The day of storms
Wednesday’s radio warned of storms. The early morning certainly looked a bit forbidding, but I made it to Watford with nothing worse than a few buffetings. But the wind worsened as I worked on papers for the trustees’ meeting and by about 9:00 am it all looked pretty scary outside.
At 10:30 I had a staff review meeting with Vanessa (Development and Training). This was our third meeting and all have proved very useful – focusing on real issues and problems and identifying creative and effective solutions. Overall, that's four staff reviews completed and five still to do.
Cate Hall
By the time Vanessa and I concluded, the storm outside was noisy and in its full fury. I was expecting a visit from Cate Hall, Corporate Director of WBC. After colleagues here saw a man blown off his feet and across the High Street, I had an awful premonition of Cate being blown away on the wind like Mary Poppins and me being held responsble. I telephoned to offer that I should visit her, but she would have none of it and she arrived promptly
Cate and I were to discuss WBC's proposed changes in the way that properties are made available to voluntary groups. The proposals already had quite a history. Most recently I had submitted a report just after Christmas, and it was this that Cate wanted to discuss.
It’s difficult to know how hard to push in these situations when the statutory authority is the property-owning landlord, the bountiful funder, and holder of the public purse and the democratic mandate. The only response is to rely on the reputation and moral standing of WCVS and of its members. This brings with it distasteful echoes of 1970s trade union negotiations and more than once I looked around expecting Sue to be bringing in beer and sandwiches.
In the event, we had a very businesslike and genial meeting. Cate was very prepared to listen and discuss: there were a number of explanations, lots of intense negotiations, several concessions, one or two points of principle, and quite a few compromises. I think I put down some important markers and won some important points - most importantly we reached agreement on a reasonable transition period.
After Cate left, I made several telephone calls. First my Dad was coming out of hospital and then he wasn’t. Ade from the African Caribbean Association confirmed he would attend the 24 January meeting. Jackie was stuck at home in a powercut. I couldn’t contact the Muslim Project. Angelo and I talked through some network developments. Jez was worried the roof was coming off his warehouse. The Credit Union are visiting Friday to view the vacant offices here with WCVS.
After the storm
I left the office about 6:30. I had intended to stay and try to finalise papers for the trustees meeting. I also needed to send out information to people on the outcome of my meeting with Cate. I had every reason to stay in the office: the storm had passed, but the radio was reporting widespread traffic chaos and (having waited until everyone had left home) the traffic authorities were warning everyone not to travel.
But frankly I was exhausted after the efforts of the last two days, and I wanted to get home to see my lovely Jackie. There was indeed traffic chaos in the centre of Watford but I soon escaped this and the journey home was otherwise unremarkable. I drove to Welwyn Hatfield CVS’s furniture warehouse and this looked fine.
Arriving home I saw that the electric supply had been restored. But the storm had taken away part of our wonderful Japanese broom tree. This stands outside our front door and gives a shock of yellow blossom through the spring and summer; its branches are dramatically twisted as if it was constantly leaning into the wind on some distant moor or headland. But it has now lost a third of its volume. In the back garden, we had lost part of our garden fence. Jackie was fine, but NTL was still down so we had no telephone or television. But we do have two if the largest and finest amaryllises imaginable. Jackie and I enjoyed a relaxing evening: me reading There is a Happy Land with aged Ken on my lap, Jackie doing some sewing, and both of us doing the Telegraph crossword.
Wednesday, 17 January 2007
Another long day
Again I arrived about 7:00, but this time there was no Anne to keep me supplied with tea. I resorted to the extreme measure of making a cup for myself, and at 9:00 I even made more cups for those people who had already arrived at the office. I did warn people it may be the only cup they get out of me this year.
The post bought Third Sector magazine, including an article emphasising the strengths of the Compact in Hertfordshire (after last year absurdly naming the county as the least Compact-friendly in the country). I was pleased and amused that the article was illustrated with a photo I had provided of Watford CVS's 3oth anniversary celebration cake.
I had a few hours writing up the staff reviews and preparing for the trustees meeting and then spent an hour with Anne (Funding Advisor) concluding her staff review (three completed, six to go).
At 12:00, I was joined by Sarah and Kim from WBC to talk through WCVS’s funding and targets for the coming year. Everything seemed to go very well and of course we took the opportunity to catch up on lots of other ongoing discussions. Most congenial and business-like.
After this, I had to offer my apologies for the 2:00 meeting of the Disability Forum so I could make some serious progress on papers for the forthcoming trustees meeting.
Preparing for meetings shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but at present there are so many changes and no standard formats for things. Starting work at around 2:30, I accomplished very little in the afternoon other than designing a format for the financial report.
At 5:30 I had to spend some time on the database we are producing of Watford’s voluntary groups. Sha-Lee has made great progress but then reached an impasse and needed help sorting out the Watford groups from those outside Watford, and sorting out the genuine voluntary groups from those that just sound like voluntary groups but are actually part of the statutory or commercial sector. Over a period of about three hours, I whittled down our list of 480 groups to about 380 groups. And I spent an hour or so on the telephone to the wonderful people who run Watford's Scout groups. Thank-you Ian and Cynthia, it was a pleasure to talk. So around 8:30, I finally started serious work on preparing the papers for the trustees meeting.
I left the office about midnight. At least I didn’t get caught in the traffic going home. Jackie had retired but had left out a very tasty hotpot (God I love this woman!) which I ate while I finished reading Ian Sansom’s The Case of the Missing Books: A Mobile Library Mystery. Quite jolly. And so to sleep.
Again I arrived about 7:00, but this time there was no Anne to keep me supplied with tea. I resorted to the extreme measure of making a cup for myself, and at 9:00 I even made more cups for those people who had already arrived at the office. I did warn people it may be the only cup they get out of me this year.
The post bought Third Sector magazine, including an article emphasising the strengths of the Compact in Hertfordshire (after last year absurdly naming the county as the least Compact-friendly in the country). I was pleased and amused that the article was illustrated with a photo I had provided of Watford CVS's 3oth anniversary celebration cake.
I had a few hours writing up the staff reviews and preparing for the trustees meeting and then spent an hour with Anne (Funding Advisor) concluding her staff review (three completed, six to go).
At 12:00, I was joined by Sarah and Kim from WBC to talk through WCVS’s funding and targets for the coming year. Everything seemed to go very well and of course we took the opportunity to catch up on lots of other ongoing discussions. Most congenial and business-like.
After this, I had to offer my apologies for the 2:00 meeting of the Disability Forum so I could make some serious progress on papers for the forthcoming trustees meeting.
Preparing for meetings shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but at present there are so many changes and no standard formats for things. Starting work at around 2:30, I accomplished very little in the afternoon other than designing a format for the financial report.
At 5:30 I had to spend some time on the database we are producing of Watford’s voluntary groups. Sha-Lee has made great progress but then reached an impasse and needed help sorting out the Watford groups from those outside Watford, and sorting out the genuine voluntary groups from those that just sound like voluntary groups but are actually part of the statutory or commercial sector. Over a period of about three hours, I whittled down our list of 480 groups to about 380 groups. And I spent an hour or so on the telephone to the wonderful people who run Watford's Scout groups. Thank-you Ian and Cynthia, it was a pleasure to talk. So around 8:30, I finally started serious work on preparing the papers for the trustees meeting.
I left the office about midnight. At least I didn’t get caught in the traffic going home. Jackie had retired but had left out a very tasty hotpot (God I love this woman!) which I ate while I finished reading Ian Sansom’s The Case of the Missing Books: A Mobile Library Mystery. Quite jolly. And so to sleep.
Tuesday, 16 January 2007
I knew it was going to be a tough old day so I rose early and arrived at the office around 7:00. Anne appeared shortly after and fed me hot tea. Thank you, Anne.
After a few hours of catching up on correspondence and preparing new accounts procedures, I spent an hour with Helen (Volunteer Centre Co-ordinator) and we almost (but not quite) completed her annual review. There is just so much to discuss.
Watford Compact
Then I had a very productive couple of hours with Sarah (senior grants officer at Watford Borough Council) discussing a revamp for the Watford Compact and many other areas of mutual interest. We were joined by Anne and made great progress: small task-focused groups are definitely the way to get things done.
During this meeting, telephone engineers arrived to update our telephone system and we lost telephone contact for a couple of hours. Originally it was meant to be “about ten minutes”. While the telephones were down, I met briefly with several other WCVS staff and volunteers and then with Laura (Voluntary Transport Office Co-ordinator) completed her annual review: two reviews now all completed.
With the telephones back on, I finally managed to talk with HomeStart’s regional co-ordinator Pauline before her meeting about her ongoing discussions with HCC over their grant decisions. HCC get many things right, but occasionally they will take a decision that defies logic.
WCVS News and the 21st Century
Eventually, I knuckled down to edit Watford CVS News number 126. This has been published since WCVS was founded in 1972 and recently has been published quarterly. WCVS staff have been looking out for useful stories for the past month or so. Articles have been typed up. Sue has laid out the first draft. And now I need to check through and find that so many of the articles are already out of date. And most of the information we are taking time to lay out has already been available on WCVS’s website for weeks. The fact is WCVS is simply not geared up for this sort of thing.
Tradition has much to commend it. But sooner or later we must grasp the nettle and drop this quarterly mailing - it takes up so much time! We can of course post news and information to the website, and if some of our members don’t have web access we can print off a digest and send it to them.
At 8:15 pm, thirteen hours after arriving at the office, I started putting through the journal entries for our project accounts that I agreed with Sue and Vanessa a week or so ago. I finished at 9:45. The accounts are now almost completely done – just a few minor queries about the Opening Balances.
Home at last
I left about 10:00 and headed home. After a lovely meal with a patient loving Jackie, I managed to finish reading Boris Akunin’s Turkish Gambit and complete a Telegraph crossword (Jackie helped!) before we both fell asleep.
Tomorrow is another day.
After a few hours of catching up on correspondence and preparing new accounts procedures, I spent an hour with Helen (Volunteer Centre Co-ordinator) and we almost (but not quite) completed her annual review. There is just so much to discuss.
Watford Compact
Then I had a very productive couple of hours with Sarah (senior grants officer at Watford Borough Council) discussing a revamp for the Watford Compact and many other areas of mutual interest. We were joined by Anne and made great progress: small task-focused groups are definitely the way to get things done.
During this meeting, telephone engineers arrived to update our telephone system and we lost telephone contact for a couple of hours. Originally it was meant to be “about ten minutes”. While the telephones were down, I met briefly with several other WCVS staff and volunteers and then with Laura (Voluntary Transport Office Co-ordinator) completed her annual review: two reviews now all completed.
With the telephones back on, I finally managed to talk with HomeStart’s regional co-ordinator Pauline before her meeting about her ongoing discussions with HCC over their grant decisions. HCC get many things right, but occasionally they will take a decision that defies logic.
WCVS News and the 21st Century
Eventually, I knuckled down to edit Watford CVS News number 126. This has been published since WCVS was founded in 1972 and recently has been published quarterly. WCVS staff have been looking out for useful stories for the past month or so. Articles have been typed up. Sue has laid out the first draft. And now I need to check through and find that so many of the articles are already out of date. And most of the information we are taking time to lay out has already been available on WCVS’s website for weeks. The fact is WCVS is simply not geared up for this sort of thing.
Tradition has much to commend it. But sooner or later we must grasp the nettle and drop this quarterly mailing - it takes up so much time! We can of course post news and information to the website, and if some of our members don’t have web access we can print off a digest and send it to them.
At 8:15 pm, thirteen hours after arriving at the office, I started putting through the journal entries for our project accounts that I agreed with Sue and Vanessa a week or so ago. I finished at 9:45. The accounts are now almost completely done – just a few minor queries about the Opening Balances.
Home at last
I left about 10:00 and headed home. After a lovely meal with a patient loving Jackie, I managed to finish reading Boris Akunin’s Turkish Gambit and complete a Telegraph crossword (Jackie helped!) before we both fell asleep.
Tomorrow is another day.
Monday, 15 January 2007
Cold start
The car was badly frosted over this morning and it was very cold. But I still managed to get to the office for 7:30. For staff, it was a quiet morning with just myself and Sha-Lee in the office, everyone else was off being busy elsewhere. Our wonderful team of volunteers helped fill the gaps with their usual calm and efficiency, and Anne and Sue joined us at lunchtime.
My day was very bitty; I:
· updated some PCs;
· confirmed January’s salary details;
· had discussions with Jim at Watford ShopMobility (who confirmed the satisfactory outcome of their grant discussions with WBC and invited me to their next trustee meeting to talk about incorporation);
· talked with Rape Crisis;
· corrected details about WCVS held on the GO East website (they had the wrong telephone number, address, and e-mail address);
· received a call from someone seeking a contact number for Watford Race Equality Council (I offered to pass on a message);
· completed two review meetings with Sha-Lee (part-time, temporary Communications and Promotions Officer);
· had a second review meeting with Sue (Services Officer);
· discussed with Sue papers for our 1 February trustee meeting;
· had short but very necessary discussions with Angelo (IT), Lister Hospital (about ongoing treatment and support for my parents), Omar (outgoing CEO at WREC), and Linda from the Disability Law Service (about her forthcoming trustees meeting);
· signed off Vanessa’s report on the Better Governance project;
· began writing up the outcomes from the staff review meetings of the last few weeks.
I left the office about 6:30 pm and soon got trapped in traffic diverted off the M25 and arrived home about 8:00. It was too late to visit my Dad at Stevenage hospital but I had a long talk with my Mum on the telephone and was pleased to hear that his strong recovery continues.
The car was badly frosted over this morning and it was very cold. But I still managed to get to the office for 7:30. For staff, it was a quiet morning with just myself and Sha-Lee in the office, everyone else was off being busy elsewhere. Our wonderful team of volunteers helped fill the gaps with their usual calm and efficiency, and Anne and Sue joined us at lunchtime.
My day was very bitty; I:
· updated some PCs;
· confirmed January’s salary details;
· had discussions with Jim at Watford ShopMobility (who confirmed the satisfactory outcome of their grant discussions with WBC and invited me to their next trustee meeting to talk about incorporation);
· talked with Rape Crisis;
· corrected details about WCVS held on the GO East website (they had the wrong telephone number, address, and e-mail address);
· received a call from someone seeking a contact number for Watford Race Equality Council (I offered to pass on a message);
· completed two review meetings with Sha-Lee (part-time, temporary Communications and Promotions Officer);
· had a second review meeting with Sue (Services Officer);
· discussed with Sue papers for our 1 February trustee meeting;
· had short but very necessary discussions with Angelo (IT), Lister Hospital (about ongoing treatment and support for my parents), Omar (outgoing CEO at WREC), and Linda from the Disability Law Service (about her forthcoming trustees meeting);
· signed off Vanessa’s report on the Better Governance project;
· began writing up the outcomes from the staff review meetings of the last few weeks.
I left the office about 6:30 pm and soon got trapped in traffic diverted off the M25 and arrived home about 8:00. It was too late to visit my Dad at Stevenage hospital but I had a long talk with my Mum on the telephone and was pleased to hear that his strong recovery continues.
Sunday, 14 January 2007
Dad seems to have made a very rapid recovery. His bruises are much reduced and he is much less confused. His fingers don’t look so puffy and his eyes have a bit of the old sparkle back. He can talk lucidly for long periods.
After his lunch, a nurse asked him if he wanted a slice of Lemon Gateau: “That would be very nice, thank you.”
The nurse then asked suspiciously: “You’re not allergic to nuts are you?”
Dad looked surprised and assured her that he wasn’t. After she had left, he said with a twinkle, “She didn’t ask if I was allergic to Lemon Gateau.”
Of course it is lovely to see him back on form. But the danger now is that Mum will think she can cope and will turn down all offers of help. I spoke with Mum to try and strengthen her resolve. I think it worked. Then she reminded me that in the drama of the previous day I had forgotten my neice's eighteenth birthday. How could I? Poor Abi. I felt so ashamed and did what I could to make amends. Of course the lovely Abi had not even missed a card from another greying uncle.
In the evening, for our newly decorated living room I finished fixing a new curtain rail and a dimmer switch (very fashionable in the 1980s, I think). Jackie was unreasonably delighted with new curtain rail and had soon hung our new curtains.
After his lunch, a nurse asked him if he wanted a slice of Lemon Gateau: “That would be very nice, thank you.”
The nurse then asked suspiciously: “You’re not allergic to nuts are you?”
Dad looked surprised and assured her that he wasn’t. After she had left, he said with a twinkle, “She didn’t ask if I was allergic to Lemon Gateau.”
Of course it is lovely to see him back on form. But the danger now is that Mum will think she can cope and will turn down all offers of help. I spoke with Mum to try and strengthen her resolve. I think it worked. Then she reminded me that in the drama of the previous day I had forgotten my neice's eighteenth birthday. How could I? Poor Abi. I felt so ashamed and did what I could to make amends. Of course the lovely Abi had not even missed a card from another greying uncle.
In the evening, for our newly decorated living room I finished fixing a new curtain rail and a dimmer switch (very fashionable in the 1980s, I think). Jackie was unreasonably delighted with new curtain rail and had soon hung our new curtains.
Saturday, 13 January 2007
Despite lots of promises from the decorator, it was clearly going to be far easier to finish the job ourselves so we paid him off and set to work.
After lunch, we went to the Lister Hospital in Stevenage to see my Dad. He was not a pretty sight, with heavy bruising and cuts. He was also very confused, both from the Alzheimers and from the fall. Mum said she had heard him fall and rushed in to find him crumpled in the corner of the living room - still holding half a glass of sherry in his hands so obviously he broke the fall with his face. It was quite distressing to see him like this.
On the plus side, it does look like my parents are finally going to accept some outside help.
Back at home, our amaryllises have both finally bloomed, each with four beautiful trumpets.
Jackie and I painted and cleaned and made the living room as habitable as we could. We had a sofa, a chair, a rug, and a television for the first time in a week. We were determined to relax, so opened a bottle of wine and watched some television. I don't really remember what we watched, but I do remember laughing a lot.
