our joint training programme, the Sunflower Centre, WBC funding for the West Watford Community Centre (where Mary is the new Chair of trustees), bids to the Big Lottery, and elderly domestic cats. When we finished talking at 5:30 and I was startled to discover that four coffees had cost us £12.
Back in the office, I completed some paperwork, loaded the server in the car and left about 7:00 to deliver the server to Angelo in Walthamstow. From Watford to Walthamstow I listened to Johnny Walker’s C&W show, and from Walthamstow to WGC I listed to R4 programmes about philanthropy, higher education and space.
I arrived home around 10:00 to discover that our delightful neighbour Kathy had put up her spectacular Christmas decorations: environmentally unfriendly, too American, too gaudy and too early. But they did make me smile. At home, I first called my dear old Mum who underwent a minor operation earlier in the day: she was uncomfortable but recovering well. Jackie was meanwhile rather distressed about the various problems of our various kids. Not reports-in-the-newspaper or drug-and-alcohol sort of problems, more the oh-no-they-didn’t-did-they sort of problem. One result is that our precious Friday night will this week be taken up baby-sitting our wonderful-at-any-other-time-of-the-week grand-daughter Bethany. Jackie and I talk through everything and finally got to bed around midnight. Kids, eh?
Wednesday, 29 November 2006
At times, today was pleasing and satisfying; and in the morning it shimmered with great promise. But then came frustration and exasperation, and finally peaceful sleep. Perhaps a microcosm of life itself? Allow me to explain my day.
A good start to the day
7:00 am: I arrived at the office and spent time catching up on mails, sorting out the big database project, and working on our business plan.
9:00 am: I received a telephone call from Allan, leader of a local bowls club. A week or so ago, I had written to him (and many others) about Watford Borough Council’s new lease proposals. Allan has just undergone triple by-pass surgery, during which he contracted an infection and he now hopes to be released from hospital in time for Christmas. But he telephoned me from the hospital to talk about the needs of his club and its contribution to Watford’s community since its foundation in 1912. Where else but the voluntary sector could you find such devotion and commitment? We talked about the clubs particular problems adn possible solutions. Allan also asked about the club’s charitable status and said he would forward a copy of its constitution so I can advise properly on this.
Guideposts Trust
10:00 am: I arrived at the Guideposts Trust, a local mental health project, to talk about borrowing some of the work produced in their arts group so we can display it at the WCVS offices. Katie was very welcoming and explained to me the Trust’s various programmes of support. She introduced me to Andy who runs the arts classes and the three of us talked about specific works, needs and timetables. While at the project I also talked with their Director and others about their needs for an IT training programme for their users, and for volunteers to help redecorate their rooms.
12:00 am: I returned to the office to respond to the morning’s e-mails, including more queries on our database project. Christmas is coming, and people are getting very tense - I wonder if testosterone levels increase in the winter?
I also took a telephone call from the local Police station. They are engaged in next week’s meeting on the future of the Sunflower project (a local project that works with the victims of domestic violence and hate crimes) but, like me, have been having difficulty contacting the Chair of Sunflower’s management committee. We compare notes.
And again
1:00 pm: It happens again: our server crashed. I rebooted it, and the server failed to start. I rebooted it again and managed to start the old Windows 2000 server (thank heavens for that bit of forward planning!) and run a scan disk, and then successfully rebooted the Windows 2003 server. Everything seemed ok at first, but it soon became clear that the crash affected our e-mail services. With telephone and dial-up support from our IT chap Angelo, I ran another scan disk and this revealed corruption on the hard disk, right where the e-mail service is stored. We tried to restore the e-mail service from last night’s back-up, but this crashed the server again. We agree that our plans to replace the server’s hard disks over the Christmas break have to be brought forward to asap. While Angelo wrestled with the server, I asked one of our volunteers, the delightful Maria, to make sure that all members of staff had back ups of their local e-mail files.
2:00 pm: At Francis Combe school, I met with their Connexions co-ordinator and with our Connexions contract manager. The school are very pleased with the work of our Connexions worker and very positive about the progress being made. But the meeting was overshadowed by the death of one of their pupils who it appears may have committed suicide. An distressing situation for the school, but what must the girl's friends and family be going through?
With so many stories in the press about the poor state of schools, it was good to see something positive and to meet with such optimism for the future.
3:00 pm: Back at the office, Angelo is still dialled into the server trying to rescue our e-mail files.
Never knowingly undersold
3:30 pm: WCVS was visited by Jenny, Chief Executive of the Watford John Lewis store. She is considering ways to become more involved in Watford’s community, having moved here only two years ago, and I have a brief to encourage her to join my board of trustees. I talked (perhaps too much) about WCVS’s plans, and Jenny explained John Lewis’s record of community involvement, and her own interest in community and charity groups. We had a very amicable talk for an hour or so, and Jenny agreed to attend our next trustees meeting as an observer.
A change of plans
4:30 pm: I had hoped to leave the office directly after talking with Jenny, but our e-mail services are still down. Angelo has ordered the new hard disks and will install them on Friday. We talked about other tactics for restoring services in the meantime.
5:00 pm: While Angelo began putting our current IT plans into action, I worked on WCVS’s future budget plans.
7:00 pm: Angelo is now nearing the “moment of truth” with our e-mail services, and is waiting for the reinstallation of MS Exchange to be completed. He advised me that this could still take 2-3 hours. I left the office and headed home.
8:00 pm: I arrived home to the wonderful Jackie. We ate and spent time planning our final bits of Christmas shopping. I am so lucky to have Jackie with me!
9:00 pm: Angelo and I talked on the telephone, The reinstallation is still underway.
10:00 pm: ditto.
10:30 pm: Angelo and I talked again. He thinks the re-installation completed, but he has lost dial-up contact with the sever. This may mean the server is re-booting. Or it may mean it has crashed again. I told him I would call him early from the office.
Peace at last
11:00 pm: Jackie and I closed the day with a crossword.
A good start to the day
7:00 am: I arrived at the office and spent time catching up on mails, sorting out the big database project, and working on our business plan.
9:00 am: I received a telephone call from Allan, leader of a local bowls club. A week or so ago, I had written to him (and many others) about Watford Borough Council’s new lease proposals. Allan has just undergone triple by-pass surgery, during which he contracted an infection and he now hopes to be released from hospital in time for Christmas. But he telephoned me from the hospital to talk about the needs of his club and its contribution to Watford’s community since its foundation in 1912. Where else but the voluntary sector could you find such devotion and commitment? We talked about the clubs particular problems adn possible solutions. Allan also asked about the club’s charitable status and said he would forward a copy of its constitution so I can advise properly on this.
Guideposts Trust
10:00 am: I arrived at the Guideposts Trust, a local mental health project, to talk about borrowing some of the work produced in their arts group so we can display it at the WCVS offices. Katie was very welcoming and explained to me the Trust’s various programmes of support. She introduced me to Andy who runs the arts classes and the three of us talked about specific works, needs and timetables. While at the project I also talked with their Director and others about their needs for an IT training programme for their users, and for volunteers to help redecorate their rooms.
12:00 am: I returned to the office to respond to the morning’s e-mails, including more queries on our database project. Christmas is coming, and people are getting very tense - I wonder if testosterone levels increase in the winter?
I also took a telephone call from the local Police station. They are engaged in next week’s meeting on the future of the Sunflower project (a local project that works with the victims of domestic violence and hate crimes) but, like me, have been having difficulty contacting the Chair of Sunflower’s management committee. We compare notes.
And again
1:00 pm: It happens again: our server crashed. I rebooted it, and the server failed to start. I rebooted it again and managed to start the old Windows 2000 server (thank heavens for that bit of forward planning!) and run a scan disk, and then successfully rebooted the Windows 2003 server. Everything seemed ok at first, but it soon became clear that the crash affected our e-mail services. With telephone and dial-up support from our IT chap Angelo, I ran another scan disk and this revealed corruption on the hard disk, right where the e-mail service is stored. We tried to restore the e-mail service from last night’s back-up, but this crashed the server again. We agree that our plans to replace the server’s hard disks over the Christmas break have to be brought forward to asap. While Angelo wrestled with the server, I asked one of our volunteers, the delightful Maria, to make sure that all members of staff had back ups of their local e-mail files.
2:00 pm: At Francis Combe school, I met with their Connexions co-ordinator and with our Connexions contract manager. The school are very pleased with the work of our Connexions worker and very positive about the progress being made. But the meeting was overshadowed by the death of one of their pupils who it appears may have committed suicide. An distressing situation for the school, but what must the girl's friends and family be going through?
