Tuesday, 22 May 2007

I enjoyed a quiet morning catching up on e-mail and reviewing my calendar to make sure I can have some time free to concentrate on preparations for our Audit and our second stage bid to the Big Lottery Fund’s Basis programme.

One Watford

In the afternoon, we were hosting a meeting of the One Watford Local Strategic Partnership. In the morning, I spent time making sure we had available a laptop with internet access so that the new One Watford website could be demonstrated.

There were several apologies for the meeting and this resulted in a subtle change to the dynamics of the group. The meeting just seemed to step up a gear in terms of its engagement with the issues: there was more enthusiasm, more commitment, and things were more relaxed. Perhaps it is unkind of me to attribute this to the change in personnel; it could just as well have been the change in the venue, the coming of spring, or some other unnoticed environmental phenomenon. But it was a good meeting.

Helen (our Volunteer Centre co-ordinator) and I also presented a new paper on volunteering and the LAA targets. Helen was again excellent, the paper was well-received, and there was a very positive response to our specific requests for help. There was also positive news about the Health Campus and the redevelopment of the Town Centre. And Jenny Tomley (head of Watford’s John Lewis store) brought forward a proposal for promoting civic pride in Watford.

All very good stuff. A distinctive Watford approach to things is emerging and is becoming more familiar and more easy. There is a (still slight) buzz of excitement as things do seem to be coming together. I think that Mayor Dorothy Thornhill knows this too, although she will also know there’s a whole lot more work to do yet.

After the One Watford meeting, I had a quick talk with Chris Pearson of West Herts College about the local voluntary sector’s training needs. We agreed to talk further.

Then I hurried off home, dropping off en route to get cheques signed by my smart and welcoming vice chair Althea McLean OBE.

At home, Jackie and I enjoyed a cup of tea together and then shunned the delights of the gym to have a brisk walk. All very invigorating.

Reading

At the weekend, I completed Great Adventures and Explorations: from the earliest times to the present as told by the explorers themselves. Not the sexiest book title ever, the writings were collected together in the 1950s by renown arctic explorer Vilhjarmur Stefansson who added his own extensive notes and glossaries. Quite exhilarating.

Since the weekend, I have re-read another minor epic: The Story of Mary Jones and Her Bible (a poor Methodist Welsh girl in the 1790s and her struggle to own her own Bible). I have a beautiful 1891 edition and I wanted one final read before parting with it.