After lunch, we went to the Lister Hospital in Stevenage to see my Dad. He was not a pretty sight, with heavy bruising and cuts. He was also very confused, both from the Alzheimers and from the fall. Mum said she had heard him fall and rushed in to find him crumpled in the corner of the living room - still holding half a glass of sherry in his hands so obviously he broke the fall with his face. It was quite distressing to see him like this.
On the plus side, it does look like my parents are finally going to accept some outside help.
Back at home, our amaryllises have both finally bloomed, each with four beautiful trumpets.
Jackie and I painted and cleaned and made the living room as habitable as we could. We had a sofa, a chair, a rug, and a television for the first time in a week. We were determined to relax, so opened a bottle of wine and watched some television. I don't really remember what we watched, but I do remember laughing a lot.
Friday, 12 January 2007
I began the day with more frantic efforts to catch up with correspondence and then I plunged into a review meeting with Vanessa, our Development and Training Officer. Vanessa is passionate about the voluntary sector adn about Watford, and both would be much poorer without her. We had a very productive meeting but we've had to schedule a third date to complete the review.
Next I had a preliminary review meeting with bookkeeper Priti, and at 12:00 I met with Pam (WCVS’s Chair of Trustees) for my own supervision meeting. We talked through the agenda for the forthcoming trustees meeting (1 February) and about the importance of the 31 January meeting of the Voluntary Sector Alliance. WCVS’s Strategic Plan depends in part on local voluntary groups contributing to strategic developments. 31 January will show how realistic this is.
Steph has confirmed that I am the new chair of the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium: I do hope it will be fun.
In the afternoon, I met with our Connexions workers Des and Farzana, sorted out some network problems, and caught up with some more correspondence. I also had a long overdue chat with Andrew - he is the HCC man behind the Herts Compact and is exactly the sort of chap you would want in this role. We had a long discussion about Compact and Herts VCS issues, and I took the opportunity to raise with him the problems being encountered by HomeStart in Hertfordshire.
Late in the day, I took a telephone call from my brother Jez who told me that our Dad had suffered a bad fall and had spent most of the previous night at the hospital with our Mum. When they returned home in the morning, he had fallen again, and again been admitted to hospital, where he was sleeping. On Jez’s advice I didn’t visit Friday night.
One arriving home, our living room redecorations still weren’t complete. The decorator had left promising Jackie he would return Saturday morning. Jackie and I ate out.
Next I had a preliminary review meeting with bookkeeper Priti, and at 12:00 I met with Pam (WCVS’s Chair of Trustees) for my own supervision meeting. We talked through the agenda for the forthcoming trustees meeting (1 February) and about the importance of the 31 January meeting of the Voluntary Sector Alliance. WCVS’s Strategic Plan depends in part on local voluntary groups contributing to strategic developments. 31 January will show how realistic this is.
Steph has confirmed that I am the new chair of the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium: I do hope it will be fun.
In the afternoon, I met with our Connexions workers Des and Farzana, sorted out some network problems, and caught up with some more correspondence. I also had a long overdue chat with Andrew - he is the HCC man behind the Herts Compact and is exactly the sort of chap you would want in this role. We had a long discussion about Compact and Herts VCS issues, and I took the opportunity to raise with him the problems being encountered by HomeStart in Hertfordshire.
Late in the day, I took a telephone call from my brother Jez who told me that our Dad had suffered a bad fall and had spent most of the previous night at the hospital with our Mum. When they returned home in the morning, he had fallen again, and again been admitted to hospital, where he was sleeping. On Jez’s advice I didn’t visit Friday night.
One arriving home, our living room redecorations still weren’t complete. The decorator had left promising Jackie he would return Saturday morning. Jackie and I ate out.
Thursday, 11 January 2007
The traffic was again heavy this morning, doubtless aggravated by the very blustery wind. The drive to Watford took me over an hour. Again.
And I’m still not smoking. I’m saving nearly £5 a day on cigarettes but I’m spending about £6 a day on chocolate.
I spent most of the morning with Sue working on a new central system for transaction processing. I adjourned this when I noticed an e-mail arrive from the Big Lottery. Our Reaching Communities bid is being assessed and our assessor must arrange a telephone interview. She offered two times but I can't do either. I telephoned her to arrange a new date.
Also I received a host of other e-mails on lots of other meetings: Who will be at this meeting? Can you check these minutes? Can you change this meeting date? Is this venue ok? Can you do a presentation? Will you forward these minutes? Can we meet at 10:30 instead of 12:00? Meetings can be very helpful. It is good to talk. But it is also important to know where to draw the line.
At 2:00 I met with Anne (Funding Advisor) for the second stage of her annual review. We talked at length about priorities for the coming year and identified three:
1. Better integrating our funding advice with our development and QA support.
2 Developing a better strategic overview of fundraising throughout Watford’s voluntary sector.
3 Developing a clearer relationship to WBC's grant programmes.
This was very fruitful. But, despite my best intentions, we overran and my 3:30 meeting with Sue (also a second stage annual review) finally began about 4:30. We talked until 6:00. Most of this was focused on internal systems. Sue has been shown huge flexibility and supreme patience: hopefully her role is now settling down.
I finally left the office about 8:00. On arriving home, there was still very little actual decorating done and the house was still in chaos. Jackie had cooked a stir fry, but we had to eat standing up in the kitchen – which we decided was slightly better than eating laying down in bed.
And I’m still not smoking. I’m saving nearly £5 a day on cigarettes but I’m spending about £6 a day on chocolate.
I spent most of the morning with Sue working on a new central system for transaction processing. I adjourned this when I noticed an e-mail arrive from the Big Lottery. Our Reaching Communities bid is being assessed and our assessor must arrange a telephone interview. She offered two times but I can't do either. I telephoned her to arrange a new date.
Also I received a host of other e-mails on lots of other meetings: Who will be at this meeting? Can you check these minutes? Can you change this meeting date? Is this venue ok? Can you do a presentation? Will you forward these minutes? Can we meet at 10:30 instead of 12:00? Meetings can be very helpful. It is good to talk. But it is also important to know where to draw the line.
At 2:00 I met with Anne (Funding Advisor) for the second stage of her annual review. We talked at length about priorities for the coming year and identified three:
1. Better integrating our funding advice with our development and QA support.
2 Developing a better strategic overview of fundraising throughout Watford’s voluntary sector.
3 Developing a clearer relationship to WBC's grant programmes.
This was very fruitful. But, despite my best intentions, we overran and my 3:30 meeting with Sue (also a second stage annual review) finally began about 4:30. We talked until 6:00. Most of this was focused on internal systems. Sue has been shown huge flexibility and supreme patience: hopefully her role is now settling down.
I finally left the office about 8:00. On arriving home, there was still very little actual decorating done and the house was still in chaos. Jackie had cooked a stir fry, but we had to eat standing up in the kitchen – which we decided was slightly better than eating laying down in bed.
Wednesday, 10 January 2007
After the xmas break the morning traffic has returned to its normal sluggish self. I tried to avoid it by travelling early but the journey still took well over an hour.
Off to the rice fields!
This morning's news reported proposals to prohibit businesses from discriminating on the grounds of sexual orientation and Radio Five interviewed a representative of the Christian Law Society, or something similar. I was transfixed as she exuded a heady mix of naked loathing, haughty self-righteousness, and dissembling double standards. She even described religious bigots as "people of conscience". What utter stupidity; she reminded me of nothing so much as a Nazi defending the Third Reich’s freedom to discriminate against Jews. I am not a revolutionary communist by any means, but I do think a period of time working in the rice fields might do her some good. The guy from Stonewall could not believe his luck.
At work
At the office, I had preliminary review meetings with Laura (Community Transport) and Sue (Office Services). Laura radiates goodness and works with an attractive understated efficiency. Funding for our Community Transport scheme is soon running out but I am hopeful that we can find the wherewithal to keep the scheme afloat while we carry out a thorough review of options. Sue has had six months filling a variety of roles and I have come to depend on (and perhaps occasionally abuse) her flexibility and goodwill.
After this, I had a lengthy meeting with Vanessa to go through some of our project accounts. We made rapid progress on this, and then updated each other on various meetings we’d each been involved in.
The latter part of the afternoon was the usual “sprint for the line” catching up on correspondence and making some headway against the many many little jobs that are still on my “to do” list. I received an encouraging mail from WBC acknowledging receipt of my report on accommodation and inviting me to further discussions. This needs a reply, obviously.
Having heard of their Volunteering England Quality Accreditation mark, Leader of the Council Rabi Martins has sent congratulations to our Volunteer Centre team and invited them to refreshments at the Mayor’s Parlour. It is of course very old fashioned and frightfully English. But like the honours system it is a cheap, efficient and practical way to recognise people’s contribution to their community and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
I learn that ShopMobility has had its WBC grant restored. Hurrah! I must send them my best wishes.
There are five groups who WBC has challenged in 2007-08 to work more closely together: the Indian Association, the Muslim Project, the African Carribean Association, the Multi-Cultural Community Centre, and the West Watford Community Centre. After several recent discussions with individual groups, I have now invited them all to a meeting at WCVS in a fortnight. At least we might give them an opportunity to work together addressing the complex set of issues they are faced with.
Absent decorator, good neighbours
Back home, our decorator has been absent nearly all day and our house still looks awful. Fortunately, our neighbours Linda and Allan took pity on us and invited us over for a meal and a game of cards. What lovely people.
Off to the rice fields!
This morning's news reported proposals to prohibit businesses from discriminating on the grounds of sexual orientation and Radio Five interviewed a representative of the Christian Law Society, or something similar. I was transfixed as she exuded a heady mix of naked loathing, haughty self-righteousness, and dissembling double standards. She even described religious bigots as "people of conscience". What utter stupidity; she reminded me of nothing so much as a Nazi defending the Third Reich’s freedom to discriminate against Jews. I am not a revolutionary communist by any means, but I do think a period of time working in the rice fields might do her some good. The guy from Stonewall could not believe his luck.
At work
At the office, I had preliminary review meetings with Laura (Community Transport) and Sue (Office Services). Laura radiates goodness and works with an attractive understated efficiency. Funding for our Community Transport scheme is soon running out but I am hopeful that we can find the wherewithal to keep the scheme afloat while we carry out a thorough review of options. Sue has had six months filling a variety of roles and I have come to depend on (and perhaps occasionally abuse) her flexibility and goodwill.
After this, I had a lengthy meeting with Vanessa to go through some of our project accounts. We made rapid progress on this, and then updated each other on various meetings we’d each been involved in.
The latter part of the afternoon was the usual “sprint for the line” catching up on correspondence and making some headway against the many many little jobs that are still on my “to do” list. I received an encouraging mail from WBC acknowledging receipt of my report on accommodation and inviting me to further discussions. This needs a reply, obviously.
Having heard of their Volunteering England Quality Accreditation mark, Leader of the Council Rabi Martins has sent congratulations to our Volunteer Centre team and invited them to refreshments at the Mayor’s Parlour. It is of course very old fashioned and frightfully English. But like the honours system it is a cheap, efficient and practical way to recognise people’s contribution to their community and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
I learn that ShopMobility has had its WBC grant restored. Hurrah! I must send them my best wishes.
There are five groups who WBC has challenged in 2007-08 to work more closely together: the Indian Association, the Muslim Project, the African Carribean Association, the Multi-Cultural Community Centre, and the West Watford Community Centre. After several recent discussions with individual groups, I have now invited them all to a meeting at WCVS in a fortnight. At least we might give them an opportunity to work together addressing the complex set of issues they are faced with.
Absent decorator, good neighbours
Back home, our decorator has been absent nearly all day and our house still looks awful. Fortunately, our neighbours Linda and Allan took pity on us and invited us over for a meal and a game of cards. What lovely people.
Tuesday, 9 January 2007
After being out of the office Friday and Monday, it was a bit like returning from leave today and as ever the day began with a struggle to catch up with correspondence. I didn’t make much of an impact.
At 10:00 I had a preliminary review meeting with Anne our funding advisor. Very good.
Something is Not Quite Right
Then I took a telephone call from a lady who is at the Berry Grove school in north Watford setting up a Children’s Centre. She wanted some advice on charity status etc. Creating the Children’s Centres is undoubtedly A Good Thing as these services need some focal point in each community.
Allowing each community to adopt its own form of governance for its Children’s Centre raises questions about consistency and so on but is also, generally speaking, A Good Thing – a practical compromise between central government and local control.
But something is Not Quite Right: the overwhelming focus on services can obscure the fact that there are profound differences between the state sector, the private sector and the voluntary sector. And it makes a Big Difference whether a service is provided by a charity, a school, a local authority, a government department or a private company. And it is dangerous to think otherwise.
Tackling Odds and Ends
Next, Sue asked me about legal advice for the Watford Refugee Project. Their clients sometimes need legal advice but resources at Watford CAB are stretched to breaking point and CAB cannot earmark resources for use by just one group. We couldn’t help with the resource issues, but Sue was able to direct the project to a number of national websites and helplines offering specialist services.
Next, I met with Vanessa to talk about support for another local group whose trustees are coming to WCVS on Thursday for a workshop on strategic planning.
Then I sorted out a date for the upgrade of our telephone system, had a preliminary review meeting with Sue, spoke with Maria (who I had not seen since before xmas) and then finished the day desperately trying to keep a lid on the correspondence that is always simmering away in my in-tray but now looks set to boil over. I left the office around 6:00 keen to get home and relax.
Back Home
But I can't relax at home. Our house is not our own. Downstairs, our furniture is stored everywhere covered in dust sheets and there is barely room to move. Upstairs, everything is covered in a thin layer of fine dust. Everything is disrupted and we are all touchy. Poor Aged Ken feels it the most: his usual perches are all gone and at night he wanders around the house mewing plaintively. He doesn't understand.
I managed to complete reading a compendium of comic novels by Eric Sykes. As a comic performer and writer, Eric Sykes is to often overlooked - or perhaps overshadowed by his greater contemporaries: his output was prodigious and he secured his place in history early on as co-writer of the Goon Shows. But I stuck with his three novels more from affection than for any other reason.
At 10:00 I had a preliminary review meeting with Anne our funding advisor. Very good.
Something is Not Quite Right
Then I took a telephone call from a lady who is at the Berry Grove school in north Watford setting up a Children’s Centre. She wanted some advice on charity status etc. Creating the Children’s Centres is undoubtedly A Good Thing as these services need some focal point in each community.
Allowing each community to adopt its own form of governance for its Children’s Centre raises questions about consistency and so on but is also, generally speaking, A Good Thing – a practical compromise between central government and local control.
But something is Not Quite Right: the overwhelming focus on services can obscure the fact that there are profound differences between the state sector, the private sector and the voluntary sector. And it makes a Big Difference whether a service is provided by a charity, a school, a local authority, a government department or a private company. And it is dangerous to think otherwise.
Tackling Odds and Ends
Next, Sue asked me about legal advice for the Watford Refugee Project. Their clients sometimes need legal advice but resources at Watford CAB are stretched to breaking point and CAB cannot earmark resources for use by just one group. We couldn’t help with the resource issues, but Sue was able to direct the project to a number of national websites and helplines offering specialist services.
Next, I met with Vanessa to talk about support for another local group whose trustees are coming to WCVS on Thursday for a workshop on strategic planning.
Then I sorted out a date for the upgrade of our telephone system, had a preliminary review meeting with Sue, spoke with Maria (who I had not seen since before xmas) and then finished the day desperately trying to keep a lid on the correspondence that is always simmering away in my in-tray but now looks set to boil over. I left the office around 6:00 keen to get home and relax.
Back Home
But I can't relax at home. Our house is not our own. Downstairs, our furniture is stored everywhere covered in dust sheets and there is barely room to move. Upstairs, everything is covered in a thin layer of fine dust. Everything is disrupted and we are all touchy. Poor Aged Ken feels it the most: his usual perches are all gone and at night he wanders around the house mewing plaintively. He doesn't understand.
I managed to complete reading a compendium of comic novels by Eric Sykes. As a comic performer and writer, Eric Sykes is to often overlooked - or perhaps overshadowed by his greater contemporaries: his output was prodigious and he secured his place in history early on as co-writer of the Goon Shows. But I stuck with his three novels more from affection than for any other reason.
Monday, 8 January 2007
A busy day at home catching up on a thousand and one (or at least “some”) jobs: car tax, insurance claims, bank accounts, visiting the recycling centre, aerial leads, telephone extensions, printers, fitting new fires, forwarding Bobby’s MP3 player to Brighton, and of course I have a few calls to make for WCVS.
And Rhiannon asked if we could also look after Bethany and we can’t say “no” as Bethany is so wonderful at the moment. She talks just enough to hold simple conversations and makes the cutest childwords: soddages (sausages), ottoors (otters) and shorcklort (chocolate). We didn’t complete quite as many jobs as we would have liked, but we did have a lovely visit with Bethany.
And Rhiannon asked if we could also look after Bethany and we can’t say “no” as Bethany is so wonderful at the moment. She talks just enough to hold simple conversations and makes the cutest childwords: soddages (sausages), ottoors (otters) and shorcklort (chocolate). We didn’t complete quite as many jobs as we would have liked, but we did have a lovely visit with Bethany.
Sunday, 7 January 2007
Jane made us all bacon butties for breakfast; except Ruth of course as she is strictly kosher. Jacob was delightfully good humoured and found everything funny.
We took a short walk to Southwold pier and visited the eccentric Under the Pier Show – a collection of surreal slot machines that I’d recommend to anyone. Then we ate lunch and I got to feed Jacob, although I think everyone (including Jacob) was thinking the next time Bob wants to feed a baby, we must say No! We walked back through the town seeing the Adnams brewery and an interesting museum of amber. What a pleasant place. Jackie and I were sad to leave, but we said our good-byes and headed home.