With so many stories in the press about the poor state of schools, it was good to see something positive and to meet with such optimism for the future.
3:00 pm: Back at the office, Angelo is still dialled into the server trying to rescue our e-mail files.
Never knowingly undersold
3:30 pm: WCVS was visited by Jenny, Chief Executive of the Watford John Lewis store. She is considering ways to become more involved in Watford’s community, having moved here only two years ago, and I have a brief to encourage her to join my board of trustees. I talked (perhaps too much) about WCVS’s plans, and Jenny explained John Lewis’s record of community involvement, and her own interest in community and charity groups. We had a very amicable talk for an hour or so, and Jenny agreed to attend our next trustees meeting as an observer.
A change of plans
4:30 pm: I had hoped to leave the office directly after talking with Jenny, but our e-mail services are still down. Angelo has ordered the new hard disks and will install them on Friday. We talked about other tactics for restoring services in the meantime.
5:00 pm: While Angelo began putting our current IT plans into action, I worked on WCVS’s future budget plans.
7:00 pm: Angelo is now nearing the “moment of truth” with our e-mail services, and is waiting for the reinstallation of MS Exchange to be completed. He advised me that this could still take 2-3 hours. I left the office and headed home.
8:00 pm: I arrived home to the wonderful Jackie. We ate and spent time planning our final bits of Christmas shopping. I am so lucky to have Jackie with me!
9:00 pm: Angelo and I talked on the telephone, The reinstallation is still underway.
10:00 pm: ditto.
10:30 pm: Angelo and I talked again. He thinks the re-installation completed, but he has lost dial-up contact with the sever. This may mean the server is re-booting. Or it may mean it has crashed again. I told him I would call him early from the office.
Peace at last
11:00 pm: Jackie and I closed the day with a crossword.
Tuesday, 28 November 2006
HIC
This morning, I went first to Hatfield for a meeting of HIC, the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium – a loose grouping of all groups in the County that provide support to the voluntary sector. Although there are many reasons for this group to meet, the glue that really holds it together is the money from ChangeUp / CapacityBuilders provided regionally, and managed by HIC. WCVS leads on two key projects: first, a project to define the “value and volume” of the voluntary sector in Hertfordshire, and secondly, the “Better Governance” initiative to provide support to charity trustees in the County.
But there are also plenty of other worthy projects, and HIC meetings are something of a market place for the exchange of ideas and information. Ann, my counterpart in Stevenage, fed back good information from the County-wide strategic plan “Hertfordshire Forward” and I had a very useful chat with David of the Hertfordshire Community Foundation. The meeting was ably chaired by Kate of the Hertfordshire Community Development Association. Kate has now completed her term as chair and a new chair is needed for the new year: who will allow their name to go forward? It would certainly be a useful learning exercise, but how could I possibly find the time?
Drumming up support
I was back in Watford by lunchtime, drumming up support for the forthcoming meeting on the future of the Sunflower project and following up a few interesting leads from the HIC meeting. Before I knew it, I was meeting with Lyn of the Watford Learning Partnership. Funded (poorly) by the Learning and Skills Council, this group brings together all the key players in post-16 learning and provides a forum for co-ordination and the creation of joint projects. Lyn briefed me on the Partnership’s meeting on Friday.
Following this, I had short meetings with members of WCVS staff, including with Sue who had several issues on the redecoration programme. Frazana, our new Connexions worker, needed some help configuring the new laptop she had this morning collected from the Connexions office in Hertford.
Around 5:00, I am surprised by a welcome visit from Omar of the Watford Racial Equality Council. Omar kept me up to date with developments in WREC and I reassured him that I and WCVS are available to help the organisation on any transition, or to wind up its affairs if this is what they choose to do.
After Omar left, I worked through the draft minutes of WCVS's recent trustees meeting, and began working on our three-year budgets.
I arrived home shortly after 8:00: dinner was ready, Midsummer Murders was on the telly, and after this I took to reading. A very pleasant evening. Spoilt only by the news that our two year-old fridge has completely stopped working, and there's a week's wait for an engineer. Thankfully, Jackie is sorting it out; what a wonderful woman.
This morning, I went first to Hatfield for a meeting of HIC, the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium – a loose grouping of all groups in the County that provide support to the voluntary sector. Although there are many reasons for this group to meet, the glue that really holds it together is the money from ChangeUp / CapacityBuilders provided regionally, and managed by HIC. WCVS leads on two key projects: first, a project to define the “value and volume” of the voluntary sector in Hertfordshire, and secondly, the “Better Governance” initiative to provide support to charity trustees in the County.
But there are also plenty of other worthy projects, and HIC meetings are something of a market place for the exchange of ideas and information. Ann, my counterpart in Stevenage, fed back good information from the County-wide strategic plan “Hertfordshire Forward” and I had a very useful chat with David of the Hertfordshire Community Foundation. The meeting was ably chaired by Kate of the Hertfordshire Community Development Association. Kate has now completed her term as chair and a new chair is needed for the new year: who will allow their name to go forward? It would certainly be a useful learning exercise, but how could I possibly find the time?
Drumming up support
I was back in Watford by lunchtime, drumming up support for the forthcoming meeting on the future of the Sunflower project and following up a few interesting leads from the HIC meeting. Before I knew it, I was meeting with Lyn of the Watford Learning Partnership. Funded (poorly) by the Learning and Skills Council, this group brings together all the key players in post-16 learning and provides a forum for co-ordination and the creation of joint projects. Lyn briefed me on the Partnership’s meeting on Friday.
Following this, I had short meetings with members of WCVS staff, including with Sue who had several issues on the redecoration programme. Frazana, our new Connexions worker, needed some help configuring the new laptop she had this morning collected from the Connexions office in Hertford.
Around 5:00, I am surprised by a welcome visit from Omar of the Watford Racial Equality Council. Omar kept me up to date with developments in WREC and I reassured him that I and WCVS are available to help the organisation on any transition, or to wind up its affairs if this is what they choose to do.
After Omar left, I worked through the draft minutes of WCVS's recent trustees meeting, and began working on our three-year budgets.
I arrived home shortly after 8:00: dinner was ready, Midsummer Murders was on the telly, and after this I took to reading. A very pleasant evening. Spoilt only by the news that our two year-old fridge has completely stopped working, and there's a week's wait for an engineer. Thankfully, Jackie is sorting it out; what a wonderful woman.
Monday, 27 November 2006
Spending time with people
Over the past week I’ve become conscious that I need to spend more time with WCVS staff: some show signs of feeling abandoned and this is not good.
This morning, I undercut the rush hour again and spent two quiet hours alone in the office delegating different bits of work and distributing papers and emails. I left some invoices and correspondence for Sue to deal with, some letters about the transport scheme I passed to Laura, and forwarded some fundraising information to Anne. The Performance Hub is holding a conference in Peterborough in February to promote a series of toolkits to improve organisational performance – these invitations I passed to Vanessa.
I then hoped to spend the remainder of the day on informal one-to-one sessions with staff. Sha-Lee arrived before 9:00 and I spent an hour or so talking her through the next stage of her work collating a new voluntary sector directory for Watford. So far, 989 organisations have been whittled down to just over 500, but this includes a large number that are properly based in Three Rivers, St Albans or Hertsmere, and we are still stymied by our ignorance of local postcodes.
Next, I had a meeting planned for 10:00, but this was cancelled, so I was able to have a brief talk with Farzana. She has survived her first week, but she is keen to get to grips with her new role and is frustrated at the lack of progress. But she has many meetings planned over the next fortnight and will soon become more independent.
I then met with Vanessa, who is keen to attend the February conference in Peterborough. She has also identified an opportunity to secure a small amount of funding to visit local VCS organsiations and carry out “health checks”. These are short visits to organisations to give them a chance to benchmark themselves against “best practice” standards in areas such as planning, accounting, governance, employment and so on. As ever, Vanessa has lots of ideas for how this can operate: between us, we need to get down to work in the new year visiting organisations.
Next, I had a short meeting with Maria, one of WCVS’s volunteer team, who works particularly closely with me on maintaining our website. I ensured that she is now set up on our network with her own user ID and e-mail account, and pass over some information for her to load into the website. She is very smart, but she has only been in the UK from Poland recently and her English is still developing. Briefly, I sympathise with Poland losing so much young talent to the West, but Maria is determined to return to Poland one day, and this will undoubtedly be England’s loss.
