Tuesday, 3 June 2008

We have our fingers crossed waiting for confirmation that the Herefordshire Community Foundation has been awarded the contract for Grassroots Grants in Hertfordshire. When this is confirmed (I daren't contemplate If...) WCVS will advise on local distribution of £30k pa. We will do this through a new Watford Community Fund panel comprising ourselves and others from Watford’s voluntary, public and private sectors.

The One Watford LSP met this morning and discussed our proposals for co-ordinating this new Watford Community Fund through the LSP. One Watford also agreed a draft timetable for “refreshing” the Local Strategic Plan. The LSP also discussed options for using any LAA1 reward monies that come to Watford (expected to be in the region of £750k - £1m) and I am delighted that they agreed to explore options for putting some part of this into endowment with the Watford Community Fund. This could really build some serious capacity for Watford’s future. Well Done One Watford!

After a few frantic hours paperwork, at 6:30 pm I hosted a second meeting of the Watford Community Arts Network. The first meeting attracted only about half the invited people. This meeting also attracted more apologies than attendances. But nevertheless I learnt more about One Voice, Inspiral Arts and the delightfully named I Can’t Believe We’re Not Better theatre company. Each of these groups does sterling work in Watford and I hope at some point they can be resourced to collaborate on a major community event. But things will start slowly.