Back in WGC, we finished clearing out the living room for the decorators starting in the morning. By the time we went to bed, everything from the living room was stacked in the kitchen, rendering both rooms entirely unusable.
We took a short walk to Southwold pier and visited the eccentric Under the Pier Show – a collection of surreal slot machines that I’d recommend to anyone. Then we ate lunch and I got to feed Jacob, although I think everyone (including Jacob) was thinking the next time Bob wants to feed a baby, we must say No! We walked back through the town seeing the Adnams brewery and an interesting museum of amber. What a pleasant place. Jackie and I were sad to leave, but we said our good-byes and headed home.
Back in WGC, we finished clearing out the living room for the decorators starting in the morning. By the time we went to bed, everything from the living room was stacked in the kitchen, rendering both rooms entirely unusable.
Saturday, 6 January 2007
The FA Cup Third Round – probably my favourite day on teh sporting calendar. It’s a day when butchers, bakers and (who knows?) candlestick makers can take to the field against the cosseted elite of the Premiership and anything can happen. It’s the last twinkle of Christmas magic before we all settle down to address the everyday concerns of another year. In 2006 Burton Albion gave Manchester United a bit of a shock: who will be this year’s giant killers? Worryingly much money will be on Cardiff City who face Spurs tomorrow.
I rose early-ish and headed into Watford to finish the accommodation report and mail it to Watford Borough Council. There is no time to consult interested parties, but I think the report accurately reflects the many conversations I’ve had. Hopefully the report will persuade WBC to amend some aspects of their proposals.
I left the office about 2:00 and after collecting Jackie we both headed off to Southwold to spend a night with our very dear friends Jane and Ruth, and their new baby Jacob. By the time we arrived, Jacob was already sound asleep but us four adults got on famously enjoying Fish and Chips, a bottle or two of red wine, and some games of competitive Boggle (at which Ruth excelled).
I rose early-ish and headed into Watford to finish the accommodation report and mail it to Watford Borough Council. There is no time to consult interested parties, but I think the report accurately reflects the many conversations I’ve had. Hopefully the report will persuade WBC to amend some aspects of their proposals.
I left the office about 2:00 and after collecting Jackie we both headed off to Southwold to spend a night with our very dear friends Jane and Ruth, and their new baby Jacob. By the time we arrived, Jacob was already sound asleep but us four adults got on famously enjoying Fish and Chips, a bottle or two of red wine, and some games of competitive Boggle (at which Ruth excelled).
Friday, 5 January 2007
I woke early and got more work done on the report to Watford Borough Council on leases for local voluntary groups. By 9:30 I was in Letchworth to be trained on the Connexions database system Ascent. It all looked pretty straightforward and they promised to run some reports for us on the situation of 13-19 year-olds in Watford.
Then I headed off to Hitchin to meet Steph who is the key project worker for HIC (the Herts Infrastructure Conortium) and is piloting a questionnaire to encourage Herts infrastructure groups to exchange skills and knowledge. We spent some time going through the questionnaire and talking about HIC issues and initiatives. Steph was listening to John Martyn, but she seems so young! She really is a most engaging young lady.
I left at 4:30 and headed home to WGC. After eating and relaxing with Jackie (our first Friday without smoking) I retired to my tiny office to work on the Accommodation report that needs to be with Watford Borough Council by Monday. Much to Jackie’s alarm, I worked through until after midnight and so eventually managed to finalise a first draft of the report.
Then I headed off to Hitchin to meet Steph who is the key project worker for HIC (the Herts Infrastructure Conortium) and is piloting a questionnaire to encourage Herts infrastructure groups to exchange skills and knowledge. We spent some time going through the questionnaire and talking about HIC issues and initiatives. Steph was listening to John Martyn, but she seems so young! She really is a most engaging young lady.
I left at 4:30 and headed home to WGC. After eating and relaxing with Jackie (our first Friday without smoking) I retired to my tiny office to work on the Accommodation report that needs to be with Watford Borough Council by Monday. Much to Jackie’s alarm, I worked through until after midnight and so eventually managed to finalise a first draft of the report.
Thursday, 4 January 2007
Now things are really getting a little bit busy.
I arrived at the office about 8:00 am to start work on the Accommodation report due to be with WBC by Monday. At 9:00 I prepared work for Priti and Maria to do on Friday and Monday while I am away from the office.
At 10:00 I met with Vanessa for two hours to go through our Strategic Plan targets and talk through top level outcomes and impact assessments. We also spent some time talking through the Minority Ethnic Forum and project budgets. This was a most useful meeting; I am so pleased that Vanessa is here to share her knowledge and wisdom in these things.
At 12:00 I met with Helen for the second stage of her staff review process. Again, a very helpful meeting.
Value and Volumes
At 2:00, I left to attend a meeting in St Albans on the future of the project researching into the “Value and Volume” of the voluntary sector in Hertfordshire. Work carried out in 2005-06 suggested that there were 12,800 voluntary groups in the county. Our latest research suggests that a more realistic figure is around 5,000 although this can vary hugely depending on exactly where lines are drawn – should the definition include churches? darts clubs? reading groups?
In St Albans, I met with my counterparts from Rickmansworth (Mary), Stevenage (Ann) and St Albans (Laura). In the future, voluntary activity in the county can be measured by producing reports from Volbase – the database of local groups that each CVS is introducing. All are agreed on this, but it will take time.
In the short term, we need to understand why the number of active groups was overestimated by more than 100% and why the turnover of these groups was overestimated by an even greater amount. And we need to explain these variances to the people who funded the original research. It wont be easy.
Herts CVSs have revisited the original data and a picture is slowly emerging of why it was so inaccurate. But we now need to produce reliable figures for the voluntary sector’s income and assets, and for the number of people working in the sector as employees or volunteers.
At one point it was suggested that the company that produced the original data should be paid again to tell us why and how they got it so wrong: I think I may have sworn. The four of us finally reached a compromise of sorts on how this can be achieved most efficiently and effectively. I will speak tomorrow with Jacquie in North Herts (who controls the purse-strings in this CapacityBuilders project) to see whether our compromise is intra vires.
Meanwhile, I left St Albans around 5:30 and returned direct to WGC, and then Jackie adn I went on to Letchworth to visit my parents, brothers and others and we all had a very pleasant evening.
I arrived at the office about 8:00 am to start work on the Accommodation report due to be with WBC by Monday. At 9:00 I prepared work for Priti and Maria to do on Friday and Monday while I am away from the office.
At 10:00 I met with Vanessa for two hours to go through our Strategic Plan targets and talk through top level outcomes and impact assessments. We also spent some time talking through the Minority Ethnic Forum and project budgets. This was a most useful meeting; I am so pleased that Vanessa is here to share her knowledge and wisdom in these things.
At 12:00 I met with Helen for the second stage of her staff review process. Again, a very helpful meeting.
Value and Volumes
At 2:00, I left to attend a meeting in St Albans on the future of the project researching into the “Value and Volume” of the voluntary sector in Hertfordshire. Work carried out in 2005-06 suggested that there were 12,800 voluntary groups in the county. Our latest research suggests that a more realistic figure is around 5,000 although this can vary hugely depending on exactly where lines are drawn – should the definition include churches? darts clubs? reading groups?
In St Albans, I met with my counterparts from Rickmansworth (Mary), Stevenage (Ann) and St Albans (Laura). In the future, voluntary activity in the county can be measured by producing reports from Volbase – the database of local groups that each CVS is introducing. All are agreed on this, but it will take time.
In the short term, we need to understand why the number of active groups was overestimated by more than 100% and why the turnover of these groups was overestimated by an even greater amount. And we need to explain these variances to the people who funded the original research. It wont be easy.
Herts CVSs have revisited the original data and a picture is slowly emerging of why it was so inaccurate. But we now need to produce reliable figures for the voluntary sector’s income and assets, and for the number of people working in the sector as employees or volunteers.
At one point it was suggested that the company that produced the original data should be paid again to tell us why and how they got it so wrong: I think I may have sworn. The four of us finally reached a compromise of sorts on how this can be achieved most efficiently and effectively. I will speak tomorrow with Jacquie in North Herts (who controls the purse-strings in this CapacityBuilders project) to see whether our compromise is intra vires.
Meanwhile, I left St Albans around 5:30 and returned direct to WGC, and then Jackie adn I went on to Letchworth to visit my parents, brothers and others and we all had a very pleasant evening.
Wednesday, 3 January 2007
My journey into work this morning was soured by a news report about research into migration conducted by “pressure group” Migration Watch! It seems that any group can produce any shoddy piece of nonsense, dress it up as “research” and the media will gladly report it as objective and scientific. I am now constantly surprised (ashamed? distressed? alarmed?) that people seem to have become gullible and incapable of intelligent critical thought. R4 and Newsnight were guilty of the same failures. Scientific method? Bah! Objectivity? Hah! Peer Review? Hogwash!
In the office, I began the long round of staff review meetings by seeing Helen. These reviews will take a large chunk out of January, but they will also establish clear work programmes for the rest of the year and help us identify any gaps in skills or resources.
I spent part of the afternoon talking with Sue about the changes I made over xmas to our nominal coding structure. Sue and I also discussed how best to process transactions in the future. I am painfully aware that I need to re-establish contact with CAF to open the new WCVS accounts. Then I talked with Vanessa who liked the format of the Quick Books reports. Vanessa and I will meet again soon to start going through the CVS’s projects.
At the end of the day I was visited by Sharifa and Sam to talk about the Watford Racial Equality Council, WBC funding, WBC leases, and the future of the Watford Minority Ethnic Forum. Quite an agenda.
In the office, I began the long round of staff review meetings by seeing Helen. These reviews will take a large chunk out of January, but they will also establish clear work programmes for the rest of the year and help us identify any gaps in skills or resources.
I spent part of the afternoon talking with Sue about the changes I made over xmas to our nominal coding structure. Sue and I also discussed how best to process transactions in the future. I am painfully aware that I need to re-establish contact with CAF to open the new WCVS accounts. Then I talked with Vanessa who liked the format of the Quick Books reports. Vanessa and I will meet again soon to start going through the CVS’s projects.
At the end of the day I was visited by Sharifa and Sam to talk about the Watford Racial Equality Council, WBC funding, WBC leases, and the future of the Watford Minority Ethnic Forum. Quite an agenda.
Tuesday, 2 January 2007
I woke at 6:00 am to get a head start on the day. Bryan wasn’t well and was meant to start work today as a “driver’s mate” for Tesco. Anyway, the end result is that Bobby was dropped off at 7:00 am to be a driver’s mate for the day. I do hope he enjoys it.
At WCVS, our new year began with a staff meeting to discuss new systems, accounting needs, Volbase, strategic planning, staff review meetings and IiP status. After this, I had a longer meeting with Sha-Lee about preparing our contacts database for Volbase.
Then I took a call from Sharifa about the Watford Racial Equality Council and local grants issues. I will meet her tomorrow for more discussions.
After dealing with correspondence I left the office at 5:30 pm – quite a civilised hour and all in all a rather gentle re-entry into WCVS things.
At WCVS, our new year began with a staff meeting to discuss new systems, accounting needs, Volbase, strategic planning, staff review meetings and IiP status. After this, I had a longer meeting with Sha-Lee about preparing our contacts database for Volbase.
Then I took a call from Sharifa about the Watford Racial Equality Council and local grants issues. I will meet her tomorrow for more discussions.
After dealing with correspondence I left the office at 5:30 pm – quite a civilised hour and all in all a rather gentle re-entry into WCVS things.
Monday, 1 January 2007
Jackie and I woke early and for once we both felt well. We hurried around catching up on all the many things we should have done earlier in the holiday – making calls, visiting people, and sorting out how to prepare for the coming busy week or two at home and work.
At lunchtime, the three boys emerged from their rooms. On their way home the previous night, they had stumbled across someone too drunk to move. After unsuccessfully trying to rouse the drunk, they had called an ambulance. To keep their patient warm, Bobby had even lent out his brand-new-and-bought-in-America-so-impossible-to-replace coat. After their adventure they finally returned home after 4:00 am. The upshot of all this was that Jackie and I then had to spend part of the day driving around WGC trying to retrieve Bobby’s brand-new-and-bought-in-America-so-impossible-to-replace coat.
In the evening, I spent an hour or two reading through all the papers on WBC’s proposals for rationalising lease arrangements for voluntary organisations. I had hoped to complete the paper over Christmas but with illness this hasn’t been possible. But after reading through everything, I am hopeful I can catch up with the work over the next few days. Provided of course that everything else runs smoothly!
Oh, and somewhere along the line (I think about the time the New Year came in) Jackie and I do appear to have given up smoking. We shall see.
At lunchtime, the three boys emerged from their rooms. On their way home the previous night, they had stumbled across someone too drunk to move. After unsuccessfully trying to rouse the drunk, they had called an ambulance. To keep their patient warm, Bobby had even lent out his brand-new-and-bought-in-America-so-impossible-to-replace coat. After their adventure they finally returned home after 4:00 am. The upshot of all this was that Jackie and I then had to spend part of the day driving around WGC trying to retrieve Bobby’s brand-new-and-bought-in-America-so-impossible-to-replace coat.
In the evening, I spent an hour or two reading through all the papers on WBC’s proposals for rationalising lease arrangements for voluntary organisations. I had hoped to complete the paper over Christmas but with illness this hasn’t been possible. But after reading through everything, I am hopeful I can catch up with the work over the next few days. Provided of course that everything else runs smoothly!
Oh, and somewhere along the line (I think about the time the New Year came in) Jackie and I do appear to have given up smoking. We shall see.
Sunday, 31 December 2006
Relapse
I couldn’t sleep in the night again; I came downstairs about 3:00 am feeling horrible and finally got to sleep at about 5:30. Jackie started trying to wake me about 8:00 but I gather I wasn’t very responsive. I got up about lunchtime feeling awful again.
Recovery
Around 6:00 pm. Bobby arrived and I drove to collect him from St Albans station (there’s a direct line from Brighton). It was still raining heavily, but I immediately felt much better. Perhaps the fresh air helped.
Bobby came with his friend Luke, and after a gorgeous meal we all decided to see in the New Year at the Doctor’s Tonic: Jackie and I, Bryan, Bobby and Luke. At the pub we met with Rhiannon and her partner Stu. There were so many other people we knew, of all ages and all good people; the pub had a wonderful atmosphere - very “loving and cuddly” Jackie described it. The music was excellent too: Kirsty MacColl, Kasabian, T Rex, Rolling Stones, Dr Feelgood, Little Richard and so on..
When the New Year was welcomed in, it was really rather moving. Except for one young woman who gave me a lovely cuddle and kiss but then spoiled it by rather impudently saying “Happy New Year Grand-dad”.
Jackie and I left shortly after, leaving our children to party into the night. We walked the mile or so home, and then had a large cup of tea before turning in and sleeping soundly.
I couldn’t sleep in the night again; I came downstairs about 3:00 am feeling horrible and finally got to sleep at about 5:30. Jackie started trying to wake me about 8:00 but I gather I wasn’t very responsive. I got up about lunchtime feeling awful again.
Recovery
Around 6:00 pm. Bobby arrived and I drove to collect him from St Albans station (there’s a direct line from Brighton). It was still raining heavily, but I immediately felt much better. Perhaps the fresh air helped.
Bobby came with his friend Luke, and after a gorgeous meal we all decided to see in the New Year at the Doctor’s Tonic: Jackie and I, Bryan, Bobby and Luke. At the pub we met with Rhiannon and her partner Stu. There were so many other people we knew, of all ages and all good people; the pub had a wonderful atmosphere - very “loving and cuddly” Jackie described it. The music was excellent too: Kirsty MacColl, Kasabian, T Rex, Rolling Stones, Dr Feelgood, Little Richard and so on..
When the New Year was welcomed in, it was really rather moving. Except for one young woman who gave me a lovely cuddle and kiss but then spoiled it by rather impudently saying “Happy New Year Grand-dad”.
Jackie and I left shortly after, leaving our children to party into the night. We walked the mile or so home, and then had a large cup of tea before turning in and sleeping soundly.
Saturday, 30 December 2006
Recovery
There were some booming storms overnight, but the morning was quite bright and I also felt much better - well enough to tackle the WCVS’s accounts. I’d taken a back-up from the office and loaded them on my home PC. My first job was to review the last nine months of entries to check the codings. There were some obvious nominal codes missing (Priti and Sue had forewarned me of this) and little consistency in where transactions (even regular transactions) were allocated. It took me about six hours to go through all of the transactions checking the nominal codings. Fortunately, QuickBooks is fairly forgiving and (unlike Sage) allows me to simply edit transactions as I need.
Having checked the nominal codings, I looked at the project codings and found similar inconsistencies here. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make many corrections here as I need to sit down with the various project managers. This is another task that I now need to squeeze into the first weeks of the new year.
Overall, the exercise has confirmed to me that we need to move with some urgency toward a far more centralised and controlled accounts environment. I will action this as soon as I possibly can.
Weather report
In the afternoon, the weather got much worse. How bad is the weather? So bad that Watford’s home game was abandoned due to torrential rain and a water-logged pitch. Pity they couldn’t have abandoned the game at White Hart Lane.
While I worked on the accounts, Jackie single-handedly removed the xmas decorations and started preparing for the redecorating that needs to start early in the new year after our recent flood damage. At some point, Bobby called to say he was safely back in the UK and would be in WGC sometime on New Year’s Eve.
Life styles
Jackie and I wondered whether or not we’d be well enough to go out on New Year’s Eve. Talk turned to life-styles generally, and we each agreed that we needed more exercise. We’ve not over-indulged too much over xmas, but we are still looking forward to eating better.
Then we talked about the pros and cons of smoking. On the pros side, we both use cigarettes to help us relax, and we both quite enjoy 2-3 cigarettes a day. On the cons side, it is not very sociable, it’s damned expensive, and of course I smoke far more than the 2-3 a day that I actually enjoy. The discussion was finely balanced. Then, Jackie said she had heard (at the GP surgery where she works) that smoking isn’t actually very good for you. Apparently, smoking can cause all sorts of horrible conditions from heart disease and cancer to impotence and indigestion. You think they would publicise these things a bit more. Anyway, that decided us. We will give up smoking in the new year.