After lunch, I sat down with Helen to talk through several initiatives she is involved in with the Volunteer Centre. She has made good progress developing new procedures for the Centre, and we talk through these and future priorities. The key priority at the moment is to structure the work so that existing volunteers can support future volunteers to find suitable placements.
Before leaving, I have spent some time with Priti, our bookkeeper returned today from three weeks in India. There is much to talk through but I left early to avoid the worst of the evening traffic.
In the News
There is much of interest in the evening news. Promoters of “Intelligent Design” are making a concerted attempt to get their pernicious ideas taken seriously in London schools, and I am pleased that a science teacher interviewed on the news treats this suggestion with the contempt it deserves. There was also an item highlighting research that suggests that 50% of “blue stickers” in London end up being used by people not entitled to them.
But the most interesting news was that Ken Livingston, London’s Mayor, will boycott a conference on Race Equality convened by Trevor Phillips, chair of the new Commission for Equalities and Human Rights.
This very public falling out reflects the realignment that is taking place across the country on issues of diversity and equality. For many years, Britain’s official approach was to promote and embrace diversity, even for its own sake. Of course there was (and is) racism and prejudice, but despite periodic media panics about immigrants and asylum seekers, the political concensus held up Britain’s diversity policies as a success story.
This concensus is now breaking down. The focus is no longer on the right of individual groups to retain their own traditions, beliefs and faiths. The focus now is on how to secure social cohesion without infringing on these rights. This is not an academic shift in bureaucratic rules. It is a fundamental change in public policy, public debate, and in society.
In Watford, it affects Policing, the way the Council funds community groups, the way the Council consults, the way public services are provided, and the way neighbours and friends interact with each other.
For WCVS, it presents a challenge to our Minority Ethnic forum. Should this remain a forum specifically for “ethnic minorities”? Or should it provide a forum for all marginalised and disadvantaged groups? And how does anyone decide who these are? Or should there instead be a focus on social cohesion? Or on equality? Discussions with Watford Borough Council are planned for the new year.
Over the past week I’ve become conscious that I need to spend more time with WCVS staff: some show signs of feeling abandoned and this is not good.
This morning, I undercut the rush hour again and spent two quiet hours alone in the office delegating different bits of work and distributing papers and emails. I left some invoices and correspondence for Sue to deal with, some letters about the transport scheme I passed to Laura, and forwarded some fundraising information to Anne. The Performance Hub is holding a conference in Peterborough in February to promote a series of toolkits to improve organisational performance – these invitations I passed to Vanessa.
I then hoped to spend the remainder of the day on informal one-to-one sessions with staff. Sha-Lee arrived before 9:00 and I spent an hour or so talking her through the next stage of her work collating a new voluntary sector directory for Watford. So far, 989 organisations have been whittled down to just over 500, but this includes a large number that are properly based in Three Rivers, St Albans or Hertsmere, and we are still stymied by our ignorance of local postcodes.
Next, I had a meeting planned for 10:00, but this was cancelled, so I was able to have a brief talk with Farzana. She has survived her first week, but she is keen to get to grips with her new role and is frustrated at the lack of progress. But she has many meetings planned over the next fortnight and will soon become more independent.
I then met with Vanessa, who is keen to attend the February conference in Peterborough. She has also identified an opportunity to secure a small amount of funding to visit local VCS organsiations and carry out “health checks”. These are short visits to organisations to give them a chance to benchmark themselves against “best practice” standards in areas such as planning, accounting, governance, employment and so on. As ever, Vanessa has lots of ideas for how this can operate: between us, we need to get down to work in the new year visiting organisations.
Next, I had a short meeting with Maria, one of WCVS’s volunteer team, who works particularly closely with me on maintaining our website. I ensured that she is now set up on our network with her own user ID and e-mail account, and pass over some information for her to load into the website. She is very smart, but she has only been in the UK from Poland recently and her English is still developing. Briefly, I sympathise with Poland losing so much young talent to the West, but Maria is determined to return to Poland one day, and this will undoubtedly be England’s loss.
After lunch, I sat down with Helen to talk through several initiatives she is involved in with the Volunteer Centre. She has made good progress developing new procedures for the Centre, and we talk through these and future priorities. The key priority at the moment is to structure the work so that existing volunteers can support future volunteers to find suitable placements.
Before leaving, I have spent some time with Priti, our bookkeeper returned today from three weeks in India. There is much to talk through but I left early to avoid the worst of the evening traffic.
In the News
There is much of interest in the evening news. Promoters of “Intelligent Design” are making a concerted attempt to get their pernicious ideas taken seriously in London schools, and I am pleased that a science teacher interviewed on the news treats this suggestion with the contempt it deserves. There was also an item highlighting research that suggests that 50% of “blue stickers” in London end up being used by people not entitled to them.
But the most interesting news was that Ken Livingston, London’s Mayor, will boycott a conference on Race Equality convened by Trevor Phillips, chair of the new Commission for Equalities and Human Rights.
This very public falling out reflects the realignment that is taking place across the country on issues of diversity and equality. For many years, Britain’s official approach was to promote and embrace diversity, even for its own sake. Of course there was (and is) racism and prejudice, but despite periodic media panics about immigrants and asylum seekers, the political concensus held up Britain’s diversity policies as a success story.
This concensus is now breaking down. The focus is no longer on the right of individual groups to retain their own traditions, beliefs and faiths. The focus now is on how to secure social cohesion without infringing on these rights. This is not an academic shift in bureaucratic rules. It is a fundamental change in public policy, public debate, and in society.
In Watford, it affects Policing, the way the Council funds community groups, the way the Council consults, the way public services are provided, and the way neighbours and friends interact with each other.
For WCVS, it presents a challenge to our Minority Ethnic forum. Should this remain a forum specifically for “ethnic minorities”? Or should it provide a forum for all marginalised and disadvantaged groups? And how does anyone decide who these are? Or should there instead be a focus on social cohesion? Or on equality? Discussions with Watford Borough Council are planned for the new year.
Sunday, 26 November 2006
Reading in the digital age
Part of the day I spent completing my mammoth trawl through a database of Watford’s “989 community organisations”. This figure comes from data compiled earlier this year for Herts CVSs, and is a good start to assessing the contribution of the voluntary sector to local life. But many of the organisations are duplicated, defunct, merged, outside Watford, or nothing to do with the voluntary sector at all. And some local voluntary organisations aren’t included. There is still a lot of work to do before we can state with confidence what the contribution of the voluntary sector actually is. However, I completed our initial trawl through the baseline data, and am now ready to meet with Sha-Lee tomorrow to brief her on the next stage.
I also found time to prepare a letter to the Third Sector magazine about their recent article on the Herts Compact.
I finished reading My father and other working-class football heroes, a personal and revealing look at the football industry in the 1950s and ‘60s. Having read a fair amount of lightweight books recently (including Tony Hawks’s One hit wonderland and even an offering from Jeremy Clarkson) I wanted something a bit meatier, so I began Gutenberg elegies by Sven Birkets - an exploration of the fate of writing and reading in the digital age. But within a very few pages my reliable b*llsh*t radar was bleeping loudly ("it was Virginia Woolf who got me thinking about thinking again"). One day I may give myself a second chance with Mr Birkets, but for now we have parted company. Instead I took up The idea of North by Peter Davidson, a historical study of the concept of north in society, art and literature. Maybe this will prove more satisfying.
The evening was spent in quiet repose with Jackie watching a recording of Foyle’s War. Bliss.
Part of the day I spent completing my mammoth trawl through a database of Watford’s “989 community organisations”. This figure comes from data compiled earlier this year for Herts CVSs, and is a good start to assessing the contribution of the voluntary sector to local life. But many of the organisations are duplicated, defunct, merged, outside Watford, or nothing to do with the voluntary sector at all. And some local voluntary organisations aren’t included. There is still a lot of work to do before we can state with confidence what the contribution of the voluntary sector actually is. However, I completed our initial trawl through the baseline data, and am now ready to meet with Sha-Lee tomorrow to brief her on the next stage.
I also found time to prepare a letter to the Third Sector magazine about their recent article on the Herts Compact.
