Wednesday, 3 December 2008

One of those days

Fortunately as things turned out, my day started with a cancelled meeting, allowing me to catch up on a few things. Mostly, I caught up on organising cover for staff absences. We have a good absence record at CVS, but just one or two absences can create real pressures and we have had two members of staff absent for two weeks and the pressures are building – especially with the first signs of winter colds among the rest of us.

I then met with Hema re: the activity report for the Herts BME Advocacy Project and with Farzana over her Youth Connexions work. In the afternoon, I met with several of my trustees on our Job Evaluation scheme – now really beginning to take shape. I also talked briefly with neighbouring Three Rivers District Council in my role as Chair of the Herts Compact Group and booked myself onto one of NAVCA’s Empowering the Voluntary Sector events. NAVCA’s EVS initiative is extremely worthwhile and I highly recommend their workshops to anyone working in the sector. I also spoke with the new CEO at the Herts Society for the Blind who tells me that they may soon be relocating to Watford.

In the evening, I wandered down to the Moon Over Water Wetherspoons pub to meet with Leigh Hutchings (chair of the Watford Disability Forum). I first read George Orwell’s description of the perfect English pub way back in the 1970s. Googling “Moon over water” I now find many sites devoted to the “true path of meditation”; I wonder if George Orwell would have approved? Leigh took me to Vicarage Road to see his beloved Watford play my beloved Spurs in the League Cup – Spurs won 1-2 but it was not a classic encounter.

After the match, knowing that Jackie would be safely tucked up in bed, I popped back into the office to finish drafting the December issue of WCVS News – this time taking the obvious precaution of mailing it to Maria for proof-reading before its distribution.