And get more exercise. And eat more healthily. Oh yes.
There were some booming storms overnight, but the morning was quite bright and I also felt much better - well enough to tackle the WCVS’s accounts. I’d taken a back-up from the office and loaded them on my home PC. My first job was to review the last nine months of entries to check the codings. There were some obvious nominal codes missing (Priti and Sue had forewarned me of this) and little consistency in where transactions (even regular transactions) were allocated. It took me about six hours to go through all of the transactions checking the nominal codings. Fortunately, QuickBooks is fairly forgiving and (unlike Sage) allows me to simply edit transactions as I need.
Having checked the nominal codings, I looked at the project codings and found similar inconsistencies here. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make many corrections here as I need to sit down with the various project managers. This is another task that I now need to squeeze into the first weeks of the new year.
Overall, the exercise has confirmed to me that we need to move with some urgency toward a far more centralised and controlled accounts environment. I will action this as soon as I possibly can.
Weather report
In the afternoon, the weather got much worse. How bad is the weather? So bad that Watford’s home game was abandoned due to torrential rain and a water-logged pitch. Pity they couldn’t have abandoned the game at White Hart Lane.
While I worked on the accounts, Jackie single-handedly removed the xmas decorations and started preparing for the redecorating that needs to start early in the new year after our recent flood damage. At some point, Bobby called to say he was safely back in the UK and would be in WGC sometime on New Year’s Eve.
Life styles
Jackie and I wondered whether or not we’d be well enough to go out on New Year’s Eve. Talk turned to life-styles generally, and we each agreed that we needed more exercise. We’ve not over-indulged too much over xmas, but we are still looking forward to eating better.
Then we talked about the pros and cons of smoking. On the pros side, we both use cigarettes to help us relax, and we both quite enjoy 2-3 cigarettes a day. On the cons side, it is not very sociable, it’s damned expensive, and of course I smoke far more than the 2-3 a day that I actually enjoy. The discussion was finely balanced. Then, Jackie said she had heard (at the GP surgery where she works) that smoking isn’t actually very good for you. Apparently, smoking can cause all sorts of horrible conditions from heart disease and cancer to impotence and indigestion. You think they would publicise these things a bit more. Anyway, that decided us. We will give up smoking in the new year.
And get more exercise. And eat more healthily. Oh yes.
Friday, 29 December 2006
Another horrid day with my temperature going up and down like a yo-yo. For an hour or so I felt bathed in sweat, and the next hour I was shivering; I felt truly awful. Rather pathetically I tried to cheer myself up by transferring my newly sorted papers into my new xmas briefcase. Jackie said she also enjoyed nothing better than sorting out a new handbag; she meant well.
I couldn’t do any work on the accounts. Maybe tomorrow. We spent the evening reading our xmas books.
I couldn’t do any work on the accounts. Maybe tomorrow. We spent the evening reading our xmas books.
Thursday, 28 December 2006
I awoke feeling like I’d been visited in the night by some evil mischievous pixies who had inserted a cactus into my throat. I could barely breathe. Jackie, much recovered, made several attempts to rouse me, but then left me with a cup of tea to go out to the sales. I remember hearing her say “you can never have too many Egyptian cotton sheets”, but this may have been an hallucination as she returned with new curtains. I spent the day in bed feeling utterly miserable. I finally rose late in the afternoon, but only to come downstairs and feel miserable there. I didn’t do any work in the accounts. How did Jackie survive xmas feeling like this?
Wednesday, 27 December 2006
Jackie, now nearly recovered, goes shopping, and I get a chance to do some work. Unfortunately my little office is buried under the debris of xmas. By the time I clear everything and catch up with the laundry it was too late to start either of my bigger jobs so I spent three hours reading through three months of unread circulars and magazines. Some interesting stuff. Tomorrow I have a clear day to start on the accounts.
We spent the afternoon and early evening with Jackie’s parents. Still, neither of use feeling 100% so we returned home to watch the very disappointing Ruby in the Smoke.
We spent the afternoon and early evening with Jackie’s parents. Still, neither of use feeling 100% so we returned home to watch the very disappointing Ruby in the Smoke.
Tuesday, 26 December 2006
Boxing Day began with Goodbye Mr Chips, one of my favourite films. Neither Jackie or I are feeling 100% so we have a quiet morning. In the afternoon we visit my parents in Letchworth. Usually this is the day of the great Jones family Xmas gathering, but this year things haven’t gone to plan: Bobby is in America, sister Caroline visited on Xmas day and brother Jez is off rallying. But still we had a nice visit and will return again early in the new year. On the way home we dropped by to see Rhiannon and Bethany.
Monday, 25 December 2006
After a disturbed night, we awoke late and eventually emerged to exchange presents. We were all very pleased with our respective hauls. I do well with a leather briefcase, a set of dominoes, DVDs (South Park and In Which We Serve – a combination that amused me greatly), and a large selection of books including a collection of Eric Sykes.
Neighbours Linda and Allan called in for a champaign breakfast, and then we headed off to Jackie’s brother Steve to share a wonderful meal with Jackie’s family. Bethany (2) and Ava (6) were delightful. We returned home mid-evening and watched a documentary on the religious significance of Mary Magdalene, followed by the Vicar of Dibley and Little Britain. Then Jackie and I completed a crossword from my new Daily Telegraph Big Book of Cryptic Crosswords - it’s twice the size of the usual Daily Telegraph Book of Cryptic Crosswords but they use a smaller font size. Wonderful.
Jackie still very unwell. In the night, I couldn’t sleep and finished off the wonderful book First Light – the biography of a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain. At the height of the battle, he was almost exactly the age of Bobby and Bryan and already an experienced fighter pilot. Jackie woke up at 3:30 am and the two of us shared a Lemsip in the kitchen.
Neighbours Linda and Allan called in for a champaign breakfast, and then we headed off to Jackie’s brother Steve to share a wonderful meal with Jackie’s family. Bethany (2) and Ava (6) were delightful. We returned home mid-evening and watched a documentary on the religious significance of Mary Magdalene, followed by the Vicar of Dibley and Little Britain. Then Jackie and I completed a crossword from my new Daily Telegraph Big Book of Cryptic Crosswords - it’s twice the size of the usual Daily Telegraph Book of Cryptic Crosswords but they use a smaller font size. Wonderful.
Jackie still very unwell. In the night, I couldn’t sleep and finished off the wonderful book First Light – the biography of a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain. At the height of the battle, he was almost exactly the age of Bobby and Bryan and already an experienced fighter pilot. Jackie woke up at 3:30 am and the two of us shared a Lemsip in the kitchen.
Sunday, 24 December 2006
We made a local tour dropping various parcels off at different addresses. We dropped into the Doctor’s Tonic to see our friends Bill and Angie and we learned that The Blockheads will be playing there in February. Tickets were bought. Jackie still not well.
Saturday, 23 December 2006
Occupational hazard
Jackie woke up feeling very much under the weather: an occupational hazard for a receptionist at a GPs’ surgery. I told her to take it easy, and she promised she would.
I drove to Southend to spend the day with my daughter Nancy, still fresh from the triumph of her Albert Hall appearance. The fog had finally cleared and we spent a pleasant day wandering among the Christmas shoppers and visiting the cinema to see “Flushed Away”, the new Aardman film. Nancy got to open her Xmas presents and after the film she wanted to visit Starbucks. It was her first time and she loved her vanilla Frappuccino. While we drank, we talked about music and aged ten she is an expert on R&B, but curiously knows nothing of Dr Feelgood. Sometimes it’s pointless trying to explain.
While I’d been away, Jackie had not taken it easy at all but had tried to spring clean the entire house. The house looked marvellous, considering the still prevalent flood damage, but Jackie looked very unwell. I fed her Lemsip and honey and put her to bed early.
I watched Robert Beckford talking eloquently about Christianity and Rock Music. It made me want to buy a Marilyn Manson album.
On the radio, there was one of those perennial news items about “politically correct” councils trying to ban Christmas. What utter tosh. Most of us happily use the term “Christmas” to describe the winter festival at which we exchange gifts and decorate fir trees. But the festival has its roots in pagan cultures. Much of the popular imagery and traditions of Christmas come from nineteenth century German and Scandinavia, and most of the rest derive from twentieth century Disney and Coca-Cola.
As a life-long atheist, I exchange Christmas greetings with friends of all faiths and no faith: christians, atheists, muslims, hindus, agnostics, jews, and a few others besides. In the far forgotten past it was a time to celebrate the winter equinox. Now it is a useful time to pause from work and reflect on peace and goodwill. Of course, Christmas has particular significance for most christians. But attempts by certain christians to claim exclusive ownership of the festival is deeply offensive, highly divisive, and intellectually lazy and dishonest.
My metaphorical horse seems to have got rather high, so I think I’ll dismount now. I might need a (metaphorical) step-ladder.
Jackie woke up feeling very much under the weather: an occupational hazard for a receptionist at a GPs’ surgery. I told her to take it easy, and she promised she would.
I drove to Southend to spend the day with my daughter Nancy, still fresh from the triumph of her Albert Hall appearance. The fog had finally cleared and we spent a pleasant day wandering among the Christmas shoppers and visiting the cinema to see “Flushed Away”, the new Aardman film. Nancy got to open her Xmas presents and after the film she wanted to visit Starbucks. It was her first time and she loved her vanilla Frappuccino. While we drank, we talked about music and aged ten she is an expert on R&B, but curiously knows nothing of Dr Feelgood. Sometimes it’s pointless trying to explain.
While I’d been away, Jackie had not taken it easy at all but had tried to spring clean the entire house. The house looked marvellous, considering the still prevalent flood damage, but Jackie looked very unwell. I fed her Lemsip and honey and put her to bed early.
I watched Robert Beckford talking eloquently about Christianity and Rock Music. It made me want to buy a Marilyn Manson album.
On the radio, there was one of those perennial news items about “politically correct” councils trying to ban Christmas. What utter tosh. Most of us happily use the term “Christmas” to describe the winter festival at which we exchange gifts and decorate fir trees. But the festival has its roots in pagan cultures. Much of the popular imagery and traditions of Christmas come from nineteenth century German and Scandinavia, and most of the rest derive from twentieth century Disney and Coca-Cola.
As a life-long atheist, I exchange Christmas greetings with friends of all faiths and no faith: christians, atheists, muslims, hindus, agnostics, jews, and a few others besides. In the far forgotten past it was a time to celebrate the winter equinox. Now it is a useful time to pause from work and reflect on peace and goodwill. Of course, Christmas has particular significance for most christians. But attempts by certain christians to claim exclusive ownership of the festival is deeply offensive, highly divisive, and intellectually lazy and dishonest.
My metaphorical horse seems to have got rather high, so I think I’ll dismount now. I might need a (metaphorical) step-ladder.
Friday, 22 December 2006
White Christmas?
In the dark early morning I cleared the ice off my car while my neighbour Linda did the same to her car. She informed me that our planned excursion tonight was off as the bell-ringers had got their dates mixed up. Or something like that – my brain takes a while to warm up in the mornings. Anyway, I managed to pass the message on to Jackie.
By the time I arrived at Watford the weather was quite mild but the white fog remained; there has been no sign of the sun or stars for several days. I don’t think this is quite what people have in mind when they talk (or sing) about a “White Christmas”.
Tim from WBC Property Management arrived at 9:00 am as promised with a copy of the Woodside Community Association’s lease. It is dated 1958 and confirms that the freehold is owned by WBC.
Odds and ends
I talked to the people at Volbase about our adoption of their database sometime early in 2007 to manage our contacts and QA processes. Volbase will provide us with new installation disks and licences early in the new year. We will then load up onto Volbase the results of our current exercise to produce a new Community Directory for Watford. It will be a big change for us, but will enable us to deliver a much better service to our member groups.
I then chased up a missing CRB check. This check was originally requested in July. Then it was lost in HCC’s systems until October when it was finally forwarded for processing. The whole process should take “six to eight weeks”. To give HCC their credit, we have often had checks back within three weeks. But this particular check has now taken twenty-five weeks and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. Meanwhile, there is a chap who has waited nearly six months to take up a job offer.
Then a telephone call from Mary at the West Watford Community Centre about their funding from WBC, who are keen to see groups in West Watford working more closely together. Mary and I talked for some time and, following discussions earlier this week with the Indian Association and the African Caribbean Association, I am convinced that we need an initial informal discussion about community cohesion with interested groups.
Homework
I will address this in the new year. For today, I was too busy preparing for the Christmas break. I had some last minute updates for our website to organise with Maria, then taking backups of several directories so I can complete work at home over Christmas.
I have taken a full backup of the accounts which need to be reviewed in detail. Our bookkeeper Priti has kindly bagged up the supporting files too: what fun I’ll have unwrapping those at Christmas! We have a trustees meeting on 1 February and I need to make sure that the financial information is accurate and up to date.
I have also taken backups of all the files on WBC’s proposals for new lease arrangements as I need to get a final report completed by 8 January.
Finally, I have taken copies of all the latest available Compact documentation from Watford, Herts and the world beyond. Just in case I get bored.
One last thing
At 3:00, I warned everyone that the server was going off. I tried to reboot from the operating system on our HDD to see whether or not I could salvage our old Microsoft Exchange settings for Outlook. No luck. I took out the old HDD and installed a new one. The rebooted the server again, and everything looked fine. I left at 5:00. I’ve plenty of work to keep me happy over xmas. See you in the New Year.
In the dark early morning I cleared the ice off my car while my neighbour Linda did the same to her car. She informed me that our planned excursion tonight was off as the bell-ringers had got their dates mixed up. Or something like that – my brain takes a while to warm up in the mornings. Anyway, I managed to pass the message on to Jackie.
By the time I arrived at Watford the weather was quite mild but the white fog remained; there has been no sign of the sun or stars for several days. I don’t think this is quite what people have in mind when they talk (or sing) about a “White Christmas”.
Tim from WBC Property Management arrived at 9:00 am as promised with a copy of the Woodside Community Association’s lease. It is dated 1958 and confirms that the freehold is owned by WBC.
Odds and ends
I talked to the people at Volbase about our adoption of their database sometime early in 2007 to manage our contacts and QA processes. Volbase will provide us with new installation disks and licences early in the new year. We will then load up onto Volbase the results of our current exercise to produce a new Community Directory for Watford. It will be a big change for us, but will enable us to deliver a much better service to our member groups.
I then chased up a missing CRB check. This check was originally requested in July. Then it was lost in HCC’s systems until October when it was finally forwarded for processing. The whole process should take “six to eight weeks”. To give HCC their credit, we have often had checks back within three weeks. But this particular check has now taken twenty-five weeks and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. Meanwhile, there is a chap who has waited nearly six months to take up a job offer.
Then a telephone call from Mary at the West Watford Community Centre about their funding from WBC, who are keen to see groups in West Watford working more closely together. Mary and I talked for some time and, following discussions earlier this week with the Indian Association and the African Caribbean Association, I am convinced that we need an initial informal discussion about community cohesion with interested groups.
Homework
I will address this in the new year. For today, I was too busy preparing for the Christmas break. I had some last minute updates for our website to organise with Maria, then taking backups of several directories so I can complete work at home over Christmas.
I have taken a full backup of the accounts which need to be reviewed in detail. Our bookkeeper Priti has kindly bagged up the supporting files too: what fun I’ll have unwrapping those at Christmas! We have a trustees meeting on 1 February and I need to make sure that the financial information is accurate and up to date.
I have also taken backups of all the files on WBC’s proposals for new lease arrangements as I need to get a final report completed by 8 January.
Finally, I have taken copies of all the latest available Compact documentation from Watford, Herts and the world beyond. Just in case I get bored.
One last thing
At 3:00, I warned everyone that the server was going off. I tried to reboot from the operating system on our HDD to see whether or not I could salvage our old Microsoft Exchange settings for Outlook. No luck. I took out the old HDD and installed a new one. The rebooted the server again, and everything looked fine. I left at 5:00. I’ve plenty of work to keep me happy over xmas. See you in the New Year.
Thursday, 21 December 2006
The Shortest Day
The weather was milder, but the fog persists causing havoc at Heathrow Airport where flights have again been cancelled. Fortunately Bobby and his mother have already escaped to America for Xmas. Few cars are on the roads and my journey into work was easy-peasy.
At 8:30, Sue was already in the office beginning to review the accounts and taking a call from the Police who are keen to recruit more volunteers.
A surprise visit
My work on accommodation was interrupted by Kim (our WBC grants officer) who hovered at my door expectantly. It slowly dawned on me that she and I must have a meeting. I knew nothing of this meeting, but recognise that this was probably my own oversight. Anyway, I was not otherwise committed so Kim and I talked through the detail of WCVS’s three-year “Service Level Agreement”.
WCVS’s Strategic Plan pretty much spells out everything we want to do, so the meeting was very productive. We identified lots of ways in which WCVS and WBC can work effectively together.
The main headings were:
· Updating the Watford Compact
· Developing local strategies for voluntary sector accommodation, fundraising, and quality assurance
· Working with WBC to restructure their grant and monitoring arrangements
· Working with WBC to restructure local arrangements for consultation and community engagement
· Supporting our members on quality assurance, training and fundraising
Of course we also discussed WCVS’s own accommodation needs, and other issues over WBC funding of some voluntary organisation. We exchanged xmas greetings and agreed to meet again in the new year.
Woodside Community Centre
In the afternoon, I returned to work on our report detailing the likely impact of WBC’s proposals for rationalising the basis of voluntary sector leases. Then I met with Daniel and Anne from the Woodside Community Centre: an unincorporated group that is only just breaking even but is providing a focus for much community activity including a pre-school group, football team, pensioners' group, bingo and darts. They are concerned that the Council’s lease proposals could force them to close down just as they approach their fiftieth anniversary early in 2007.