I finished reading My father and other working-class football heroes, a personal and revealing look at the football industry in the 1950s and ‘60s. Having read a fair amount of lightweight books recently (including Tony Hawks’s One hit wonderland and even an offering from Jeremy Clarkson) I wanted something a bit meatier, so I began Gutenberg elegies by Sven Birkets - an exploration of the fate of writing and reading in the digital age. But within a very few pages my reliable b*llsh*t radar was bleeping loudly ("it was Virginia Woolf who got me thinking about thinking again"). One day I may give myself a second chance with Mr Birkets, but for now we have parted company. Instead I took up The idea of North by Peter Davidson, a historical study of the concept of north in society, art and literature. Maybe this will prove more satisfying.
The evening was spent in quiet repose with Jackie watching a recording of Foyle’s War. Bliss.
Saturday, 25 November 2006
Unwinding
In the morning, we collected our grand-daughter Bethany (age 2) and drove her mother Rhiannon to work. Back at home we took delivery of a new sofa and chair, and then took the old furniture (well past any hope of recycling) to the local dump.
Beth is at the delightful age where she talks almost constantly but has difficulty making herself understood. She displayed considerable patience repeating herself over and over until her dull grand-parents finally grasp what she means. At one point, a violent thunderstorm passed nearby and she was unreasonably scared by the thunder.
At lunchtime, we took Beth to visit my parents in Letchworth and spent the afternoon there. Beth enjoyed sitting up at the table for a proper family meal. Also present was Lynn, my eldest brother Bill’s girlfriend for twenty years until 2005. She bought down boxes of Christmas presents all wrapped up. Christmas-wise, Jackie and I are a bit off the pace.
After restoring Beth to her mother, we spent the evening with our neighbours Linda and Allan. Somehow during the day’s activities, Jackie had managed to prepare a wonderful meal with dishes from China, Thailand, India and Greece. We had “the full works” (aperitifs, red wine, dessert wine, and port) and rounded off the evening with a hand of cards while sitting on our new furniture.
In the morning, we collected our grand-daughter Bethany (age 2) and drove her mother Rhiannon to work. Back at home we took delivery of a new sofa and chair, and then took the old furniture (well past any hope of recycling) to the local dump.
Beth is at the delightful age where she talks almost constantly but has difficulty making herself understood. She displayed considerable patience repeating herself over and over until her dull grand-parents finally grasp what she means. At one point, a violent thunderstorm passed nearby and she was unreasonably scared by the thunder.
At lunchtime, we took Beth to visit my parents in Letchworth and spent the afternoon there. Beth enjoyed sitting up at the table for a proper family meal. Also present was Lynn, my eldest brother Bill’s girlfriend for twenty years until 2005. She bought down boxes of Christmas presents all wrapped up. Christmas-wise, Jackie and I are a bit off the pace.
After restoring Beth to her mother, we spent the evening with our neighbours Linda and Allan. Somehow during the day’s activities, Jackie had managed to prepare a wonderful meal with dishes from China, Thailand, India and Greece. We had “the full works” (aperitifs, red wine, dessert wine, and port) and rounded off the evening with a hand of cards while sitting on our new furniture.
Friday, 24 November 2006
Computer problems
I arrived at work at 7:30 and found that our Windows 2003 server had frozen again. I rebooted it: nothing. I rerebooted it: nothing. I tried booting in Safe Mode: nothing.
I called our IT support chap, a wonderful man called Angelo. He suggested I try booting from the Windows 2000 operating system, and this worked: but when I tried to run Scan Disk it couldn’t read the directory. It was getting serious, but Angelo calmly asked me to run several different tests. Looking back, I suppose his calmness was intended to be reassuring, but at the time I was alarmed that he didn’t seem to understand the gravity of the situation.
By this time, other staff were arriving and unable to work.
The tests completed – all negative – Angelo directed me to a Dutch website to download a patch utility to mend the server's corrupted partition table. How does he know this stuff? We managed to access the internet by-passing the server, download the utility, install it on a floppy disk and reboot the server from the floppy disk. My hopes were high.
While the utility did its business, Pam (my Chair of trustees) arrived for one of our periodic meetings. I explained what was happening, and we talked for maybe 45 minutes. Pam has considerable local knowledge, an acute political sense, and a very sharp brain. Previously, I have learnt much from her and have enjoyed our talks. On this occasion, I was badly distracted and I am sure it showed.
After meeting Pam, I returned to tackle our server. A mere two hours later it was back up and running, to my huge relief.
Back to work
When my computer re-established contact with our e-mail server, my e-mail in-box filled with new e-mails. Most are mere spam, but it takes time to sort out the wheat from the chaff. Among the grains of wheat I received from other CVS Directors in Herts several e-mail queries about a database exercise we are all embarked on. I don’t mind queries, except in this instance the issues are mostly addressed in the guidance I’ve already circulated and this guidance has been discussed in several previous e-mail exchanges. To be fair, though, there ere are some additional questions and nuances that haven’t been covered before, so I send detailed and good humoured replies.
I spent the remainder of the day preparing for the coming week, arranging meetings and trying to plan and prioritise different projects and workloads.
I arrived at work at 7:30 and found that our Windows 2003 server had frozen again. I rebooted it: nothing. I rerebooted it: nothing. I tried booting in Safe Mode: nothing.
I called our IT support chap, a wonderful man called Angelo. He suggested I try booting from the Windows 2000 operating system, and this worked: but when I tried to run Scan Disk it couldn’t read the directory. It was getting serious, but Angelo calmly asked me to run several different tests. Looking back, I suppose his calmness was intended to be reassuring, but at the time I was alarmed that he didn’t seem to understand the gravity of the situation.
By this time, other staff were arriving and unable to work.
The tests completed – all negative – Angelo directed me to a Dutch website to download a patch utility to mend the server's corrupted partition table. How does he know this stuff? We managed to access the internet by-passing the server, download the utility, install it on a floppy disk and reboot the server from the floppy disk. My hopes were high.
While the utility did its business, Pam (my Chair of trustees) arrived for one of our periodic meetings. I explained what was happening, and we talked for maybe 45 minutes. Pam has considerable local knowledge, an acute political sense, and a very sharp brain. Previously, I have learnt much from her and have enjoyed our talks. On this occasion, I was badly distracted and I am sure it showed.
After meeting Pam, I returned to tackle our server. A mere two hours later it was back up and running, to my huge relief.
Back to work
When my computer re-established contact with our e-mail server, my e-mail in-box filled with new e-mails. Most are mere spam, but it takes time to sort out the wheat from the chaff. Among the grains of wheat I received from other CVS Directors in Herts several e-mail queries about a database exercise we are all embarked on. I don’t mind queries, except in this instance the issues are mostly addressed in the guidance I’ve already circulated and this guidance has been discussed in several previous e-mail exchanges. To be fair, though, there ere are some additional questions and nuances that haven’t been covered before, so I send detailed and good humoured replies.
I spent the remainder of the day preparing for the coming week, arranging meetings and trying to plan and prioritise different projects and workloads.
Thursday, 23 November 2006
Six monthly monitoring
I arrived at work around 7:30 after driving through some very stormy weather. Anne was already settling into her new office and provided me with some very welcome cups of tea. I cleared out my e-mail and then Anne and I met again to review our Reaching Communities bid.
Our server crashed. It has happened twice before but has been ok on re-booting. This morning, it crashed, was re-booted, then crashed again an hour later, before finally stablilising.
At 10:00, WCVS had its half yearly monitoring visit from Kim at Watford Borough Council. She was satisfied with our reports and data, and seemed pelased with the many changes being made here.
Disability Law Service
After replying to sundry e-mails, I left the office around 1:30 to visit the Disability Law Service in Whitechapel. The group provides specialist legal advice to disabled people and their carers, and I have been involved, mostly as a trustee, for six or seven years. Their Director Linda is currently trying to steer the organisation through the Lord Chancellor’s new proposals for funding advice agencies and it seems clear to me that he is making a complete hash of the re-organisation.
After a talk with Linda, I spent an hour or so with their finance officer, Natalia, talking through the trustees’ need for clearer financial reports. She is a good and intelligent accountant and understands the issues.
Doctor's Tonic
I arrived back in Welwyn Garden City at around 7:30, and after eating, Jackie and I popped into town to visit the Doctor’s Tonic. This is WGC’s old cottage hospital, now a town centre pub and WGC’s premier music venue. The licence has now been taken over by our friends Bill and Angie, and this is their opening night. The place is very busy and Jackie and I meet lots of old friends. Jackie’s daughter Rhiannon is helping out behind the bar. We have time for a quick chat with our hosts and wish them well. Alan, a porter at the local hospital, is forming a band and wants to know if I will play drums. How would I find the time? But I like Alan a lot and of course I am flattered, so I tell him to give me a call.
