Safer Watford
Promptly at 9:00 I arrived at the Town Hall for a meeting with the consultant retained by the borough to review the focus and aims of the Safer Watford Partnership. The consultant seemed very capable and it is good to see the Borough Council getting the right people in to do these important jobs.
Immediately after, I left with Maria for a meeting at the Muslim Community Project to talk through political and logistical arrangements for our 3 December networking lunch at the north Watford mosque. The Community Project had organised an impressive team and we were also joined by two representatives of the Muslim Awareness Forum for a thorough discussion about arrangements. I am confident that this is going to be a great event.
Just as Maria and I were rising to leave, our host Mohamed Khan announced that food was arriving. And so we stayed for a flavoursome lunch of chicken curry, dhal, rice and chapattis.
Back at WCVS, I met with Laura to talk though the next stage of development for the Community transport scheme, and with Vanessa on arrangements for next February’s county-wide trustees’ conference.
Before leaving the office I did some work on two of the HIC projects we are working on, and I sent the Value and Volumes report off to my CVS colleagues for a “peer review” of sorts.
Aged Ken
Back home in the evening, I was struck by how quickly Ken (our decrepit white cat) is now aging. He can still manage the cat flap but it is a real struggle; every exit and re-entry is a minor trauma for him and mostly he mews at the door until one of us opens it for him. He doesn’t like using the stairs and wont unless he is scared by fireworks or rowdy children. He has now lost all his teeth and can’t munch on cat biscuits - we no longer torture him with these after we realised he was just sucking them for a bit and then spitting them back into his bowl. He doesn’t seem to be in pain and still purrs contentedly when he can sit on a warm lap. Poor old Ken.
Sunday, 21 October 2007
I spent the day at home working more on the Value and Volumes report and preparing for the HIC studies into IT and Training.
BBC4 devoted the evening to archaeology, which Jackie and I enjoyed greatly.
BBC4 devoted the evening to archaeology, which Jackie and I enjoyed greatly.
Saturday, 20 October 2007
A quiet day at home and visiting family. And England lost a rugby game after giving away too many unnecessary penalties.
Friday, 19 October 2007
I woke up to Jackie gently singing “Happy Birthday” and presenting me with breakfast and tea and cards and gifts. What do you buy the man who has everything? The box set of Indiana Jones DVDs: I can’t wait.
After breakfast I drove over to Hertford to drop off our tender bid at County Hall. The bid looked rather pathetic shoved in a re-cycled envelope and done up with sellotape. It was before 8:00 am. I had been told: “just deliver it to the Rear Reception, they’ll be someone there and they’ll know what to do.” But when he finally turned up, the man at the Rear Reception had no idea what to do. Apparently each HCC department has its own procedures and systems.
Having finally been given a receipt for our tender (albeit from the wrong HCC department), I headed off to St Albans for a meeting of Herts CVS. We were meant to meet with nine CEOs and nine trustees to discuss the Herts CVS Strategic Plan. One difficulty was that this meeting arrived at the wrong time: too long after the plan was drafted but too early to introduce any elements from the Herts Infrastructure Consortium’s Strategic Plan. Another difficulty was that there was really no agreement on what we wanted from the meeting. Another difficulty was that nine-plus-nine was reduced to eight-plus-eight and then to seven-plus-seven.
As professional CEOs, this was not one of our finest moments: I fear our unpreparedness was obvious and I had not the feintest idea what contribution our facilitator was trying to make. There were one or two interesting disussions, but mostly we replicated discussions that had already taken place in Herts CVS or the Herts Infastructure Consortium. I felt slightly embarrassed that my Chair of trustees gave up a morning for the event.
In the evening, Jackie and I went out for a nice quiet romantic meal together. A truly blissful birthday evening.
After breakfast I drove over to Hertford to drop off our tender bid at County Hall. The bid looked rather pathetic shoved in a re-cycled envelope and done up with sellotape. It was before 8:00 am. I had been told: “just deliver it to the Rear Reception, they’ll be someone there and they’ll know what to do.” But when he finally turned up, the man at the Rear Reception had no idea what to do. Apparently each HCC department has its own procedures and systems.