Given the turnover of committee members at the club, no-one there seems to have a copy of the current or most recent lease and there is some disagreement over who actually has the title to the building. I spoke with Tim at WBC who kindly agreed to send over copies of the relevant paperwork and Daniel and I agreed to meet again the following day.
After this, I caught up with some correspondence, including with the lawyer who has offered to provide pro bono advice for local charities.
Clubbishness
I love books. But I rarely buy books new: second-hand books have been a passion of mine since childhood. It comes from having a librarian as a father. Outside Charring Cross Road, Hay-on-Wye and a few provincial exceptions, second-hand bookshops seem to be a thing of the past. But just a few paces from the WCVS offices there are half a dozen charity shops each with a good selection of second-hand books. Occasionally I visit the library, but more often than not this turns out to be an expensive exercise when I receive reminders telling me to return books and pay a hefty fine (last time £6:50 for two overdue books on the seventeenth century witch-hunts in East Anglia). So charity shops are undoubtedly the best option, and I am also pretty good at recycling books (returning them to be resold) before they take over the house entirely. Although Jackie and the kids may dispute this.
This evening I began reading The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith. I didn’t get far. Set in Edinburgh, the story seemed to focus on a single middle-class woman who witnesses a murder at the Opera (lots of in-jokes and “U” references to singers and composers about which I know nothing). The following morning, she patronises her quaint savant working-class cleaner, visits her niece (who runs a swish coffee bar), and then returns home to have a sleep in the afternoon. I am not a class warrior by any means, but this had me longing for revolution. Strangely, I am quite tolerant of this sort of thing in Victorian and Edwardian literature. Or perhaps it’s because the leading character in this book was a woman? Or Scottish? I worried about my prejudices. Jackie as ever set me straight: “Life’s too short. If you don’t like it just move on”. Perhaps it was just her lovely way of telling me to shut up.
Instead I picked up The Rotters Club by Jonathan Coe. At first, this wasn’t promising either (the introduction featured some highly eccentric punctuation) but I persevered, and was amply rewarded: punctuation returned to normal and a well-written story developed about working-class school children in the 1970s (lots of in-jokes and “U” references to bands I remember rather well). U and Non-U just depend on where you stand.
The weather was milder, but the fog persists causing havoc at Heathrow Airport where flights have again been cancelled. Fortunately Bobby and his mother have already escaped to America for Xmas. Few cars are on the roads and my journey into work was easy-peasy.
At 8:30, Sue was already in the office beginning to review the accounts and taking a call from the Police who are keen to recruit more volunteers.
A surprise visit
My work on accommodation was interrupted by Kim (our WBC grants officer) who hovered at my door expectantly. It slowly dawned on me that she and I must have a meeting. I knew nothing of this meeting, but recognise that this was probably my own oversight. Anyway, I was not otherwise committed so Kim and I talked through the detail of WCVS’s three-year “Service Level Agreement”.
WCVS’s Strategic Plan pretty much spells out everything we want to do, so the meeting was very productive. We identified lots of ways in which WCVS and WBC can work effectively together.
The main headings were:
· Updating the Watford Compact
· Developing local strategies for voluntary sector accommodation, fundraising, and quality assurance
· Working with WBC to restructure their grant and monitoring arrangements
· Working with WBC to restructure local arrangements for consultation and community engagement
· Supporting our members on quality assurance, training and fundraising
Of course we also discussed WCVS’s own accommodation needs, and other issues over WBC funding of some voluntary organisation. We exchanged xmas greetings and agreed to meet again in the new year.
Woodside Community Centre
In the afternoon, I returned to work on our report detailing the likely impact of WBC’s proposals for rationalising the basis of voluntary sector leases. Then I met with Daniel and Anne from the Woodside Community Centre: an unincorporated group that is only just breaking even but is providing a focus for much community activity including a pre-school group, football team, pensioners' group, bingo and darts. They are concerned that the Council’s lease proposals could force them to close down just as they approach their fiftieth anniversary early in 2007.
Given the turnover of committee members at the club, no-one there seems to have a copy of the current or most recent lease and there is some disagreement over who actually has the title to the building. I spoke with Tim at WBC who kindly agreed to send over copies of the relevant paperwork and Daniel and I agreed to meet again the following day.
After this, I caught up with some correspondence, including with the lawyer who has offered to provide pro bono advice for local charities.
Clubbishness
I love books. But I rarely buy books new: second-hand books have been a passion of mine since childhood. It comes from having a librarian as a father. Outside Charring Cross Road, Hay-on-Wye and a few provincial exceptions, second-hand bookshops seem to be a thing of the past. But just a few paces from the WCVS offices there are half a dozen charity shops each with a good selection of second-hand books. Occasionally I visit the library, but more often than not this turns out to be an expensive exercise when I receive reminders telling me to return books and pay a hefty fine (last time £6:50 for two overdue books on the seventeenth century witch-hunts in East Anglia). So charity shops are undoubtedly the best option, and I am also pretty good at recycling books (returning them to be resold) before they take over the house entirely. Although Jackie and the kids may dispute this.
This evening I began reading The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith. I didn’t get far. Set in Edinburgh, the story seemed to focus on a single middle-class woman who witnesses a murder at the Opera (lots of in-jokes and “U” references to singers and composers about which I know nothing). The following morning, she patronises her quaint savant working-class cleaner, visits her niece (who runs a swish coffee bar), and then returns home to have a sleep in the afternoon. I am not a class warrior by any means, but this had me longing for revolution. Strangely, I am quite tolerant of this sort of thing in Victorian and Edwardian literature. Or perhaps it’s because the leading character in this book was a woman? Or Scottish? I worried about my prejudices. Jackie as ever set me straight: “Life’s too short. If you don’t like it just move on”. Perhaps it was just her lovely way of telling me to shut up.
Instead I picked up The Rotters Club by Jonathan Coe. At first, this wasn’t promising either (the introduction featured some highly eccentric punctuation) but I persevered, and was amply rewarded: punctuation returned to normal and a well-written story developed about working-class school children in the 1970s (lots of in-jokes and “U” references to bands I remember rather well). U and Non-U just depend on where you stand.
Wednesday, 20 December 2006
Another icy morning. But once again, bright sunshine broke through just as I entered Watford.
Local Area Agreements
The Hertfordshire LAA (Local Area Agreement) includes a target that 17% of adults across the county will be regularly volunteering by 2009. This is based on a county-wide MORI survey conducted in 2006 that shows 14% of adults currently volunteer. Watford has a difficult position because its MORI “baseline” is only 6%. The difficulty is that the survey was designed only to give statistical assurance across the county as a whole and not for individual areas of the county. In fact, in Watford just 100 people were interviewed, so no real confidence at all can be placed in the local baseline. A different group of 100 people might have produced a baseline of 20%, or 10%, or 4%.
When the exercise is repeated in 2009, 100 Watfordians will be asked “Do you regularly volunteer for at least two hours a week?” (I paraphrase slightly). We want as many Watfordians as possible (at least 17 out of 100) to respond “Yes”. But the actual response will of course depend wholly on which 100 people are randomly selected for interview.
Of course, people are looking to WCVS and the Watford Volunteer Centre to play a leading role promoting volunteering. And of course we will. But it’s not an easy position: the quality of baseline data is poor, there is no well-defined target to reach in Watford, no established method of getting from A to B, and no confidence in the system that will eventually be used to measure our actual achievement.
Our Volunteer Centre is supported by just one half-time worker: in three years can she really deliver a near three-fold increase in local volunteering? Helen is intelligent, experienced, hard working and her chutneys are held in high esteem - but she does not have supernatural powers.
It is important to demonstrate that WCVS (and Watford generally) can make a solid contribution to the LAA process. It is also important to be realistic. This raises all sorts of questions about two-tier local government and Local Area Agreements. Don’t get me started.
So this morning I called Hertfordshire County Council and spoke with Ben. He displayed a good understanding of the issues and put me in touch with a colleague of his who co-ordinates the County Council’s communications around the LAA.
We will talk in the new year, but some very useful markers have been laid down.
More property concerns
Back in the office, I talked again with the Woodside Community Centre about their lease with Watford Borough Council, and then spent some time working on the directory we are producing of Watford’s community groups alongside an exercise to assess the contribution these groups make to the local community and the economy.
I left the office about 6:00 PM and headed off into the icy fog that had once more descended.
Local Area Agreements
The Hertfordshire LAA (Local Area Agreement) includes a target that 17% of adults across the county will be regularly volunteering by 2009. This is based on a county-wide MORI survey conducted in 2006 that shows 14% of adults currently volunteer. Watford has a difficult position because its MORI “baseline” is only 6%. The difficulty is that the survey was designed only to give statistical assurance across the county as a whole and not for individual areas of the county. In fact, in Watford just 100 people were interviewed, so no real confidence at all can be placed in the local baseline. A different group of 100 people might have produced a baseline of 20%, or 10%, or 4%.
When the exercise is repeated in 2009, 100 Watfordians will be asked “Do you regularly volunteer for at least two hours a week?” (I paraphrase slightly). We want as many Watfordians as possible (at least 17 out of 100) to respond “Yes”. But the actual response will of course depend wholly on which 100 people are randomly selected for interview.
Of course, people are looking to WCVS and the Watford Volunteer Centre to play a leading role promoting volunteering. And of course we will. But it’s not an easy position: the quality of baseline data is poor, there is no well-defined target to reach in Watford, no established method of getting from A to B, and no confidence in the system that will eventually be used to measure our actual achievement.
Our Volunteer Centre is supported by just one half-time worker: in three years can she really deliver a near three-fold increase in local volunteering? Helen is intelligent, experienced, hard working and her chutneys are held in high esteem - but she does not have supernatural powers.
It is important to demonstrate that WCVS (and Watford generally) can make a solid contribution to the LAA process. It is also important to be realistic. This raises all sorts of questions about two-tier local government and Local Area Agreements. Don’t get me started.
So this morning I called Hertfordshire County Council and spoke with Ben. He displayed a good understanding of the issues and put me in touch with a colleague of his who co-ordinates the County Council’s communications around the LAA.
We will talk in the new year, but some very useful markers have been laid down.
More property concerns
Back in the office, I talked again with the Woodside Community Centre about their lease with Watford Borough Council, and then spent some time working on the directory we are producing of Watford’s community groups alongside an exercise to assess the contribution these groups make to the local community and the economy.
I left the office about 6:00 PM and headed off into the icy fog that had once more descended.
Tuesday, 19 December 2006
Blooming in the sunshine
When I left home, it was dark and icy - the first truly cold day of the winter. But by the time I arrived in Watford, the sun was shining through beautifully. Staff and volunteers alike bloomed in the sunshine.
The simple joys of life
Today was the day I finally sorted out my professional life. No-one would know – all the action took place inside my files and cabinets. Ably assisted by the remarkable Maria (treasured volunteer) I spent virtually the entire day finally sorting out my filing system. I have been seven months occasionally pruning my files, or grafting on to them. But enough is enough. Elsewhere, major sources of work-related stress are bullying, poor pay, overwork, etc. For me, nothing induces stress so much as a poor filing system.
Having completed the task, it is so thrilling to know where things are and to know where things should be. Instead of one file named “Accounts” I now have one named “Audited Accounts” and one named “Bank Accounts”. It is impossible to convey how much simple joy this gives me. But there is a serious side too; it is "de-cluttering", clearing the decks for action, preparing for what lies ahead: I feel ready for anything.
Three welcome interruptions
There were three welcome interruptions to my onslaught on the filing.
This morning, Sandra unexp[ectedly visited from Barnet CVS. She lives in Watford and is a trustee of both the African Caribbean Association and the Women’s Centre. We spoke for about an hour on the future for various local groups, voluntary sector accommodation needs, local grant programmes, national trends in funding, the Minority Ethnic forum, policy developments and so on. Very helpful.
Mid-way through the afternoon, we took delivery of a Thank You hamper from Angelo, our IT support contractor.
Finally, late on in the afternoon I was visited by Harry from Herts CDA to discuss the the Patient and Public Involvement Forums, now transforming into PCT Links. Harry updated me on the associated changes and what they might mean for Watford. Harry is also a member of the Watford Indian Association so we also discussed some of the same issues I’d covered earlier with Sandra.
Just before 6:00 pm I left the office a very contented man.
The only downside to the day is that my pile of Things To Read Over Christmas has now reached the daunting size of eight full inches; even this, I expect, will provide me with much opportunity tonight to indulge in inappropriate and puerile humour.
When I left home, it was dark and icy - the first truly cold day of the winter. But by the time I arrived in Watford, the sun was shining through beautifully. Staff and volunteers alike bloomed in the sunshine.
The simple joys of life
Today was the day I finally sorted out my professional life. No-one would know – all the action took place inside my files and cabinets. Ably assisted by the remarkable Maria (treasured volunteer) I spent virtually the entire day finally sorting out my filing system. I have been seven months occasionally pruning my files, or grafting on to them. But enough is enough. Elsewhere, major sources of work-related stress are bullying, poor pay, overwork, etc. For me, nothing induces stress so much as a poor filing system.
Having completed the task, it is so thrilling to know where things are and to know where things should be. Instead of one file named “Accounts” I now have one named “Audited Accounts” and one named “Bank Accounts”. It is impossible to convey how much simple joy this gives me. But there is a serious side too; it is "de-cluttering", clearing the decks for action, preparing for what lies ahead: I feel ready for anything.
Three welcome interruptions
There were three welcome interruptions to my onslaught on the filing.
This morning, Sandra unexp[ectedly visited from Barnet CVS. She lives in Watford and is a trustee of both the African Caribbean Association and the Women’s Centre. We spoke for about an hour on the future for various local groups, voluntary sector accommodation needs, local grant programmes, national trends in funding, the Minority Ethnic forum, policy developments and so on. Very helpful.
Mid-way through the afternoon, we took delivery of a Thank You hamper from Angelo, our IT support contractor.
Finally, late on in the afternoon I was visited by Harry from Herts CDA to discuss the the Patient and Public Involvement Forums, now transforming into PCT Links. Harry updated me on the associated changes and what they might mean for Watford. Harry is also a member of the Watford Indian Association so we also discussed some of the same issues I’d covered earlier with Sandra.
Just before 6:00 pm I left the office a very contented man.
The only downside to the day is that my pile of Things To Read Over Christmas has now reached the daunting size of eight full inches; even this, I expect, will provide me with much opportunity tonight to indulge in inappropriate and puerile humour.
Monday, 18 December 2006
Today began with a pleasant meeting with a lawyer willing to undertake occasional voluntary work supporting local charities. She is Australian, but very restrained about the latest English Ashes fiasco.
Also in the morning, I spent three hours with Len Simkins, our Investors in People mentor. We talked through the programme of activities WCVS needs to undertake in order to gain IiP accreditation. Under the funding programme, our IiP application needs to be submitted by the end of June 2007. There’s a lot of work to do, but most of it we would need to undertake in any event. Len was very helpful and we agreed on the timetable of activities.
Most of the afternoon, I spent arranging staff review meetings for early January and arranging a programme of work with Angelo for over Christmas.
In the evening, I enjoyed the concluding part of The Hogfather on television (possibly the first programme I have ever watched on Sky Television) and then dispatched a Daily Telegraph crossword ably assisted by the ever delightful Jackie.
Also in the morning, I spent three hours with Len Simkins, our Investors in People mentor. We talked through the programme of activities WCVS needs to undertake in order to gain IiP accreditation. Under the funding programme, our IiP application needs to be submitted by the end of June 2007. There’s a lot of work to do, but most of it we would need to undertake in any event. Len was very helpful and we agreed on the timetable of activities.
Most of the afternoon, I spent arranging staff review meetings for early January and arranging a programme of work with Angelo for over Christmas.
In the evening, I enjoyed the concluding part of The Hogfather on television (possibly the first programme I have ever watched on Sky Television) and then dispatched a Daily Telegraph crossword ably assisted by the ever delightful Jackie.
Sunday, 17 December 2006
Another day of shopping and wrapping and we’re now set fair for Christmas. Except that I cannot find any Chocolate Brazil Nuts: is there a world-wide shortage - or has someone bought up all the nuts? Another question: when is someone going to invent a simple system for wrapping, perhaps using some highly viscous liquid that presents can be dunked in?
Oh Dear; Christmas is coming and the grouch is coming out.
Oh Dear; Christmas is coming and the grouch is coming out.
Saturday, 16 December 2006
A concentrated day of shopping, punctuated by lunch with my parents, who have finally accepted a one day a week place in "day care" for my father. The case worker was warned to raise the issue with care, so cunningly invited my father if he'd like to join her exclusive "Gentlemen's Club" once a week. He eagerly accepted and I hope he's not expecting pole dancers.
Today’s big question: at what point did young men start wearing perfume?
Today’s big question: at what point did young men start wearing perfume?
Friday, 15 December 2006
Accreditation achieved
With the morning's post, we learn that the Watford Volunteer Centre has achieved its quality accreditation from Volunteering England. This is excellent news and is some reward for the effort Helen has put in over months to steer us through the accreditation process. Well done Helen!
I had planned to spend the morning reviewing our accounts with Priti (bookkeeper) and Sue (Services Officer). Unfortunately, Priti called in sick and Sue called to say she had been at hospital with her sister since half way through the night.
Frustrated, I instead spent the day beginning to draft out a report on voluntary sector properties rented from WBC. Vanessa tidied up her desk ahead of some well-deserved leave, and Helen was running another of her successful workshops for potential volunteers.
After a sleepless night, Sue arrived at lunchtime and we had a productive hour or so looking through the accounts: everything is entered and the bank accounts are reconciled, but the nominal and project codings need a thorough overhaul. Another job for over Christmas.