I arrived at work around 7:30 after driving through some very stormy weather. Anne was already settling into her new office and provided me with some very welcome cups of tea. I cleared out my e-mail and then Anne and I met again to review our Reaching Communities bid.
Our server crashed. It has happened twice before but has been ok on re-booting. This morning, it crashed, was re-booted, then crashed again an hour later, before finally stablilising.
At 10:00, WCVS had its half yearly monitoring visit from Kim at Watford Borough Council. She was satisfied with our reports and data, and seemed pelased with the many changes being made here.
Disability Law Service
After replying to sundry e-mails, I left the office around 1:30 to visit the Disability Law Service in Whitechapel. The group provides specialist legal advice to disabled people and their carers, and I have been involved, mostly as a trustee, for six or seven years. Their Director Linda is currently trying to steer the organisation through the Lord Chancellor’s new proposals for funding advice agencies and it seems clear to me that he is making a complete hash of the re-organisation.
After a talk with Linda, I spent an hour or so with their finance officer, Natalia, talking through the trustees’ need for clearer financial reports. She is a good and intelligent accountant and understands the issues.
Doctor's Tonic
I arrived back in Welwyn Garden City at around 7:30, and after eating, Jackie and I popped into town to visit the Doctor’s Tonic. This is WGC’s old cottage hospital, now a town centre pub and WGC’s premier music venue. The licence has now been taken over by our friends Bill and Angie, and this is their opening night. The place is very busy and Jackie and I meet lots of old friends. Jackie’s daughter Rhiannon is helping out behind the bar. We have time for a quick chat with our hosts and wish them well. Alan, a porter at the local hospital, is forming a band and wants to know if I will play drums. How would I find the time? But I like Alan a lot and of course I am flattered, so I tell him to give me a call.
Wednesday, 22 November 2006
Hospitals and Databases
This morning I accompanied Jackie to hospital for a “procedure” and then returned home to spend the remainder of the day working on databases, WCVS’s 2007-08 budget, and our ongoing survey of local voluntary groups.
For our survey, I am increasingly obstructed by my ignorance of local postcodes. I have a lsit of more than 1,000 local groups to review, but how many are actually based in Watford? The easiest way to tell is from postcodes, but no-one can provide a list of which codes are inside the borough’s boundarises, and which lie outside. Watford Borough Council will look into it for me (they must know somewhere) and the Royal Mail offer to sell me a database for £1,500.
This morning I accompanied Jackie to hospital for a “procedure” and then returned home to spend the remainder of the day working on databases, WCVS’s 2007-08 budget, and our ongoing survey of local voluntary groups.
For our survey, I am increasingly obstructed by my ignorance of local postcodes. I have a lsit of more than 1,000 local groups to review, but how many are actually based in Watford? The easiest way to tell is from postcodes, but no-one can provide a list of which codes are inside the borough’s boundarises, and which lie outside. Watford Borough Council will look into it for me (they must know somewhere) and the Royal Mail offer to sell me a database for £1,500.
Tuesday, 21 November 2006
Commuting again
At around 7:30 am, I was sitting in my car with the engine turned off, stuck on the A414 south of St Albans. I swore. I particularly swore that in future I will do all I can to avoid driving the 25 miles to Watford during the rush hour. In clear traffic, the journey takes around 45 minutes. In the rush hour, a minimum of an hour. Sometimes two. This morning it took me two and a quarter hours.
I arrived at nearly ten o-clock. Farzana, WCVS’s new Connexions worker, had arrived for our 9:30 introductory meeting and Sue had already been given her a tour of the building and introduced her to new colleagues. Refreshed with a welcome cup of tea from Sue, Farzana and I began our meeting straight away.
Although she had been through a recruitment process with the Watford Racial Equality Council, this had been early in the summer. This morning was my first meeting with Farzana and she knew little about the work that lay before her. Accordingly, we spoke together for about two hours, covering the demise of WREC, the structure of WCVS, her induction programme, working methods, contract details, key performance measures and targets, key contacts, monitoring and supervision, communications, technology, and so on. Farzana asked intelligent questions and seemed to take everything in. I left her at 12:00 to introduce herself to the Connexions team opposite us on the High Street.
I met again with Anne to talk through her detailed reworking of our partnership bid to Reaching Communities. We agreed on some further changes.
A postponed meeting
After some further brief talks to other colleagues, I met with Sue to talk about the Voluntary Sector Alliance meeting scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. She reported that we had received more than a dozen apologies already, and only three confirmed attenders. The intention of the meeting was to talk through key points from WCVS’s new strategic plan, and identify a new more focused role for the VSA meetings. It seemed unlikely that I would secure the necessary concensus with only three people present. After a brief chat with Sue, I decided the only option was to postpone the meeting until after Christmas. I invited Sue to select a new date from my diary and advise people asap.
New Hope Trust
At 2:00, I left the office for a meeting at the New Hope Trust. It was started by a handful of Christian worshippers who noticed small groups of homeless people camping out in St Mary’s churchyard. Determined not to “pass by on the other side”, these Christians befriended the homeless and asked what they could do to help. Less than ten years after this, the New Hope Trust is one of the voluntary sector’s great success stories in Watford and now offers a range of short- and long-term accommodation, as well as activities, training and social support.
Although an unashamed atheist, I have no general prejudice against religion and take people as I find them. At the New Hope Trust, I find people utterly dedicated to helping others, and extremely efficient at organising programmes of practical support. There is some Christian symbolism and decoration, and the staff and volunteers are quite clear that their faith provides their inspiration and motivation. But this is after all a free country, and Watford is a community enriched by diverse cultures and beliefs.
The purpose of my visit this afternoon was to talk about developing databases to streamline some of their administrative systems. After a brief talk through data structures and business goals, I leave promising to provide a database template before Christmas.
From the New Hope Trust I drive straight to Welwyn Garden City, cunningly avoiding the rush hour, and arriving in time to collect my new glasses from the optician.
At around 7:30 am, I was sitting in my car with the engine turned off, stuck on the A414 south of St Albans. I swore. I particularly swore that in future I will do all I can to avoid driving the 25 miles to Watford during the rush hour. In clear traffic, the journey takes around 45 minutes. In the rush hour, a minimum of an hour. Sometimes two. This morning it took me two and a quarter hours.
I arrived at nearly ten o-clock. Farzana, WCVS’s new Connexions worker, had arrived for our 9:30 introductory meeting and Sue had already been given her a tour of the building and introduced her to new colleagues. Refreshed with a welcome cup of tea from Sue, Farzana and I began our meeting straight away.
Although she had been through a recruitment process with the Watford Racial Equality Council, this had been early in the summer. This morning was my first meeting with Farzana and she knew little about the work that lay before her. Accordingly, we spoke together for about two hours, covering the demise of WREC, the structure of WCVS, her induction programme, working methods, contract details, key performance measures and targets, key contacts, monitoring and supervision, communications, technology, and so on. Farzana asked intelligent questions and seemed to take everything in. I left her at 12:00 to introduce herself to the Connexions team opposite us on the High Street.
I met again with Anne to talk through her detailed reworking of our partnership bid to Reaching Communities. We agreed on some further changes.
A postponed meeting
After some further brief talks to other colleagues, I met with Sue to talk about the Voluntary Sector Alliance meeting scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. She reported that we had received more than a dozen apologies already, and only three confirmed attenders. The intention of the meeting was to talk through key points from WCVS’s new strategic plan, and identify a new more focused role for the VSA meetings. It seemed unlikely that I would secure the necessary concensus with only three people present. After a brief chat with Sue, I decided the only option was to postpone the meeting until after Christmas. I invited Sue to select a new date from my diary and advise people asap.
New Hope Trust
At 2:00, I left the office for a meeting at the New Hope Trust. It was started by a handful of Christian worshippers who noticed small groups of homeless people camping out in St Mary’s churchyard. Determined not to “pass by on the other side”, these Christians befriended the homeless and asked what they could do to help. Less than ten years after this, the New Hope Trust is one of the voluntary sector’s great success stories in Watford and now offers a range of short- and long-term accommodation, as well as activities, training and social support.
Although an unashamed atheist, I have no general prejudice against religion and take people as I find them. At the New Hope Trust, I find people utterly dedicated to helping others, and extremely efficient at organising programmes of practical support. There is some Christian symbolism and decoration, and the staff and volunteers are quite clear that their faith provides their inspiration and motivation. But this is after all a free country, and Watford is a community enriched by diverse cultures and beliefs.