Having finally been given a receipt for our tender (albeit from the wrong HCC department), I headed off to St Albans for a meeting of Herts CVS. We were meant to meet with nine CEOs and nine trustees to discuss the Herts CVS Strategic Plan. One difficulty was that this meeting arrived at the wrong time: too long after the plan was drafted but too early to introduce any elements from the Herts Infrastructure Consortium’s Strategic Plan. Another difficulty was that there was really no agreement on what we wanted from the meeting. Another difficulty was that nine-plus-nine was reduced to eight-plus-eight and then to seven-plus-seven.
As professional CEOs, this was not one of our finest moments: I fear our unpreparedness was obvious and I had not the feintest idea what contribution our facilitator was trying to make. There were one or two interesting disussions, but mostly we replicated discussions that had already taken place in Herts CVS or the Herts Infastructure Consortium. I felt slightly embarrassed that my Chair of trustees gave up a morning for the event.
In the evening, Jackie and I went out for a nice quiet romantic meal together. A truly blissful birthday evening.
Thursday, 18 October 2007
Today I had two major jobs. First I needed to respond to some queries raised by the Big Lottery. The queries were simple enough, but simply collating the information took until mid afternoon. During this time there was one major distraction when I had to tend to a visitor after one of our chairs collapsed underneath her. The poor lady was quite shaken and I was glad that Anne was there as our First Aider - she was very impressive and handled everything superbly.
After completing the response to the Big Lottery, I met with Des and Saud to talk through a tender to Herts County Council. I have already made a bit of a start on the tender while I was off work, but the deadline is tomorrow (Friday). Des had done a bit of work digging up some useful references, and he and Saud had some useful points to make.
I finished the tender about 9:30 pm, but then I had to find and copy supporting documentation etc and I eventually arrived home about 11:30.
Jackie had left out some sausages and mash: lovely sausages! We had searched for a proper old-fashioned butcher and finally found one on the road to Knebworth (there is no butcher at all in Welwyn Garden City) and it’s good to taste real meat again.
Jackie herself was sound asleep. Sometimes I must really try her patience.
After completing the response to the Big Lottery, I met with Des and Saud to talk through a tender to Herts County Council. I have already made a bit of a start on the tender while I was off work, but the deadline is tomorrow (Friday). Des had done a bit of work digging up some useful references, and he and Saud had some useful points to make.
I finished the tender about 9:30 pm, but then I had to find and copy supporting documentation etc and I eventually arrived home about 11:30.
Jackie had left out some sausages and mash: lovely sausages! We had searched for a proper old-fashioned butcher and finally found one on the road to Knebworth (there is no butcher at all in Welwyn Garden City) and it’s good to taste real meat again.
Jackie herself was sound asleep. Sometimes I must really try her patience.
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Rather pleasingly on my first morning back in the office, I talked with three of our member groups on charity registration, staff appraisal and training. But otherwise it took all morning just to read through correspondence and return urgent telephone calls. And there was some very interesting correspondence too.
First, the emerging Hertfordshire Training Consortium has received from the Learning and Skills Council some funding for a worker to help establish itself. Originally, it was made very clear by LSC that they were providing funding to establish a voluntary organisation to deliver LSC-funded training to members of the public. Although this is A Good Thing it is not something in which Watford CVS has any direct interest. Our interest is on delivering training to meet the needs of voluntary organisations so we stepped back a little from the Training Consortium. It now appears that things might have changed a little: I will need to investigate.
Secondly, there are more queries from the Big Lottery Fund about our Business Plan. I think most of the queries are already addressed in our Plan, but I will check tomorrow.
Thirdly, back on 5 October I had been very encouraging meeting on the future of Watford’s Community Centres. It now seems my enthusiasm and optimism may have been misplaced: somewhere along the line games are being played and I don’t have the time or the energy for them. Or perhaps this is just my impatience again?
