Tuesday, 22 April 2008

I left Welwyn Garden City at 6:30 am for a breakfast meeting of the Watford Chamber of Commerce and the launch of Watford for you - the campaign to promote Watford as a successful community. This all looks good and hearty congratulations are due to Jenny Tomley of John Lewis for pulling it all together.

At sixes and sevens

By 9:00 am I was back on the road heading to Stevenage to chair a meeting of the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium. The main discussion was on the Hertfordshire Local Area Agreement. The question was, should the Consortium champion National Indicator 6 ("increased participation in volunteering”) or National Indicator 7 ("creating an environment for a thriving third sector”)?

It was a long (and at times rather intense) debate. Several contributors felt that there is an ongoing programme to promote volunteering in Hertfordshire and the baseline survey results for volunteering are well understood and so we ought to focus on National Indicator 6. Others felt that the Consortium was first and foremost concerned with creating the right environment for a thriving third sector, and so we ought to champion National Indicator 7 as a point of principle.

Eventually, National Indicator 7 won the day and majority support. But the final decision will be taken by the LAA itself. We all know that Ann Jansz will argue the voluntary sector’s corner – and we all recognise that this may require several marks in the sand, a bit of give and take and perhaps some trading of horses. Good luck Ann.

I also confirmed at the meeting that I was standing down as Chair and that the June meeting of the Consortium will be my last as Chair. I have “done my bit” and it is time for someone new to have a crack at things.

By lunchtime, I was on my way back to Watford, where I spent the afternoon catching up on correspondence, organising meetings, and talking with various staff about their work priorities.

In the evening, we hosted a meeting to try and launch a Community Arts Forum for Watford. It was a quiet affair with only five of us present. I had expected more. But there was commitment to a further meeting and I am confident that things will pick up: there is so much to do!