The purpose of my visit this afternoon was to talk about developing databases to streamline some of their administrative systems. After a brief talk through data structures and business goals, I leave promising to provide a database template before Christmas.
From the New Hope Trust I drive straight to Welwyn Garden City, cunningly avoiding the rush hour, and arriving in time to collect my new glasses from the optician.
Monday, 20 November 2006
This morning I attended a meeting at the Fielder Centre on Hatfield Business Park. The meeting was for Connexions contract managers in Hertfordshire. Apart from Connexions staff, there were about 25 people present, of which I was very much the new boy.
It was interesting to learn what was happening elsewhere with Connexions contracts, and to begin to understand the full scope and structure of Connexions work. As with any project, there is a whole new language for me to learn: CAYP, CSF, APIR, CAF, LSM, ESC … Everyone was very helpful and I am sure it will all come together in time.
Also present at the conference was Mohamed Fawzi (of Dacorum Multicultural Association) who sits on the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium with me; we agreed to arrange a meeting to talk about the demise of WREC and the future of the Watford Minority Ethnic Forum.
Back at the office, I had lots of messages and e-mails, including several about the WBC lease proposals. Two organisations said my letter was the first they had heard about the proposals, despite one of them potentially having its rent increasing by more than 100%. Clearly there has been some poor communication somewhere along the line – but where?
Sue sent out a further reminder about Wednesday’s meeting of the Watford Voluntary Sector Alliance. So far there are several apologies and few confirmed attendees for this important meeting. WCVS’s newly adopted Strategic Plan posits a central role for the VSA so I hope there is a good attendance.
The remainder of the day was devoted to the usual business of telephone calls and e-mails, messages, fixing computers, examining databases and catching up with staff.
I stayed late to meet Cllr Shirena Counter (WBC Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Community Services) and Alison Stainsby (WBC Head of Leisure and Community Services) for a preliminary talk through the new WCVS Strategic Plan. The meeting went very well and bodes well forWCVS's future working relationship with WBC.
I returned to the office to complete some data cleaning for our Directory project, and left around 9:00 pm. My last late night this week!
It was interesting to learn what was happening elsewhere with Connexions contracts, and to begin to understand the full scope and structure of Connexions work. As with any project, there is a whole new language for me to learn: CAYP, CSF, APIR, CAF, LSM, ESC … Everyone was very helpful and I am sure it will all come together in time.
Also present at the conference was Mohamed Fawzi (of Dacorum Multicultural Association) who sits on the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium with me; we agreed to arrange a meeting to talk about the demise of WREC and the future of the Watford Minority Ethnic Forum.
Back at the office, I had lots of messages and e-mails, including several about the WBC lease proposals. Two organisations said my letter was the first they had heard about the proposals, despite one of them potentially having its rent increasing by more than 100%. Clearly there has been some poor communication somewhere along the line – but where?
Sue sent out a further reminder about Wednesday’s meeting of the Watford Voluntary Sector Alliance. So far there are several apologies and few confirmed attendees for this important meeting. WCVS’s newly adopted Strategic Plan posits a central role for the VSA so I hope there is a good attendance.
The remainder of the day was devoted to the usual business of telephone calls and e-mails, messages, fixing computers, examining databases and catching up with staff.
I stayed late to meet Cllr Shirena Counter (WBC Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Community Services) and Alison Stainsby (WBC Head of Leisure and Community Services) for a preliminary talk through the new WCVS Strategic Plan. The meeting went very well and bodes well forWCVS's future working relationship with WBC.
I returned to the office to complete some data cleaning for our Directory project, and left around 9:00 pm. My last late night this week!
Sunday, 19 November 2006
The nature of forgiveness
I rose early and left at 8:30 to meet my daughter Nancy in Shoeburyness, Essex. During the drive, I listened to an item on Radio 4 about the Holocaust Education Trust, who have just secured additional funding to take UK schoolchildren to visit concentration camp sites in central and eastern Europe. Several visiting children were interviewed about their experiences: one girl from north London recording that it had transfromed her life.
It bought to mind a passage in The War and Uncle Walter in which he wrote that while (as a good Christian) he could forgive the Nazis for what they had done to him, he could not forgive what they had done to others, as this would have been an abdication of his Christian responsibility.
Birthday outing
Nancy was excited about her birthday and we had a wonderful and exhausting day at the Science Museum in London. I am pleased that my children Bobby (18) and nancy (now 10) both know the London museums as well as I did at their age.
Bobby travelled up from Brighton to join us for a meal and he presented Nancy with a picture he had made for her. She filled up with pride and admiration for her older brother. It was very touching.
Nancy was also very appreciative of the all her other gifts: laptop computer, Disney Witch dolls, cuddly hamsters, trinkets and books.
I arrived home at about 10:00 in the evening, and spent a quiet hour with Jackie: she knitting and me reading through the Connexions Quality Assurance Framework. Lovely.
I rose early and left at 8:30 to meet my daughter Nancy in Shoeburyness, Essex. During the drive, I listened to an item on Radio 4 about the Holocaust Education Trust, who have just secured additional funding to take UK schoolchildren to visit concentration camp sites in central and eastern Europe. Several visiting children were interviewed about their experiences: one girl from north London recording that it had transfromed her life.
It bought to mind a passage in The War and Uncle Walter in which he wrote that while (as a good Christian) he could forgive the Nazis for what they had done to him, he could not forgive what they had done to others, as this would have been an abdication of his Christian responsibility.
Birthday outing
Nancy was excited about her birthday and we had a wonderful and exhausting day at the Science Museum in London. I am pleased that my children Bobby (18) and nancy (now 10) both know the London museums as well as I did at their age.
Bobby travelled up from Brighton to join us for a meal and he presented Nancy with a picture he had made for her. She filled up with pride and admiration for her older brother. It was very touching.
Nancy was also very appreciative of the all her other gifts: laptop computer, Disney Witch dolls, cuddly hamsters, trinkets and books.
I arrived home at about 10:00 in the evening, and spent a quiet hour with Jackie: she knitting and me reading through the Connexions Quality Assurance Framework. Lovely.
Saturday, 18 November 2006
I first tackled the urgent need to fix the laptop computer that was to be my daughter Nancy’s tenth birthday present on the morrow. Over the past week, Jackie and I have spent hours trying to fix its dodgy keyboard. A Dell specialist had quoted £125 just to look at it. But this morning it finally all got sorted out. Hurrah! We wrapped Nancy's presents and tackled a few household chores.
In the evening we visited my parents in Letchworth.
In the evening we visited my parents in Letchworth.
Friday, 17 November 2006
The "Magic Oven"
I stayed in the office last night until I had cleared my physical and electronic in-trays (shooting off an array of e-mails to different people) and I also succeeded in getting out fifty enquiry letters to groups affected by WBC’s lease proposals. I do enjoy a challenge.
I finally left the office in the dead of night and was home in forty-five minutes. Jackie was sound asleep and had left me a note saying my dinner was in the “magic oven”. It was too late to eat, so I just drank some tea and finished reading The War and Uncle Walter, the WW2 diaries of a civil servant approaching retirement. This book had fascinated me over the last week or so.
Kiss and tea
On Friday morning, Jackie woke me at 11:00 with a kiss and a cup of tea, saying she was off to her dental appointment. I roused myself slowly, enjoyed a long luxourious bath, and then gave the kitchen a thorough clean. Only moments after finishing the floor, aged Ken came through the cat flap with muddy paws.
To get my mind off Ken, I read through a few papers and made some telephone calls following up a few things from the previous night.
Then it was time for my own dential appointment. To counter the perennial media stories of immigrants and asylum seekers, it is worth recording that my dentist was educated in Sri Lanka and trained in Denmark, but is paying taxes in the UK and working for the NHS. On the actual appointment, I will simply say that evolution has done nothing to prepare us for having foreign objects inserted in our mouths.
Later, I also visited the optician to get my eyes sorted out, and the hairdresser (a remarkable lady called Jane).
Friday night, Jackie and I enjoyed a curry and watched BBC Children In Need.
I stayed in the office last night until I had cleared my physical and electronic in-trays (shooting off an array of e-mails to different people) and I also succeeded in getting out fifty enquiry letters to groups affected by WBC’s lease proposals. I do enjoy a challenge.
