Thursday, 2 August 2007

By some distance, “meeting people” is the part of my job that I enjoy most. But after yesterday’s maelstrom of meetings, it would have been nice to have a clear day to focus on the accounts. Instead I had another busy day of meetings.

First, I met with Anne (Funding Advisor), Helen (Volunteer Centre Co-ordinator) and Vanessa (Development and Training Officer) to review our finances and our financial procedures. I explained to them the new systems being introduced, and we also discussed further changes that are necessary. Most importantly, we discussed what progress we are making toward our £40,000 fundraising target for the year. “Not enough” is the answer. We have spent too long on our Basis bid and too long trying to recruit a finance officer.

From this meeting, I went straight to the Multi-Cultural Community Centre to meet with a delegation visiting from Novgorod - Watford’s twin town in Russia.

After this, I hurried straight back to attend the Steering Group for the Guideposts Trust’s project exploring the mental health needs of Watford’s Asian communities. And after this I had further discussions with members of the steering group. Then I met with Helen to talk about some accounts queries, and then with Sha-Lee (Directory and Information Worker), Maria (Office Co-ordinator), and Saud Hafiz (Connexions PA).

Finally, at about 5:30 pm, I started work on the accounts themselves. I made good progress and was quite pleased. When I arrived home at 11:00 pm, Jackie reminded me that a key target from my annual review was to restore work-life balance. She didn’t actually say anything (she was upstairs fast asleep) but I knew what she meant.