Save me from myself
In the afternoon I spent time with our Connexions Personal Advisors showing them the IT network, and then took a call from the new Hertfordshire PCT about their position re: Compact. The caller was very apologetic on behalf of the PCT’s new CEO, but the fact of the matter is that the new PCT hasn’t yet appointed its Directors so no-one at present has responsibility for partnership and Compact issues. We agreed that the new Director would contact me as soon as they were appointed.
I left the office around 6:00 pm. As I promised myself (and my partner!) this has been a peaceful 9-to-5 sort of week after the dramas of the previous few weeks. But already the work is building up again. Most people look forward to Christmas as a break from work; I am beginning to see it as an opportunity to catch up with things while everyone else is away enjoying themselves. On this, as in so much else, I hope and trust that the wonderful Jackie will save me from myself.
With the morning's post, we learn that the Watford Volunteer Centre has achieved its quality accreditation from Volunteering England. This is excellent news and is some reward for the effort Helen has put in over months to steer us through the accreditation process. Well done Helen!
I had planned to spend the morning reviewing our accounts with Priti (bookkeeper) and Sue (Services Officer). Unfortunately, Priti called in sick and Sue called to say she had been at hospital with her sister since half way through the night.
Frustrated, I instead spent the day beginning to draft out a report on voluntary sector properties rented from WBC. Vanessa tidied up her desk ahead of some well-deserved leave, and Helen was running another of her successful workshops for potential volunteers.
After a sleepless night, Sue arrived at lunchtime and we had a productive hour or so looking through the accounts: everything is entered and the bank accounts are reconciled, but the nominal and project codings need a thorough overhaul. Another job for over Christmas.
Save me from myself
In the afternoon I spent time with our Connexions Personal Advisors showing them the IT network, and then took a call from the new Hertfordshire PCT about their position re: Compact. The caller was very apologetic on behalf of the PCT’s new CEO, but the fact of the matter is that the new PCT hasn’t yet appointed its Directors so no-one at present has responsibility for partnership and Compact issues. We agreed that the new Director would contact me as soon as they were appointed.
I left the office around 6:00 pm. As I promised myself (and my partner!) this has been a peaceful 9-to-5 sort of week after the dramas of the previous few weeks. But already the work is building up again. Most people look forward to Christmas as a break from work; I am beginning to see it as an opportunity to catch up with things while everyone else is away enjoying themselves. On this, as in so much else, I hope and trust that the wonderful Jackie will save me from myself.
Thursday, 14 December 2006
I had an extra cup of tea before leaving home, waiting for Bobby to ready himself for his return to Brighton. We arrived at the office a bit after 9:00 and Bobby left for Brighton: it’s the last I’ll see of him until after xmas.
The big event of the day was the Volunteers’ Lunch given every xmas as a "thank you" to the dozens of volunters who help WCVS deliver its services. Our volunteers have had a particularly trying 2006 coping with the many changes I’ve introduced; they deserve particular thanks, and Sue has worked hard to produce a splendid spread.
But first I had to check the new security settings on the new network. It ought to be simple to get these right but Angelo and I have had a bit of a nightmare getting the right settings to stay in place; people are starting to fear that they are the victims of a spiteful practical joke. Thankfully, the settings seem now to be stable.
I received a call from young Steph who helps HIC (the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium) to manage its ChangeUp monies. She tells me I am the only one who has expressed any willingness to take on the role of HIC Chair. Of course I could still say “no” but why should I? Kate (the outgoing Chairperson) will be around as vice-chair to support me and it is only for six months. What could possibly go wrong? Subject to the Consortium’s agreement, I accepted the nomination. After hanging up the telephone, I felt like a big fat fly caught in Steph’s silken web.
The Volunteers’ Lunch was a great success. The food was a triumph for Sue and her willing helpers, and there was a good turn out from volunteers and trustees alike.
There was a surreal quiet about the afternoon. Staff tidied away the lunch things, and I busied myself on e-mails and correspondence. I left at the not indecent hour of 6:00 to take Jackie to her xmas meal at the Mill Green Golf Club. She looked gorgeous. In charge of food for the night, I treated Bryan and his friends to take-away Pizza; all I could taste was salt.
The big event of the day was the Volunteers’ Lunch given every xmas as a "thank you" to the dozens of volunters who help WCVS deliver its services. Our volunteers have had a particularly trying 2006 coping with the many changes I’ve introduced; they deserve particular thanks, and Sue has worked hard to produce a splendid spread.
But first I had to check the new security settings on the new network. It ought to be simple to get these right but Angelo and I have had a bit of a nightmare getting the right settings to stay in place; people are starting to fear that they are the victims of a spiteful practical joke. Thankfully, the settings seem now to be stable.
I received a call from young Steph who helps HIC (the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium) to manage its ChangeUp monies. She tells me I am the only one who has expressed any willingness to take on the role of HIC Chair. Of course I could still say “no” but why should I? Kate (the outgoing Chairperson) will be around as vice-chair to support me and it is only for six months. What could possibly go wrong? Subject to the Consortium’s agreement, I accepted the nomination. After hanging up the telephone, I felt like a big fat fly caught in Steph’s silken web.
The Volunteers’ Lunch was a great success. The food was a triumph for Sue and her willing helpers, and there was a good turn out from volunteers and trustees alike.
There was a surreal quiet about the afternoon. Staff tidied away the lunch things, and I busied myself on e-mails and correspondence. I left at the not indecent hour of 6:00 to take Jackie to her xmas meal at the Mill Green Golf Club. She looked gorgeous. In charge of food for the night, I treated Bryan and his friends to take-away Pizza; all I could taste was salt.
Wednesday, 13 December 2006
I arrived this morning to discover that during my absence yesterday, the office fairies had substantially tidied and reorganised my room using furniture donated by some local shop fitters. I must buy Sue another coffee.
Early on I caught up with correspondence, and then met with Des and Farzana, our Connexions Personal Advisors. We talked through our contract targets, working methods and communications, where it became clear that they need full membership of our network. Following the meeting I set up accounts for them and joined their computers to the domain.
Watford Borough Council
After more correspondence, I had a meeting with Sarah and Kim from Watford Borough Council. We met to discuss WBC’s new one-year grant programme and we had a good talk through the procedure and possible pitfalls, bugbears, bottlenecks and complications. I think we made some good progress simplifying and streamlining, but the only real proof of the pudding is in the eating. Perhaps the biggest development for WCVS is that I agreed that we would send an “observer” to WBC’s Grants Panel. This seems an good move, securing some degree of transparency while saving WCVS from the currently difficult position of taking decisions on its members’ funding applications.
After this, we had a more wide ranging discussion updating each other on various matters. I learnt of the latest discussions with those organisations for which WBC had delayed funding decisions, and we also discussed WCVS’s accommodation needs, wider accommodation issues for Watford charities, and the review of the Watford Compact.
Donors and beneficiaries
When this meeting ended, I did some maintenance on the server and then took a call from a local businessman who was raising significant monies for locla charities and wanted advice on possible beneficiaries. He had been referred to WCVS by Watford's Mayor Dorothy Thornhill. His concerns to secure a proper strategic approach to local funding closely matched my own, and we agreed to talk again in the new year. I do hope something comes of it.
At 7:15 I left for our office Xmas meal. Nearly all staff met at a Greek restaurant in Bushey. The food was good and the company excellent.
Early on I caught up with correspondence, and then met with Des and Farzana, our Connexions Personal Advisors. We talked through our contract targets, working methods and communications, where it became clear that they need full membership of our network. Following the meeting I set up accounts for them and joined their computers to the domain.
Watford Borough Council
After more correspondence, I had a meeting with Sarah and Kim from Watford Borough Council. We met to discuss WBC’s new one-year grant programme and we had a good talk through the procedure and possible pitfalls, bugbears, bottlenecks and complications. I think we made some good progress simplifying and streamlining, but the only real proof of the pudding is in the eating. Perhaps the biggest development for WCVS is that I agreed that we would send an “observer” to WBC’s Grants Panel. This seems an good move, securing some degree of transparency while saving WCVS from the currently difficult position of taking decisions on its members’ funding applications.
After this, we had a more wide ranging discussion updating each other on various matters. I learnt of the latest discussions with those organisations for which WBC had delayed funding decisions, and we also discussed WCVS’s accommodation needs, wider accommodation issues for Watford charities, and the review of the Watford Compact.
Donors and beneficiaries
When this meeting ended, I did some maintenance on the server and then took a call from a local businessman who was raising significant monies for locla charities and wanted advice on possible beneficiaries. He had been referred to WCVS by Watford's Mayor Dorothy Thornhill. His concerns to secure a proper strategic approach to local funding closely matched my own, and we agreed to talk again in the new year. I do hope something comes of it.
At 7:15 I left for our office Xmas meal. Nearly all staff met at a Greek restaurant in Bushey. The food was good and the company excellent.
Tuesday, 12 December 2006
Letchworth
I drove to Letchworth for a meeting of Herts CVS. On the way, I had time for a brief cup of tea with my Letchworthian parents. My father is three years into Alzheimers and this morning was again seeking news of his missing wife. Across the table, my mother (his wife of more than 50 years) is recovering well after her eye operation, and seems to have limitless reserves of endurance, strength, patience and kindness. I return the book on Alzheimers to my mother and had a brief talk encouraging my parents to get some additional support for themselves and arranging some Christmas dates.
Herts CVS
Herts CVS is a grouping of the CEOs of the nine CVS organisations in the county. We meet about every two months to organise and co-ordinate ourselves. Herts CVS administers the HCC Strategic Leadership fund for the voluntary sector, and HCC expect this fund to deliver step changes in the quality and effectiveness of CVS infrastructure support. This particular meeting was to agree the heads of a strategic plan for CVS activity across Hertfordshire to deliver these changes.
The Herts CEOs are a disparate bunch. Present today were Jacquie (North Herts), Ann (Stevenage), Mark (Dacorum), Ian (Broxbourne and East Herts), Laura (St Albans) and Robin (Hertsmere). Absent were Carmen (Welwyn Hatfield) and Mary (Three Rivers).
Royal Albert Hall
Having made good progress, the meeting broke up shortly after lunch and I returned home to sort out some domestic matters, including the aftermath of last week’s flood. I spoke with my daughter Nancy who is eagerly anticipating Christmas and who told me that on 19 December she is singing with the Southend Girls’ Choir at the Royal Albert Hall!
I drove to Letchworth for a meeting of Herts CVS. On the way, I had time for a brief cup of tea with my Letchworthian parents. My father is three years into Alzheimers and this morning was again seeking news of his missing wife. Across the table, my mother (his wife of more than 50 years) is recovering well after her eye operation, and seems to have limitless reserves of endurance, strength, patience and kindness. I return the book on Alzheimers to my mother and had a brief talk encouraging my parents to get some additional support for themselves and arranging some Christmas dates.
Herts CVS
Herts CVS is a grouping of the CEOs of the nine CVS organisations in the county. We meet about every two months to organise and co-ordinate ourselves. Herts CVS administers the HCC Strategic Leadership fund for the voluntary sector, and HCC expect this fund to deliver step changes in the quality and effectiveness of CVS infrastructure support. This particular meeting was to agree the heads of a strategic plan for CVS activity across Hertfordshire to deliver these changes.
The Herts CEOs are a disparate bunch. Present today were Jacquie (North Herts), Ann (Stevenage), Mark (Dacorum), Ian (Broxbourne and East Herts), Laura (St Albans) and Robin (Hertsmere). Absent were Carmen (Welwyn Hatfield) and Mary (Three Rivers).
Royal Albert Hall
Having made good progress, the meeting broke up shortly after lunch and I returned home to sort out some domestic matters, including the aftermath of last week’s flood. I spoke with my daughter Nancy who is eagerly anticipating Christmas and who told me that on 19 December she is singing with the Southend Girls’ Choir at the Royal Albert Hall!
Monday, 11 December 2006
Taking stock
Reviewing my efforts of the previous week, I find I spent 74 hours working and a further 10 hours travelling to and from work. During this time I worked as a furniture shifter, IT technician, meetings chair, fundraiser, press officer, driver, manager, contract negotiator, trainer, strategic planner, business consultant, and a few other things beside. Of course it was a very exceptional week, with all manner to things piling up and coming to a head.
As of last Friday, we have now completed our major application for Reaching Communities funding, we have hosted our Sunflower Centres meeting, and our network is now 99% recovered with only a few remaining problems.
This week, I plan to work reasonable hours. My wonderful partner Jackie insists!
Unless a new emergency arises, I don’t face any major deadlines until the New Year. But of course there are still some things to do before Christmas. There is a bit of follow-up work from the Sunflower Centres meeting, our fundraising advisor Anne has lost some files on the new network, I have a meeting of Herts CVS to prepare for, our Volunteers xmas lunch is on Thursday, out accounts need some attention, there are some PCs to move, I have some meetings with Watford Borough Council, and I need to complete a report on local voluntary sector accommodation. And there’s a few other things. But compared to the difficulties of the past week, this is pedestrian stuff.
OPn my journey to work, I passed a nasty looking accident in Coopers Green Lane involving a car and a van. I was delayed only slightly. Three police cars and an ambulance were in attendance.
I arrived in the office at 9:00 am and worked steadily through the day. I met with several of the staff on different matters, agreed the text of a press release on the Sunflower Centres, and spoke with someone about what might be involved if I agreed to take on the chair of the Herts Infrastructure Consortium.
Alien Ant Farm
My son Bobby arrived from Brighton at about 5:00 and shortly after we left for home. On the drive home, Bobby took control of the music and I was pleased to see (or hear) that he is now listening to some sensible Rock music (Alien Ant Farm and someone whose name I forget). It was a little loud for my taste, but so much better than that appalling rap that always sounds like angry pre-pubescents shouting nursery rhymes above the sound of a pneumatic drill.
On arriving home, I discovered that the car involved in this morning's nasty looking accident was in fact driven by Jackie's brother Steve. He had spent most of the day in hospital but had suffered only bad bruising and a sore neck and no-one else was seriously injured.
Recent reading
Somehow over the past week or so, I have completed Lucky Man (the autobiography of actor and Parkinson’s sufferer Michael J Fox), Rich Cohen’s The Avengers (the extraordinary story of the extraordinary people who ran the Jewish resistance in Poland and Lithuania during the last war), and a book on Alzheimer’s lent me by my mother. I am now tackling Mark Kurlansky’s book The History of Cod which is well-written and surprisingly interesting.
Reviewing my efforts of the previous week, I find I spent 74 hours working and a further 10 hours travelling to and from work. During this time I worked as a furniture shifter, IT technician, meetings chair, fundraiser, press officer, driver, manager, contract negotiator, trainer, strategic planner, business consultant, and a few other things beside. Of course it was a very exceptional week, with all manner to things piling up and coming to a head.
As of last Friday, we have now completed our major application for Reaching Communities funding, we have hosted our Sunflower Centres meeting, and our network is now 99% recovered with only a few remaining problems.
This week, I plan to work reasonable hours. My wonderful partner Jackie insists!
Unless a new emergency arises, I don’t face any major deadlines until the New Year. But of course there are still some things to do before Christmas. There is a bit of follow-up work from the Sunflower Centres meeting, our fundraising advisor Anne has lost some files on the new network, I have a meeting of Herts CVS to prepare for, our Volunteers xmas lunch is on Thursday, out accounts need some attention, there are some PCs to move, I have some meetings with Watford Borough Council, and I need to complete a report on local voluntary sector accommodation. And there’s a few other things. But compared to the difficulties of the past week, this is pedestrian stuff.
OPn my journey to work, I passed a nasty looking accident in Coopers Green Lane involving a car and a van. I was delayed only slightly. Three police cars and an ambulance were in attendance.
I arrived in the office at 9:00 am and worked steadily through the day. I met with several of the staff on different matters, agreed the text of a press release on the Sunflower Centres, and spoke with someone about what might be involved if I agreed to take on the chair of the Herts Infrastructure Consortium.
Alien Ant Farm
My son Bobby arrived from Brighton at about 5:00 and shortly after we left for home. On the drive home, Bobby took control of the music and I was pleased to see (or hear) that he is now listening to some sensible Rock music (Alien Ant Farm and someone whose name I forget). It was a little loud for my taste, but so much better than that appalling rap that always sounds like angry pre-pubescents shouting nursery rhymes above the sound of a pneumatic drill.
On arriving home, I discovered that the car involved in this morning's nasty looking accident was in fact driven by Jackie's brother Steve. He had spent most of the day in hospital but had suffered only bad bruising and a sore neck and no-one else was seriously injured.
Recent reading
Somehow over the past week or so, I have completed Lucky Man (the autobiography of actor and Parkinson’s sufferer Michael J Fox), Rich Cohen’s The Avengers (the extraordinary story of the extraordinary people who ran the Jewish resistance in Poland and Lithuania during the last war), and a book on Alzheimer’s lent me by my mother. I am now tackling Mark Kurlansky’s book The History of Cod which is well-written and surprisingly interesting.
Sunday, 10 December 2006
The day was taken up with more Christmas shopping, carefully balancing various bank accounts, and then a talk with Angelo about changing various WCVS network settings. Somehow during the day I managed to catch some or all of three cracking films: Pimpernel Smith with Leslie Howard; Murder at the Gallop with the peerless Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple; and Carve Her Name With Pride with Virginia McKenna giving a superb performance as the war hero Violette Szabo.
Saturday, 9 December 2006
In the morning: Christmas shopping. At lunchtime: decorators visiting to provide quotes for repairing flood damage. In the afternoon: the putting up of the Christmas tree. In the evening: the delights of Foyle’s War and an early night.
Friday, 8 December 2006
Now sit back and wait
Anne was already at the office when I arrived about 7:30. We collaborated on the final stages of collating the application, and by about 11:00 it was all done. Anyone who has submitted large fundraising applications will understand how complex they can be. And this was a complex project involving three major partners and a wide range of activities to be delivered at sites throughout Watford. If approved for funding, the project will bring more than £300,000 into the borough and underpin much of the Watford Learning Partnership’s strategy for the next five years. My chair of Trustees, Pam, arrived at 12:00 to sign the finished application.