I finally left the office in the dead of night and was home in forty-five minutes. Jackie was sound asleep and had left me a note saying my dinner was in the “magic oven”. It was too late to eat, so I just drank some tea and finished reading The War and Uncle Walter, the WW2 diaries of a civil servant approaching retirement. This book had fascinated me over the last week or so.
Kiss and tea
On Friday morning, Jackie woke me at 11:00 with a kiss and a cup of tea, saying she was off to her dental appointment. I roused myself slowly, enjoyed a long luxourious bath, and then gave the kitchen a thorough clean. Only moments after finishing the floor, aged Ken came through the cat flap with muddy paws.
To get my mind off Ken, I read through a few papers and made some telephone calls following up a few things from the previous night.
Then it was time for my own dential appointment. To counter the perennial media stories of immigrants and asylum seekers, it is worth recording that my dentist was educated in Sri Lanka and trained in Denmark, but is paying taxes in the UK and working for the NHS. On the actual appointment, I will simply say that evolution has done nothing to prepare us for having foreign objects inserted in our mouths.
Later, I also visited the optician to get my eyes sorted out, and the hairdresser (a remarkable lady called Jane).
Friday night, Jackie and I enjoyed a curry and watched BBC Children In Need.
Thursday, 16 November 2006
A bad traffic day
I arrived at the office this morning just after 10:00, having spent more than two hours driving the 25 miles from WGC. I started the day about an hour behind schedule and was not a happy bunny.
Meetings meetings
On arrival, I immediately embarked on the day’s meetings: Saud was waiting at WCVS to introduce himself as a new Personal Advisor for Muslim youth working on the Connexions project, then I met with the existing Connexions worker Des, then met with Sue on the office redecoration programme, to discuss accommodation for local Scout groups I visited Roger at the YMCA, then met with YMCA CEO Phil, then went on to meet Vivienne at HomeStart, then returned to meet one of our volunteers who I had asked to do some work updating the website, and then caught up with Anne to resolve some IT problems. Somewhere in all this I overlooked a meeting I had scheduled with Anne and Vanessa to discuss the Reaching Communities funding bid; I must send them my belated apologies.
The trip to the YMCA was very enlightening. Like many, I had my prejudices about the YMCA: I have only a poor grasp of Victorian notions of Christian manliness, a better understanding of homelessness and youth issues, but no understanding whatsoever of 1970s disco music. The YMCA building in Watford is massive, rising high above the shops and shopping centres on the adjacent High Street. Inside, the YMCA premises are clean and bright, and offer an abundance of useful facilities including meeting spaces, dance studios, restaurants, gyms (yes, all in the plural) and a squash court (singular).
Roger, based at YMCA and elsewhere, is the Millennium Volunteers co-ordinator for Hertfordshire, and also has some continued engagement with the Scout movement. He is also one of my trustees. We had a very short and purposeful discussion about proposals from WBC to review leases for Scout premises in North Watford. Roger is very straightforward and I like him more each time I meet him.
Phil (another WCVS trustee) also oozes professionalism and commitment. He bought me lunch in the YMCA restaurant, then gave me a wonderfully succinct political history of Watford Borough, a pen picture of YMCA activities in Watford, and a tour of the YMCA’s facilities.
Then onto HomeStart, to meet Vivienne, yet another WCVS trustee. It was good to see Vivienne and HomeStart’s premises, although they are rather smaller than YMCA’s comprising only one open plan office with four desks and a small meeting room. HomeStart is the UK’s leading family support charity, supporting families through difficulties such as illness, disability, bereavement and poverty.
In two-tier local government, child and family support is a County responsibility, so HomeStart receives most of its funding from Hertfordshire County Council rather than Watford Borough Council. A year or so ago, HCC appointed independent consultants to review the work of HomeStart across Hertfordshire. The result was a glowing report highlighting the value of the work done and the positive outcomes. Vivienne though that sufficient had been done to secure future funding for the network. But a surprise was in store. HCC agreed to continue funding at the previous level, but they also introduced a new formula to target funding on particular areas. The result of this change is that HomeStart Watford will lose perhaps £15,000 pa in funding and will have to significantly reduce its activities locally. Throughout the County, three HomeStart organisations will lose, and five will benefit.
I have no first-hand knowledge of HCC’s policy, but from Vivienne’s report it does seem to have been badly handled. There is only one transition year, no impact assessment, and no additional funding to cover the costs of transition (redundancy payments, recruitment costs, etc), no clear explanation of how and why the new formula is being introduced or how it works, and no way of ensuring that expanding HomeStart services in one area will actually benefit the needs that are presumably being targeted. Vivienne and I talked through several possible responses, and I wish her and her project well.
I eventually emerged from my final meetings, with Anne, at about 6:00 pm. Before leaving the office for the day, I still have to finalise arrangements for the review of council leases, deal with around fifty e-mails, and select the files I need to take home to prepare for forthcoming meetings with Connexions, WBC’s portfolio holder for voluntary sector issues, Watford’s Voluntary Sector Alliance, WCVS’s networking lunch, our WBC grants officer, Investors In People, the editor of the Watford Observer, the Herts Infrastructure Consortium, Watford Learning Partnership, Herts Compact group and the Herts CVS group.
Smile, boy, that's the style
I must confess, for the first time since starting at WCVS, I feel a little swamped. But am I downhearted? No. Rather, I count my blessing. I believe in the value of WCVS; I enjoy the work and the people, I have a wonderful family, and a bit of hard work never hurt anyone. I will stay late tonight to secure what progress I can, and I have tomorrow (Friday) and the weekend at home to see my family and plan the work ahead. Now I worry that I sound smug.
I arrived at the office this morning just after 10:00, having spent more than two hours driving the 25 miles from WGC. I started the day about an hour behind schedule and was not a happy bunny.
Meetings meetings
On arrival, I immediately embarked on the day’s meetings: Saud was waiting at WCVS to introduce himself as a new Personal Advisor for Muslim youth working on the Connexions project, then I met with the existing Connexions worker Des, then met with Sue on the office redecoration programme, to discuss accommodation for local Scout groups I visited Roger at the YMCA, then met with YMCA CEO Phil, then went on to meet Vivienne at HomeStart, then returned to meet one of our volunteers who I had asked to do some work updating the website, and then caught up with Anne to resolve some IT problems. Somewhere in all this I overlooked a meeting I had scheduled with Anne and Vanessa to discuss the Reaching Communities funding bid; I must send them my belated apologies.
The trip to the YMCA was very enlightening. Like many, I had my prejudices about the YMCA: I have only a poor grasp of Victorian notions of Christian manliness, a better understanding of homelessness and youth issues, but no understanding whatsoever of 1970s disco music. The YMCA building in Watford is massive, rising high above the shops and shopping centres on the adjacent High Street. Inside, the YMCA premises are clean and bright, and offer an abundance of useful facilities including meeting spaces, dance studios, restaurants, gyms (yes, all in the plural) and a squash court (singular).
Roger, based at YMCA and elsewhere, is the Millennium Volunteers co-ordinator for Hertfordshire, and also has some continued engagement with the Scout movement. He is also one of my trustees. We had a very short and purposeful discussion about proposals from WBC to review leases for Scout premises in North Watford. Roger is very straightforward and I like him more each time I meet him.
Phil (another WCVS trustee) also oozes professionalism and commitment. He bought me lunch in the YMCA restaurant, then gave me a wonderfully succinct political history of Watford Borough, a pen picture of YMCA activities in Watford, and a tour of the YMCA’s facilities.
Then onto HomeStart, to meet Vivienne, yet another WCVS trustee. It was good to see Vivienne and HomeStart’s premises, although they are rather smaller than YMCA’s comprising only one open plan office with four desks and a small meeting room. HomeStart is the UK’s leading family support charity, supporting families through difficulties such as illness, disability, bereavement and poverty.
In two-tier local government, child and family support is a County responsibility, so HomeStart receives most of its funding from Hertfordshire County Council rather than Watford Borough Council. A year or so ago, HCC appointed independent consultants to review the work of HomeStart across Hertfordshire. The result was a glowing report highlighting the value of the work done and the positive outcomes. Vivienne though that sufficient had been done to secure future funding for the network. But a surprise was in store. HCC agreed to continue funding at the previous level, but they also introduced a new formula to target funding on particular areas. The result of this change is that HomeStart Watford will lose perhaps £15,000 pa in funding and will have to significantly reduce its activities locally. Throughout the County, three HomeStart organisations will lose, and five will benefit.
