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!