Vanessa, Anne and I have each invested hours and hours in preparing the application, all the while knowing that it only has about a 10% chance of success. We were all satisfied with the final application, and all took a professional pride in doing a good job a meeting the deadline. Vanessa and Anne have done a truly wonderful job. Now all we can do is wait patiently for a funding decision sometime in the next six months. Or longer.
Sunflower Project
At 1:00, Anthony Wills arrived, the facilitator for the 2:00 meeting on the future of the Sunflower Project. Anthony Wills is a leading expert on Domestic Violence and his role today was paid for by the Police who had also briefed him on the meeting. The poor communication around this meeting seems to continue and does not auger well: a brief conversation with Anthony revealed that he anticipated a small meeting of about a dozen people and I had to explain that we were expecting nearer forty. We talked through the expected composition of the audience and key issues and I left him to adjust his plans accordingly.
The Sunflower Centres (one in Watford and one in Hemel Hempstead) were created to provide bases for a combined response to Domestic Violence and Hate Crimes in the West of Hertfordshire. The Police have provided the buildings, secured most of the funding, and have been highly supportive (especially the local Commander Jerry Alford). Additional funding has been provided by Herts County, Watford and Dacorum councils. No funding has been forthcoming from Three Rivers District Council or from the local PCTs, and now Dacorum District Council has apparently indicated that it will withdraw support early in 2007. Dacorum’s decision has precipitated a crisis for the Sunflower Project.
Problems have been exacerbated by historically poor communications with the voluntary sector. Today’s meeting offered a chance to clear the air, face up to the funding realities, and establish a genuine partnership to find a way forward.
The Sunflower Project meeting
Having personally pushed hard for this meeting, I was delighted by the turnout. The Police’s continued support for the Sunflower Project does them great credit and they were well represented at the meeting. On the statutory side, there was also good representation from Watford Borough, Dacorum District and Herts County Councils, and the Probation Service. Sadly, there was no presence from Three Rivers District Council or from the PCT.
But all the effort was made worthwhile by the excellent turnout from the voluntary including (amongst many others) Watford Domestic Violence Forum, Watford Women’s Centre, Watford and Three Rivers Relate, Dacorum Domestic Violence Forum, Herts Community Development Agency, Dacorum Voluntary Action, Watford and Three Rivers HomeStart, Victim Support, Watford Turnaround, and West Herts Against Crime.
Anthony Wills did a good job of managing the meeting, encouraging and maintaining the dialogue. Jerry Alford explained that the Police could not indefinitely pay for two Centres without the support of key statutory partners, and without the engagement of the voluntary sector. Voluntary sector representatives explained the problems they had encountered in the past when trying to engage with the Sunflower Centres.
Key contributors to the debate included Sylvia (Watford Women’s Centre), John and Sarifa (Turnaround), Adele (Relate) and Val (Dacorum Domestic Violence Forum). From all sides, there was openness and goodwill, and a common commitment to making the Sunflower Centres work.
Issues left unresolved included: future funding, the management structure for the Sunflower Project and how the Sunflower Centre will balance work tackling Domestic Violence and work tackling Hate Crime. But Anthony Wills did secure agreement on a clear plan of action involving further discussions among all the key organisations, and so a good basis has been established for future work. Whether this will be enough to save both Sunflower Centres remains to be seen.
Certainly the mood was very positive and the voluntary sector people I talked with were very happy with the way things had gone. Several were also paid compliments to the conference room that Sue and Vanessa had worked had to improve.
Home at last: after the flood
When I arrived home, Jackie was nearing the end of her tether, having taken the day off work to resolve our flood problems and having spent a highly frustrating day doing so, while seeing carpets ripped up from two rooms and while having to endure constant noise from two industrial strength de-humidifiers.
We patched together the living room as best we could, retrieved ancient rugs from the attic and opened a bottle of wine.
Anne was already at the office when I arrived about 7:30. We collaborated on the final stages of collating the application, and by about 11:00 it was all done. Anyone who has submitted large fundraising applications will understand how complex they can be. And this was a complex project involving three major partners and a wide range of activities to be delivered at sites throughout Watford. If approved for funding, the project will bring more than £300,000 into the borough and underpin much of the Watford Learning Partnership’s strategy for the next five years. My chair of Trustees, Pam, arrived at 12:00 to sign the finished application.
Vanessa, Anne and I have each invested hours and hours in preparing the application, all the while knowing that it only has about a 10% chance of success. We were all satisfied with the final application, and all took a professional pride in doing a good job a meeting the deadline. Vanessa and Anne have done a truly wonderful job. Now all we can do is wait patiently for a funding decision sometime in the next six months. Or longer.
Sunflower Project
At 1:00, Anthony Wills arrived, the facilitator for the 2:00 meeting on the future of the Sunflower Project. Anthony Wills is a leading expert on Domestic Violence and his role today was paid for by the Police who had also briefed him on the meeting. The poor communication around this meeting seems to continue and does not auger well: a brief conversation with Anthony revealed that he anticipated a small meeting of about a dozen people and I had to explain that we were expecting nearer forty. We talked through the expected composition of the audience and key issues and I left him to adjust his plans accordingly.
The Sunflower Centres (one in Watford and one in Hemel Hempstead) were created to provide bases for a combined response to Domestic Violence and Hate Crimes in the West of Hertfordshire. The Police have provided the buildings, secured most of the funding, and have been highly supportive (especially the local Commander Jerry Alford). Additional funding has been provided by Herts County, Watford and Dacorum councils. No funding has been forthcoming from Three Rivers District Council or from the local PCTs, and now Dacorum District Council has apparently indicated that it will withdraw support early in 2007. Dacorum’s decision has precipitated a crisis for the Sunflower Project.
Problems have been exacerbated by historically poor communications with the voluntary sector. Today’s meeting offered a chance to clear the air, face up to the funding realities, and establish a genuine partnership to find a way forward.
The Sunflower Project meeting
Having personally pushed hard for this meeting, I was delighted by the turnout. The Police’s continued support for the Sunflower Project does them great credit and they were well represented at the meeting. On the statutory side, there was also good representation from Watford Borough, Dacorum District and Herts County Councils, and the Probation Service. Sadly, there was no presence from Three Rivers District Council or from the PCT.
But all the effort was made worthwhile by the excellent turnout from the voluntary including (amongst many others) Watford Domestic Violence Forum, Watford Women’s Centre, Watford and Three Rivers Relate, Dacorum Domestic Violence Forum, Herts Community Development Agency, Dacorum Voluntary Action, Watford and Three Rivers HomeStart, Victim Support, Watford Turnaround, and West Herts Against Crime.
Anthony Wills did a good job of managing the meeting, encouraging and maintaining the dialogue. Jerry Alford explained that the Police could not indefinitely pay for two Centres without the support of key statutory partners, and without the engagement of the voluntary sector. Voluntary sector representatives explained the problems they had encountered in the past when trying to engage with the Sunflower Centres.
Key contributors to the debate included Sylvia (Watford Women’s Centre), John and Sarifa (Turnaround), Adele (Relate) and Val (Dacorum Domestic Violence Forum). From all sides, there was openness and goodwill, and a common commitment to making the Sunflower Centres work.
Issues left unresolved included: future funding, the management structure for the Sunflower Project and how the Sunflower Centre will balance work tackling Domestic Violence and work tackling Hate Crime. But Anthony Wills did secure agreement on a clear plan of action involving further discussions among all the key organisations, and so a good basis has been established for future work. Whether this will be enough to save both Sunflower Centres remains to be seen.
Certainly the mood was very positive and the voluntary sector people I talked with were very happy with the way things had gone. Several were also paid compliments to the conference room that Sue and Vanessa had worked had to improve.
Home at last: after the flood
When I arrived home, Jackie was nearing the end of her tether, having taken the day off work to resolve our flood problems and having spent a highly frustrating day doing so, while seeing carpets ripped up from two rooms and while having to endure constant noise from two industrial strength de-humidifiers.
We patched together the living room as best we could, retrieved ancient rugs from the attic and opened a bottle of wine.
Thursday, 7 December 2006
Watery encounters of the first kind
When does a puddle become a flood? I drove to work this morning through torrential rain. Driving to the back of WCVS’s offices along the romantic-sounding “Service Road Q” I encountered such extremely large puddles that I genuinely feared my car would stall. Fortunately I survived a watery disaster. For now.
After arrival at 7:00 am, I was soon working on our Reaching Communities bid. A check of my e-mails revealed that Three Rivers CVS had received a rejection for their bid to Reaching Communities. I felt awful for our close neighbours, but tried to put it out of my head. There were one or two interruptions over continuing problems on the network (and to check and authorise the December salary payments) but I made good progress. Around 10:15 I paused to check whether my morning’s meeting at Bushey Hall School was at 11:00 or 11:30 and was mortified to discover that it had started at 10:00 so telephoned my profuse apologies.
Watery encounters of the second kind
Shortly after, I left for a meeting at Nine Lives Furniture in Rickmansworth - and the heavens opened. I quite enjoy a heavy downpour when I’m safely in the dry, and I am pleased to report that the rain miraculously stopped shortly before I reached Rickmansworth: I had escaped the day’s second brush with damp disaster.
Queen’s School
From Nine Lives, I rushed off to Queen’s School to meet the Kerry, the Deputy Head and Connexions co-ordinator. She seemed very personable and a no-nonsense sort of woman; so naturally I liked her. I was there to introduce myself (as a new Connexions contract manager) and Farzana as a new Personal Advisor working at Queens.
From Queen’s I hurried back to the office, and worked further on our bid – ever conscious that the deadline was less than 24 hours away. I had a brief meeting with Anne and Vanessa to plan the final few stages to getting our application completed. Anne and I ploughed on while Vanessa and Sue devoted their energies to preparing our conference room. Despite the difficulties of the past week, I think everyone felt a real buzz about the office.
21 hours and counting
Then we received a DVD that the police wanted shown at the Sunflower Centre meeting we were to host the next day. We had no DVD player, and so had to set up a PC and projector. Except we had no PC with a DVD drive, and so I spent a fruitless hour or so trying to download decoding software; all the while wondering how I would complete the budget forecasts to accompany the Reaching Communities bid (deadline for posting was now “21 hours and counting”). Then I remembered that a laptop I had at home ought to have a DVD player and I hatched a plan: I would leave Anne in the office collating the remainder of the bid, and I would go home to check out the laptop there. If it worked; fine. If not, I would bring in the home DVD player. And after doing this I would spend a few hours working on the budget, and then get into work early the next morning to finish off the bid and set up the projector for the meeting.
Watery encounters of the third kind
But when I arrived home at 8:00 pm I found the house in some disarray: my water-borne disaster had finally arrived.
About the time that Jackie and I left for work in the morning, the ball-cock in our header tank had failed. By the evening, the tank had been overflowing for about eight hours. The slow motion deluge had passed through my son Bobby’s bedroom and through the airing cupboard, then down into the living room through the ceiling rose, and into the kitchen through the stud-wall partition: wallpaper peeled off the walls, carpets squelched underfoot and stored bed lined was wet through with filthy water.
Having arrived home earlier than me, my step-son Bryan (18) had acted quickly to turn off the stopcock, and Jackie had contacted a plumber, an electrician and the insurance company. But meanwhile, there was no electricity and no heating. With an inexorable inevitability, we got in Fish’n’Chips and sat around cheerfully talking about the Blitz and the Three Day Week. All the while, I fretted over arrangements for the coming day.
By about 10:30, an emergency plumber and electrician had finally restored essential services, and I was able to resume work about 11:00 after Jackie and Bryan set off to bed.
14 hours and counting
Fortunately, the laptop had no difficulty running the DVD so one problem at least was quickly resolved. I then addressed the difficulty of how to display seven different budgets, each running over five years, on one side of A4 paper. I was fast running out of time to resolve this problem that had perplexed me on and off for several weeks: the deadline was now 14 hours and counting.
Around midnight, I had one of those Eureka! moments and finally saw the solution. I will not attempt to explain my thinking here: while I consider it an elegant and creative solution, anyone else will doubtless think: Obvious! why was that so difficult, dummy? and that will rather spoil the moment for me.
By 2:00 in the morning, I was fast asleep with the alarm set for 6:00.
When does a puddle become a flood? I drove to work this morning through torrential rain. Driving to the back of WCVS’s offices along the romantic-sounding “Service Road Q” I encountered such extremely large puddles that I genuinely feared my car would stall. Fortunately I survived a watery disaster. For now.
After arrival at 7:00 am, I was soon working on our Reaching Communities bid. A check of my e-mails revealed that Three Rivers CVS had received a rejection for their bid to Reaching Communities. I felt awful for our close neighbours, but tried to put it out of my head. There were one or two interruptions over continuing problems on the network (and to check and authorise the December salary payments) but I made good progress. Around 10:15 I paused to check whether my morning’s meeting at Bushey Hall School was at 11:00 or 11:30 and was mortified to discover that it had started at 10:00 so telephoned my profuse apologies.
Watery encounters of the second kind
Shortly after, I left for a meeting at Nine Lives Furniture in Rickmansworth - and the heavens opened. I quite enjoy a heavy downpour when I’m safely in the dry, and I am pleased to report that the rain miraculously stopped shortly before I reached Rickmansworth: I had escaped the day’s second brush with damp disaster.
Queen’s School
From Nine Lives, I rushed off to Queen’s School to meet the Kerry, the Deputy Head and Connexions co-ordinator. She seemed very personable and a no-nonsense sort of woman; so naturally I liked her. I was there to introduce myself (as a new Connexions contract manager) and Farzana as a new Personal Advisor working at Queens.
From Queen’s I hurried back to the office, and worked further on our bid – ever conscious that the deadline was less than 24 hours away. I had a brief meeting with Anne and Vanessa to plan the final few stages to getting our application completed. Anne and I ploughed on while Vanessa and Sue devoted their energies to preparing our conference room. Despite the difficulties of the past week, I think everyone felt a real buzz about the office.
21 hours and counting
Then we received a DVD that the police wanted shown at the Sunflower Centre meeting we were to host the next day. We had no DVD player, and so had to set up a PC and projector. Except we had no PC with a DVD drive, and so I spent a fruitless hour or so trying to download decoding software; all the while wondering how I would complete the budget forecasts to accompany the Reaching Communities bid (deadline for posting was now “21 hours and counting”). Then I remembered that a laptop I had at home ought to have a DVD player and I hatched a plan: I would leave Anne in the office collating the remainder of the bid, and I would go home to check out the laptop there. If it worked; fine. If not, I would bring in the home DVD player. And after doing this I would spend a few hours working on the budget, and then get into work early the next morning to finish off the bid and set up the projector for the meeting.
Watery encounters of the third kind
But when I arrived home at 8:00 pm I found the house in some disarray: my water-borne disaster had finally arrived.
About the time that Jackie and I left for work in the morning, the ball-cock in our header tank had failed. By the evening, the tank had been overflowing for about eight hours. The slow motion deluge had passed through my son Bobby’s bedroom and through the airing cupboard, then down into the living room through the ceiling rose, and into the kitchen through the stud-wall partition: wallpaper peeled off the walls, carpets squelched underfoot and stored bed lined was wet through with filthy water.
Having arrived home earlier than me, my step-son Bryan (18) had acted quickly to turn off the stopcock, and Jackie had contacted a plumber, an electrician and the insurance company. But meanwhile, there was no electricity and no heating. With an inexorable inevitability, we got in Fish’n’Chips and sat around cheerfully talking about the Blitz and the Three Day Week. All the while, I fretted over arrangements for the coming day.
By about 10:30, an emergency plumber and electrician had finally restored essential services, and I was able to resume work about 11:00 after Jackie and Bryan set off to bed.
14 hours and counting
Fortunately, the laptop had no difficulty running the DVD so one problem at least was quickly resolved. I then addressed the difficulty of how to display seven different budgets, each running over five years, on one side of A4 paper. I was fast running out of time to resolve this problem that had perplexed me on and off for several weeks: the deadline was now 14 hours and counting.
Around midnight, I had one of those Eureka! moments and finally saw the solution. I will not attempt to explain my thinking here: while I consider it an elegant and creative solution, anyone else will doubtless think: Obvious! why was that so difficult, dummy? and that will rather spoil the moment for me.
By 2:00 in the morning, I was fast asleep with the alarm set for 6:00.
Wednesday, 6 December 2006
I must try it more often
I slept late this morning and arrived at the office only at 9:30. I felt very much refreshed after a decent night’s sleep: I must try it more often.
There were of course still computer issues to resolve. Angelo and I agreed a list of priorities. My number one priority was to get Sue’s PC back up and running, but it frustrated me at every turn. Eventually, I abandoned the wireless connection and cabled Sue’s computer directly to the server – and finally it began to install the networked software.
At lunchtime I had a call from my son Bobby, who told me he was spending Christmas with his relatives in America. I was rather gutted, but he’s old enough now to make his own decisions.
Hertfordshire Compact
In the afternoon, WCVS hosted a meeting of the Hertfordshire Compact group. Attendance was sparse and the group’s two key members had sent apologies so we had no report from Ann (my counterpart in Stevenage CVS and the voluntary sector representative on the Hertfordshire Forward planning group) or from Andrew (Hertfordshire County Council’s chief link officer with the voluntary sector and all-round good chap). There were only two statutory sector representatives from LSC and HCC. I must talk with Watford Borough Council to make sure they are aware of these meetings.
Reaching communities, reaching deadlines
After this, I met with Vanessa and Anne to discuss our application to the Big Lottery’s Reaching Communities fund. The final deadline for our application is this Friday – two day’s left!
Vanessa and Anne have done a really splendid job getting the application into focus, but there is still some work to do. We settled on a plan of sorts, working around the outstanding network problems, and then got to work. Anne stayed late making final adjustments to the project budget while I worked on the supporting documentation.
