Wednesday, 20 May 2009

After a morning dealing with correspondence, I headed off to Cambridge for an afternoon meeting of the Regional Empowerment Partnership. I arrived a little late, and someone welcomed me by observing that I was the only man among twenty women; somehow, I managed to overcome the dark urge to say: "well I should be alright for a cup of tea, then".

I am slowly getting more familiar with this group’s interesting programme of work and seeing where it can support WCVS’s own activities. Today, for example, we had a short presentation on IDeA’s best practice approach to engagement and elements of this I can immediately use to help underpin our local work developing a Community Assembly.

After a brief sojourn at home, I headed off to Letchworth for a meal with NAVCA CEO Kevin Curley. This was organised by Herts CVS a proved very pleasant and educational meal. I have known many national charities led by CEO’s who are happy to maintain a distance between themselves and grassroots organisations. Rarely for a national CEO, Kevin Curley appears to have mastered the trick of having a local focus and a national voice. This feat takes intelligence and skill, so I was rather surprised to discover that he has some worryingly naive beliefs about the eating habits of polar bears.