Monday, 4 February 2008

Promptly at 10:00 I arrived in Wheathampstead for a meeting. One of the people I was to meet had forgotten and was otherwise engaged on something more important - now what could that possibly be? The other person I was to meet was nowhere to be found, until I called the WCVS office in Watford to discover he was there waiting for me. The words Brewery and Piss-Up come to mind.

Eventually everything went well and Shahnaz Mirza and I agreed a shortlist for the BME Advocacy post.

The afternoon was spent fielding several queries from member groups (on quality assurance, accommodation, setting up new charities, employment policies), catching up with e-mail, and catching up with colleagues around the County.

In the evening, I attended Promoting and Delivering Greater Safety for Watford, a consultation event organised by the Safer Watford Partnership. This is a great partnership that does good work and that has performed very well. Their event was attended by about 100 people but was not a triumph.

Push-button technology was available to canvas answers (“Select your answer … now”), but the questions were a bit superficial. Mayor Dorothy Thornhill was there, and as ever she grasped the situation and got it absolutely right, as did other WBC speakers. But the other speeches were mostly very dull - and several were positively soporific. Some 16-18 year-olds had been persuaded to attend: they deserve medals and I don’t think they will be so easily persuaded again.