I have no first-hand knowledge of HCC’s policy, but from Vivienne’s report it does seem to have been badly handled. There is only one transition year, no impact assessment, and no additional funding to cover the costs of transition (redundancy payments, recruitment costs, etc), no clear explanation of how and why the new formula is being introduced or how it works, and no way of ensuring that expanding HomeStart services in one area will actually benefit the needs that are presumably being targeted. Vivienne and I talked through several possible responses, and I wish her and her project well.
I eventually emerged from my final meetings, with Anne, at about 6:00 pm. Before leaving the office for the day, I still have to finalise arrangements for the review of council leases, deal with around fifty e-mails, and select the files I need to take home to prepare for forthcoming meetings with Connexions, WBC’s portfolio holder for voluntary sector issues, Watford’s Voluntary Sector Alliance, WCVS’s networking lunch, our WBC grants officer, Investors In People, the editor of the Watford Observer, the Herts Infrastructure Consortium, Watford Learning Partnership, Herts Compact group and the Herts CVS group.
Smile, boy, that's the style
I must confess, for the first time since starting at WCVS, I feel a little swamped. But am I downhearted? No. Rather, I count my blessing. I believe in the value of WCVS; I enjoy the work and the people, I have a wonderful family, and a bit of hard work never hurt anyone. I will stay late tonight to secure what progress I can, and I have tomorrow (Friday) and the weekend at home to see my family and plan the work ahead. Now I worry that I sound smug.
Wednesday, 15 November 2006
Premises, premises
Arrived this morning nice and early, arranged salary payments for the month, including for new Connexions staff, and deleted my daily quote of spam.
I left shortly before 9:00 for a meeting at the Guideposts Trust (a very effective mental health charity). The group recently had an art exhibition at Watford Museuma dn I had met with two of the staff in October and suggested that WCVS would take some of the works to display on long-term loan. But on arrival at Guideposts I discovered that the people I was meeting had been delayed. I could not wait as I had another meeting to make.
I met our WBC grants officer, Kim, who took me to view possible new premises for WCVS on the first floor of the purpose-built community centre in St Mary’s churchyard, right in the centre of Watford High Street. CAB already occupy part of the building and they were extremely busy as usual. Relate also occupy part of the building, although their working day starts rather later.
At present, WCVS occupies premises at the top of the High Street, close to the Town Hall. The building accommodates eleven members of staff, plus a volunteer team of about sixteen (who help run some of our core services like the Volunteer Centre and the Voluntary Transport scheme), a large archive, storage for equipment available for rental, a reprographics room, kichen, and two meeting rooms available used by ourselves and local charities. But the premises are old and in desparate need of modernisation. And with the recent closure of the Watford Racial Equality Council (once our co-tenants), it is true that there are three empty offices.
But this morning it was immediately clear that the premises offered at St Mary’s were far too small. Maybe, we could just about have sqashed all the staff into the offices. Maybe. But there was certainly no room for storage or meetings. Or for volunteers.
WBC is right to explore options with us. Much voluntary sector accommodation is in poor condition, inappropriate, and inefficeintly used. There are gains to be made by sharing services and facilities. But on this occasion, the disparity between our needs and the available space was abundantly apparent to everyone.
On returning to the office, I sent an e-mail to Shamim (head of CAB) and Adele (head of Relate) tentatively suggesting that there might be ways of sharing the building between the three organisations. But CAB and Relate have little to gain from the exercise, and even with a massive overhaul of it will be a very tight squeeze.
At the office, I was pleased to see that the big re-organisation continues. Sue, WCVS’s Services Officer and a natural organiser, is overseeing a programme of room changes to make way for new Connexions staff, while simultaneously co-ordinating a redecoration programme (with labour provided by voluneers on probation schemes) and supervising the new integrated reception area (until recently, WCVS had separate arrangements for itself, the Volunteer Centre, and the Voluntary Transport scheme).
Elsewhere, Helen was busy pulling together new procedures for the Volunteer Centre, Anne and Vanessa are striving to pull together our complex partnership bid to Reaching Communities (there are so many skills involved in fundraising), Laura was orgaising the Voluntary Transport scheme, and volunteers were busy on a host of other tasks. Everyone was extremely busy of course, but there is a feeling around that Sue has got the fun job – although I know that Sue doesn’t see it that way.
National Animal Welfare Trust
On my way home, I dropped off to meet Allegra, fundraiser at the National Animal Welfare Fund on the outskirts of Watford. NAWT staff occupy small offices at the front of a large area for accommodating animals. I had little time to look around, but the noisiest animals were certainly the dogs.
Allegra was interested to learn more about WCVS and hopes that NAWT will become more engaged with other local charities and groups. She was accompanied at her desk by a small dog that curled lovingly at her feet, but howled with anxiety when Allegra rose to see me out. NAWT should certainly be a popular place with animal-loving volunteers.
At home, Jackie and I spent a large part of the evening trying to fix a laptop computer, and I sat up for a while finalising some correspondence.
Arrived this morning nice and early, arranged salary payments for the month, including for new Connexions staff, and deleted my daily quote of spam.
I left shortly before 9:00 for a meeting at the Guideposts Trust (a very effective mental health charity). The group recently had an art exhibition at Watford Museuma dn I had met with two of the staff in October and suggested that WCVS would take some of the works to display on long-term loan. But on arrival at Guideposts I discovered that the people I was meeting had been delayed. I could not wait as I had another meeting to make.
I met our WBC grants officer, Kim, who took me to view possible new premises for WCVS on the first floor of the purpose-built community centre in St Mary’s churchyard, right in the centre of Watford High Street. CAB already occupy part of the building and they were extremely busy as usual. Relate also occupy part of the building, although their working day starts rather later.
At present, WCVS occupies premises at the top of the High Street, close to the Town Hall. The building accommodates eleven members of staff, plus a volunteer team of about sixteen (who help run some of our core services like the Volunteer Centre and the Voluntary Transport scheme), a large archive, storage for equipment available for rental, a reprographics room, kichen, and two meeting rooms available used by ourselves and local charities. But the premises are old and in desparate need of modernisation. And with the recent closure of the Watford Racial Equality Council (once our co-tenants), it is true that there are three empty offices.
But this morning it was immediately clear that the premises offered at St Mary’s were far too small. Maybe, we could just about have sqashed all the staff into the offices. Maybe. But there was certainly no room for storage or meetings. Or for volunteers.
WBC is right to explore options with us. Much voluntary sector accommodation is in poor condition, inappropriate, and inefficeintly used. There are gains to be made by sharing services and facilities. But on this occasion, the disparity between our needs and the available space was abundantly apparent to everyone.
On returning to the office, I sent an e-mail to Shamim (head of CAB) and Adele (head of Relate) tentatively suggesting that there might be ways of sharing the building between the three organisations. But CAB and Relate have little to gain from the exercise, and even with a massive overhaul of it will be a very tight squeeze.
At the office, I was pleased to see that the big re-organisation continues. Sue, WCVS’s Services Officer and a natural organiser, is overseeing a programme of room changes to make way for new Connexions staff, while simultaneously co-ordinating a redecoration programme (with labour provided by voluneers on probation schemes) and supervising the new integrated reception area (until recently, WCVS had separate arrangements for itself, the Volunteer Centre, and the Voluntary Transport scheme).
Elsewhere, Helen was busy pulling together new procedures for the Volunteer Centre, Anne and Vanessa are striving to pull together our complex partnership bid to Reaching Communities (there are so many skills involved in fundraising), Laura was orgaising the Voluntary Transport scheme, and volunteers were busy on a host of other tasks. Everyone was extremely busy of course, but there is a feeling around that Sue has got the fun job – although I know that Sue doesn’t see it that way.
National Animal Welfare Trust
On my way home, I dropped off to meet Allegra, fundraiser at the National Animal Welfare Fund on the outskirts of Watford. NAWT staff occupy small offices at the front of a large area for accommodating animals. I had little time to look around, but the noisiest animals were certainly the dogs.
Allegra was interested to learn more about WCVS and hopes that NAWT will become more engaged with other local charities and groups. She was accompanied at her desk by a small dog that curled lovingly at her feet, but howled with anxiety when Allegra rose to see me out. NAWT should certainly be a popular place with animal-loving volunteers.
At home, Jackie and I spent a large part of the evening trying to fix a laptop computer, and I sat up for a while finalising some correspondence.
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