Thursday, 11 September 2008

My first engagement for the day was at the new Hertfordshire Development Centre in Stevenage - where the offices seem to be extremely flexible and very well planned. My meeting was to agree protocols for the operation of the Herts BME Advocacy service with Hema (our Advocate) and Karin Hutchinson and Bernie Dunne of HCC.

After this, I attended a meeting of the Herts Compact Working Group in the Mayor’s Parlour at Hertford Castle. We (me, Jacquie Hime and Andrew Burt) cautiously consulted the Working Group over the emerging plans for the 29 October conference. I felt a growing sense of horror as everything we had agreed was gradually taken apart before me. In the nick of time, I remembered that I was chairing the meeting and I managed to move us on to the next agenda item before we teetered over into the abyss.

With Hertfordshire (and others) now committed to creating “the environment for a thriving Third Sector” it is essential to place Compact at the heart of this agenda. I can’t believe there is so little national discussion on this.

In the evening, Jackie and I returned to our folk dancing at the local Free Church. We still haven't told anyone about these secretive outings and I wonder why; perhaps it's just not the sort of thing that crops up in conversation.