I finally left the office around 9:00 pm, satisfied that the remaining bits of the application could be completed on Thursday.
I slept late this morning and arrived at the office only at 9:30. I felt very much refreshed after a decent night’s sleep: I must try it more often.
There were of course still computer issues to resolve. Angelo and I agreed a list of priorities. My number one priority was to get Sue’s PC back up and running, but it frustrated me at every turn. Eventually, I abandoned the wireless connection and cabled Sue’s computer directly to the server – and finally it began to install the networked software.
At lunchtime I had a call from my son Bobby, who told me he was spending Christmas with his relatives in America. I was rather gutted, but he’s old enough now to make his own decisions.
Hertfordshire Compact
In the afternoon, WCVS hosted a meeting of the Hertfordshire Compact group. Attendance was sparse and the group’s two key members had sent apologies so we had no report from Ann (my counterpart in Stevenage CVS and the voluntary sector representative on the Hertfordshire Forward planning group) or from Andrew (Hertfordshire County Council’s chief link officer with the voluntary sector and all-round good chap). There were only two statutory sector representatives from LSC and HCC. I must talk with Watford Borough Council to make sure they are aware of these meetings.
Reaching communities, reaching deadlines
After this, I met with Vanessa and Anne to discuss our application to the Big Lottery’s Reaching Communities fund. The final deadline for our application is this Friday – two day’s left!
Vanessa and Anne have done a really splendid job getting the application into focus, but there is still some work to do. We settled on a plan of sorts, working around the outstanding network problems, and then got to work. Anne stayed late making final adjustments to the project budget while I worked on the supporting documentation.
I finally left the office around 9:00 pm, satisfied that the remaining bits of the application could be completed on Thursday.
Tuesday, 5 December 2006
Rejoining battle
Despite arriving home from work in the wee small hours, I rose early to rejoin battle with our recalcitrant network. I got to the office at 7:00 am to find (oh joy!) that our exertions of the previous night had paid dividends and the new network was substantially up and running. Not only that but much of the follow up work had also been completed. I’d left the office at about 1:00 am, but Angelo must have worked for a good few hours longer to progress things this far. I tested a few of the settings, and found that the new desktop and security settings hadn’t fully deployed. Shortly after 8:00 I called Angelo who admitted he had worked until 4:00 am, but he soon logged onto our server again to tackle the security problems.
As it was now light enough, I went outside to try and sort out my poor car. I managed to change the tyre, and then scrubbed like fury to remove the oil and grime from my delicate office-boy hands. Our exchange server had meanwhile kicked into life depositing dozens of e-mails into my in-box. I quickly scanned them, deleting the spam and responding to the most urgent.
Shortly before 9:00, some of my colleagues started arriving and I busied myself showing them the new network. Mostly this involved advising them how to work around the ongoing problems, and reassuring them that things would soon improve.
Kwik-fit
Around mid-morning, I drove to the local Kwik-fit to let them sort my car out. What a wonderful invention Kwik-fit is! I have never experienced any difficulties there and have consistently found their staff to be helpful and polite. Today, they performed to their usual high standards and I confidently left my car in their hands. I had only found the garage by following Sue in her car, and she now gave me a lift back to the office. After tackling the most urgent needs at the office, we went out for a coffee together.
This meeting was arranged some weeks ago to talk through Sue’s job. Since I started at WCVS, she has acted in several different roles as circumstances have demanded and as I have requested. She has never complained and has offered reliable and practical advice. Over two Café Mochas, we talked through the main heads of a clarified role for her in the new year, both of us relieved that she can finally settle down to a consistent role.
After another few hours in the office, Sue and I drove to her house in her Citroen, and we then walked together to Kwik-fit. I thanked Sue profusely and then thanked the Kwik-fit people with almost equal enthusiasm, before driving myself and Sue back to work.
Home at last
It was now about 4:00 and I was nearing exhaustion. After a few rather pathetic attempts to fix Sue’s PC, and a brief telephone call to Angelo, I headed off to WGC.
Jackie was delighted to see me. I will always love her for that. And for feeding me Steak and Chips. We spent some time discussing our Christmas, and then I settled down to finish The Idea of North. This has been a curious book, exploring mythical, social, literary and artistic references to “North”. The author delights in leaping from one subject to another. At first I found this irritating but eventually I grew to appreciate its eccentric charm: Ovid, Norwegian mythology, Auden and Isherwood, Bergman and Ibsen, Nabokov, Moomintrolls. How I yearn to read the Moomintrolls again.
In the evening, Jackie and I settled down to a double offering of Poirot and Midsummer Murders. And then I slept.
Despite arriving home from work in the wee small hours, I rose early to rejoin battle with our recalcitrant network. I got to the office at 7:00 am to find (oh joy!) that our exertions of the previous night had paid dividends and the new network was substantially up and running. Not only that but much of the follow up work had also been completed. I’d left the office at about 1:00 am, but Angelo must have worked for a good few hours longer to progress things this far. I tested a few of the settings, and found that the new desktop and security settings hadn’t fully deployed. Shortly after 8:00 I called Angelo who admitted he had worked until 4:00 am, but he soon logged onto our server again to tackle the security problems.
As it was now light enough, I went outside to try and sort out my poor car. I managed to change the tyre, and then scrubbed like fury to remove the oil and grime from my delicate office-boy hands. Our exchange server had meanwhile kicked into life depositing dozens of e-mails into my in-box. I quickly scanned them, deleting the spam and responding to the most urgent.
Shortly before 9:00, some of my colleagues started arriving and I busied myself showing them the new network. Mostly this involved advising them how to work around the ongoing problems, and reassuring them that things would soon improve.
Kwik-fit
Around mid-morning, I drove to the local Kwik-fit to let them sort my car out. What a wonderful invention Kwik-fit is! I have never experienced any difficulties there and have consistently found their staff to be helpful and polite. Today, they performed to their usual high standards and I confidently left my car in their hands. I had only found the garage by following Sue in her car, and she now gave me a lift back to the office. After tackling the most urgent needs at the office, we went out for a coffee together.
This meeting was arranged some weeks ago to talk through Sue’s job. Since I started at WCVS, she has acted in several different roles as circumstances have demanded and as I have requested. She has never complained and has offered reliable and practical advice. Over two Café Mochas, we talked through the main heads of a clarified role for her in the new year, both of us relieved that she can finally settle down to a consistent role.
After another few hours in the office, Sue and I drove to her house in her Citroen, and we then walked together to Kwik-fit. I thanked Sue profusely and then thanked the Kwik-fit people with almost equal enthusiasm, before driving myself and Sue back to work.
Home at last
It was now about 4:00 and I was nearing exhaustion. After a few rather pathetic attempts to fix Sue’s PC, and a brief telephone call to Angelo, I headed off to WGC.
Jackie was delighted to see me. I will always love her for that. And for feeding me Steak and Chips. We spent some time discussing our Christmas, and then I settled down to finish The Idea of North. This has been a curious book, exploring mythical, social, literary and artistic references to “North”. The author delights in leaping from one subject to another. At first I found this irritating but eventually I grew to appreciate its eccentric charm: Ovid, Norwegian mythology, Auden and Isherwood, Bergman and Ibsen, Nabokov, Moomintrolls. How I yearn to read the Moomintrolls again.
In the evening, Jackie and I settled down to a double offering of Poirot and Midsummer Murders. And then I slept.
Monday, 4 December 2006
Monday monday
7:00 Monday morning, I was in the office backing up everyone’s documents and settings ready for the new network installation. Angelo called about 8:30 to say he was leaving home with the rebuilt server.
Around 10:00, people started heading off to St Thomas’s Church for one of our regular networking lunches, capably run by Sue and Anne with Margaret (one of our trustees) co-ordinating the food. Shortly after leaving, Sha-Lee telephoned to ask me if I knew I had a flat tyre. Sadly for me, I took little notice as I was too preoccupied with the immediate business of servers and networking lunches. Anyone who read my blog of 12 November will know something about this.
Although the atmosphere at WCVS’s networking lunches is very informal, the format is fairly rigid: brief introductions, followed by an external speaker addressing an issue of the moment, then lunch, and finally a presentation from one of the local groups. More than forty people had booked to attend today’s event. Last time out, we had a very well received presentation from the Woodside Community Motorcycle Project; this time around there were presentations from the British Arrhythmia Nurses Association and from Watford Borough Council about their new grant programmes. I had fully expected to attend, but we need to resolve our IT issues and so I sent my apologies for the lunch.
As the networking event was starting, Angelo was installing our rebuilt server and testing the settings.
Office space
At 2:30 I met with Shamim from CAB and Adele from Relate. We looked at the prospects of WCVS taking over vacant space in the building they currently share, but it is clearly a non-starter. Even grasping every opportunity for sharing office space and services, and using every space-saving gadget that has ever been patented, we could not all squeeze into the building. The three of us had a productive talk through current local issues and future strategic needs, and an hour later I returned to WCVS.
Angelo had completed his immediate tasks on the server and was returning to Walthamstow. I busied myself testing some of the settings. In the middle of the afternoon, just after darkness fell, Sue returned asked me what I had done about my puncture. Oh dear. Calls to the AA and to local garages soon revealed that I had left it too late to get things sorted out today.
Fortunately, at this point I had an appointment with a chap called Barry, who wanted advice on an ambitious development project he was planning. He waited patiently while I finished off my final calls, and then we had a very interesting chat about his plans, charitable status, community interest companies, the Hertfordshire Community Foundation, social enterprise, fundraising, and so on. As Barry left, Sue asked me if I would like to borrow her family’s spare car for the evening. Such kindness is not to be spurned, and I gratefully (and, I hope graciously) accepted. Sue chauffeured me to her house on the outskirts of Watford and (after meeting her partner and a grand-daughter, and politely declining the offer of tea) I took charge of a 2 litre Citroen diesel.
It always takes a while to become familiar with a new car. This was very different – a diesel automatic with a ferocious brake pedal - and it was dark and raining. I tootled back to WCVS as slow as the other traffic would allow me.
Deployment
At 6:30, I returned to the office. One of our rooms was being used by Mind in SW Herts for a counselling session. I got down to the serious work of reinstalling MS Office on the first of our ten workstations. The counselling session finished at 7:30 and our guests departed. My first trial installation of MS Office still hadn’t completed.
Finally, at 8:00, the installation did complete – with an error msg. Angelo tackled the error msg while I double-checked that all documents were backed up on the local PCs, and then disjoined the PCs from the now redundant old domain. We then recreated a new MS Office installation file, and finally at 10:00 pm we began deploying this across the wireless network.
Only one computer didn’t want to play and that was Sue’s. I tried hard, but it was determined not to join in with its other little friends. I left the office well after midnight feeling some trepidation about whether the deployment would be completed by the next morning, whether the new installation file would work, and whether I would successfully complete the journey home in a strange car.
7:00 Monday morning, I was in the office backing up everyone’s documents and settings ready for the new network installation. Angelo called about 8:30 to say he was leaving home with the rebuilt server.
Around 10:00, people started heading off to St Thomas’s Church for one of our regular networking lunches, capably run by Sue and Anne with Margaret (one of our trustees) co-ordinating the food. Shortly after leaving, Sha-Lee telephoned to ask me if I knew I had a flat tyre. Sadly for me, I took little notice as I was too preoccupied with the immediate business of servers and networking lunches. Anyone who read my blog of 12 November will know something about this.
Although the atmosphere at WCVS’s networking lunches is very informal, the format is fairly rigid: brief introductions, followed by an external speaker addressing an issue of the moment, then lunch, and finally a presentation from one of the local groups. More than forty people had booked to attend today’s event. Last time out, we had a very well received presentation from the Woodside Community Motorcycle Project; this time around there were presentations from the British Arrhythmia Nurses Association and from Watford Borough Council about their new grant programmes. I had fully expected to attend, but we need to resolve our IT issues and so I sent my apologies for the lunch.
As the networking event was starting, Angelo was installing our rebuilt server and testing the settings.
Office space
At 2:30 I met with Shamim from CAB and Adele from Relate. We looked at the prospects of WCVS taking over vacant space in the building they currently share, but it is clearly a non-starter. Even grasping every opportunity for sharing office space and services, and using every space-saving gadget that has ever been patented, we could not all squeeze into the building. The three of us had a productive talk through current local issues and future strategic needs, and an hour later I returned to WCVS.
Angelo had completed his immediate tasks on the server and was returning to Walthamstow. I busied myself testing some of the settings. In the middle of the afternoon, just after darkness fell, Sue returned asked me what I had done about my puncture. Oh dear. Calls to the AA and to local garages soon revealed that I had left it too late to get things sorted out today.
Fortunately, at this point I had an appointment with a chap called Barry, who wanted advice on an ambitious development project he was planning. He waited patiently while I finished off my final calls, and then we had a very interesting chat about his plans, charitable status, community interest companies, the Hertfordshire Community Foundation, social enterprise, fundraising, and so on. As Barry left, Sue asked me if I would like to borrow her family’s spare car for the evening. Such kindness is not to be spurned, and I gratefully (and, I hope graciously) accepted. Sue chauffeured me to her house on the outskirts of Watford and (after meeting her partner and a grand-daughter, and politely declining the offer of tea) I took charge of a 2 litre Citroen diesel.
It always takes a while to become familiar with a new car. This was very different – a diesel automatic with a ferocious brake pedal - and it was dark and raining. I tootled back to WCVS as slow as the other traffic would allow me.
Deployment
At 6:30, I returned to the office. One of our rooms was being used by Mind in SW Herts for a counselling session. I got down to the serious work of reinstalling MS Office on the first of our ten workstations. The counselling session finished at 7:30 and our guests departed. My first trial installation of MS Office still hadn’t completed.
Finally, at 8:00, the installation did complete – with an error msg. Angelo tackled the error msg while I double-checked that all documents were backed up on the local PCs, and then disjoined the PCs from the now redundant old domain. We then recreated a new MS Office installation file, and finally at 10:00 pm we began deploying this across the wireless network.
Only one computer didn’t want to play and that was Sue’s. I tried hard, but it was determined not to join in with its other little friends. I left the office well after midnight feeling some trepidation about whether the deployment would be completed by the next morning, whether the new installation file would work, and whether I would successfully complete the journey home in a strange car.
Sunday, 3 December 2006
Sunday began quietly, but around lunchtime Angelo and I agreed that the best solution to our server problem was a complete rebuild. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to drive to the WCVS office to retrieve the installation disks and passwords and then deliver them to Walthamstow. The traffic was mercifully clear but the round journey still took the entire afternoon. When I returned home about 6:00, Jackie rewarded me with a full Sunday roast with all the trimmings. Lovely.
Saturday, 2 December 2006
A pleasingly quiet day, punctuated only by several telephone calls with Angelo to discuss options for resurrecting WCVS’s server. Jackie and I had one brief shopping excursion to the local farmers' market in pursuit of Christmas presents and spent the evening watching Foyle’s War.
Friday, 1 December 2006
The first day of December, Friday began with suitably grim weather and another early start to complete a few hours of work on the budget and business plan to accompany our Reaching Communities bid to the lottery. The deadline for submission of our second stage application is now only a week away and looming large.
Watford Learning Partnership
At 10:00 am I was at the Cassio campus of West Herts College for a meeting of the WLP, the Watford Learning Partnership. This is a loose and ill-resourced grouping of disparate statutory and voluntary agencies attempting to co-ordinate their training and education activities into a coherent strategy. The meeting was chaired by Alison Stainsby, Head of Leisure and Community Services at WBC. At one point, as chair of the WLP, she had to explain why WBC had rejected the WLP’s grant application. My heart went out to her. She did a sterling job.
I had to leave the meeting sharp at 12:00 to return to the office. The traffic was crazy (Xmas shoppers?) and in teeming rain I completed the 2 mile journey just in time for my 12:30 meeting with Frazer, deputy editor of the Watford Observer. Our volunteer Maria joined us and we had a very good talk – Frazer helping us understand how best to get coverage in his paper for the local voluntary sector. It will also help Frazer access stories and make contacts, of course, so we can both be winners.
Investors in People
At 2:00 the entire staff team met with Len, the mentor allocated to WCVS for our Investors In People programme, for an initial IIP awareness-raising session. WCVS accessed this free programme of support for IIP accreditation through the East of England voluntary sector co-ordinating body COVER-East. Len explained the process to everyone and there was a high level of commitment, but there are several big issues to resolve (as with every organisation) and there is a very short timetable (six months to get IiP accreditation before the funding runs out).
I was pleased to leave the office at about 6:00 and head straight off to my baby-sitting.
Watford Learning Partnership
At 10:00 am I was at the Cassio campus of West Herts College for a meeting of the WLP, the Watford Learning Partnership. This is a loose and ill-resourced grouping of disparate statutory and voluntary agencies attempting to co-ordinate their training and education activities into a coherent strategy. The meeting was chaired by Alison Stainsby, Head of Leisure and Community Services at WBC. At one point, as chair of the WLP, she had to explain why WBC had rejected the WLP’s grant application. My heart went out to her. She did a sterling job.
I had to leave the meeting sharp at 12:00 to return to the office. The traffic was crazy (Xmas shoppers?) and in teeming rain I completed the 2 mile journey just in time for my 12:30 meeting with Frazer, deputy editor of the Watford Observer. Our volunteer Maria joined us and we had a very good talk – Frazer helping us understand how best to get coverage in his paper for the local voluntary sector. It will also help Frazer access stories and make contacts, of course, so we can both be winners.
Investors in People
At 2:00 the entire staff team met with Len, the mentor allocated to WCVS for our Investors In People programme, for an initial IIP awareness-raising session. WCVS accessed this free programme of support for IIP accreditation through the East of England voluntary sector co-ordinating body COVER-East. Len explained the process to everyone and there was a high level of commitment, but there are several big issues to resolve (as with every organisation) and there is a very short timetable (six months to get IiP accreditation before the funding runs out).
I was pleased to leave the office at about 6:00 and head straight off to my baby-sitting.
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