Thursday, 1 May 2008

NAVCA CORE meeting in Buxton

I shared breakfast with Everton Blake of Voluntary Action Luton and enjoyed talking with him about our respective CVSs.

NAVCA’s Kevin Curley then kicked off the day with a useful run through current issues and discussions. Most interestingly, he reported that out of 150 local strategic partnerships, 44 have so far chosen National Indicator 6 as one of their 35 stretch targets, whereas 56 have so far chosen National Indicator 7. I found this encouraging and a small vindication of HIC’s decision to champion Indicator 7 in Hertfordshire.

After coffee, I joined a coach trip across the magnificent Peaks for a too-brief visit to High Peaks CVS. I enjoyed the visit but I was sorry to have missed a policy discussion on the future of informal adult learning. After returning to Buxton, I joined a workshop on leadership led by Dave Carr of NAVCA. This was superb - good information and opportunities to compare tactics and strategies with colleagues from around the country.

This was a good note on which to end the conference. I had a little confusion with the hotel over my bill and was hugely grateful to the NAVCA team for helping to resolve things.

All in all, I found the conference extremely helpful. All the keynote speakers were good, and most of the workshops were useful. I suppose I would have enjoyed more opportunities to share experiences with colleagues but I did have lots of informal discussions.

Jackie and I sped off and the weather was beautiful. We stopped off at the picture-postcard village of Tissington where each Ascension Week they decorate the village’s six wells and raise money for charity. They attract 50,000 visitors each year and this was the first day of its 2008 Well Dressing. It was a lovely experience - although claims that the tradition goes back to the 14th Century plague are a little fanciful.

We had time to halt briefly for a stroll at Dove Dale and then we arrived back in Welwyn Garden City just in time to vote in the local elections.