Blog of a Thousand Days
Believe it or not, this is my 1,000th blog. It will be my last on this site (for more, you can always visit http://mywatford.net/).
Most regular readers (?!) will know that my wife Jackie is the hero of this marathon blogging effort. She has put up with more from me than you will ever know and I love her dearly. Today, we are on leave together, having driven her parents to Sidmouth in Devon where we enjoyed an evening with Jackie’s family.
Some people have said kind things about my own blogging efforts, and for these comments I am very grateful. But the effort has proved trying to me – and particularly in these last weeks when there has been so little of real joy to write about.
Since I began writing this blog, much has changed. I lost my father early in my blogging days. More recently, I have lost my beloved Chair of trustees, my Honorary Vice President, and Aged Ken, my decrepit cat of indeterminate years. And I’ve had other private disappointments to endure.
But I have also married, my son has graduated with a pleasingly meaningless degree, I have owned and re-homed two lovely chickens, and I have spent many happy hours reading or gardening or walking or foraging in hedgerows and charity shops.
Most importantly, Watford CVS has evolved and thrived, and occasionally also had to endure disappointments. Recently we have lost two valued and respected members of staff. But overall we have had a really positive impact on Watford and on Hertfordshire: the voluntary transport service, the Disability Forum, the Volunteer Centre, our Funding Advice, the Chief Officers’ Information Network, our Charity Trustee conference and network, the Herts BME Advocacy Service, mywatford.net, our QA framework, the Watford LIVE! festival, our networking lunches, the Community Arts Network, our research, the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium, our training programmes, the Community Development Network ... These and more are all things we can look on with pride and satisfaction and say “we made a difference”.
Of course, it’s hard to do this without sounding pompous and smug, so perhaps it is best to look to the future when we will relocate - possibly to the Holywell Community Centre, launch our Good Neighbours Time Bank and the Watford Compact, define a new baseline for measuring local fundraising activity, and hopefully see a new Community Assembly for Watford.
I hope you'll be part of this story too.
Thank you for reading.