Finally, Helen (our Volunteer Centre co-ordinator) has received an invitation from our MP Claire Ward to join a delegation to meet Phil Hope, the new Minister for the Third Sector. This is a great opportunity for Watford’s groups.
At lunchtime, I attended a meeting of the Disability Forum to talk briefly on the PCT consultation process and the need for a county-wide solution to PCT transport problems. The meeting was very supportive and contributions confirmed my fears that the PCTs’ current practices are pretty chaotic.
I left the Disability Forum meeting early to head off to the Disability Law Service in London for their AGM and for a trustees meeting. This all went very smoothly. It’s a great organisation and the staff and other trustees are all very committed and very kind. While there I took the opportunity to talk to Joss, their head of legal services, about the transport issues that arose at Watford's Disability Forum. She was very good, giving clear advice and guidance that I will feed back to the Disability Forum as soon as the opportunity arises. I also spoke with Linda, DLS’s CEO, about Big Lottery funding. I was frustrated to hear that DLS's Business Plan had been fully approved within two days. Our plan has so far taken ten weeks, despite us receiving feedback that it was “excellent”.
After my first day back in the office I arrived home a little after 10:00 pm. It’s nice to be back in the swing of things.
First, the emerging Hertfordshire Training Consortium has received from the Learning and Skills Council some funding for a worker to help establish itself. Originally, it was made very clear by LSC that they were providing funding to establish a voluntary organisation to deliver LSC-funded training to members of the public. Although this is A Good Thing it is not something in which Watford CVS has any direct interest. Our interest is on delivering training to meet the needs of voluntary organisations so we stepped back a little from the Training Consortium. It now appears that things might have changed a little: I will need to investigate.
Secondly, there are more queries from the Big Lottery Fund about our Business Plan. I think most of the queries are already addressed in our Plan, but I will check tomorrow.
Thirdly, back on 5 October I had been very encouraging meeting on the future of Watford’s Community Centres. It now seems my enthusiasm and optimism may have been misplaced: somewhere along the line games are being played and I don’t have the time or the energy for them. Or perhaps this is just my impatience again?
Finally, Helen (our Volunteer Centre co-ordinator) has received an invitation from our MP Claire Ward to join a delegation to meet Phil Hope, the new Minister for the Third Sector. This is a great opportunity for Watford’s groups.
At lunchtime, I attended a meeting of the Disability Forum to talk briefly on the PCT consultation process and the need for a county-wide solution to PCT transport problems. The meeting was very supportive and contributions confirmed my fears that the PCTs’ current practices are pretty chaotic.
I left the Disability Forum meeting early to head off to the Disability Law Service in London for their AGM and for a trustees meeting. This all went very smoothly. It’s a great organisation and the staff and other trustees are all very committed and very kind. While there I took the opportunity to talk to Joss, their head of legal services, about the transport issues that arose at Watford's Disability Forum. She was very good, giving clear advice and guidance that I will feed back to the Disability Forum as soon as the opportunity arises. I also spoke with Linda, DLS’s CEO, about Big Lottery funding. I was frustrated to hear that DLS's Business Plan had been fully approved within two days. Our plan has so far taken ten weeks, despite us receiving feedback that it was “excellent”.
After my first day back in the office I arrived home a little after 10:00 pm. It’s nice to be back in the swing of things.
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
Day Six
It's over. I enjoyed a good sleep overnight and arrived in Letchworth around 9:00 am feeling pretty good. The morning’s meeting of the HIC steering group went alright, but we haven’t made quite as much progress as we’d hoped and it is clear that everyone is beginning to feel a bit ragged. Or (I don't like to think it but ...) perhaps the tail end of my virus was making me impatient with people.
After the meeting I didn’t risk travelling to Watford. Instead I went home and worked on our tender to HCC for a county-wide “advocate for BME children”. Nor did I return to Letchworth for a family meal with my Mum and brothers and in-laws. Instead I had a good early night, just grateful to be well again - and I started calculating the "damage" caused by my few days' illness.
It's over. I enjoyed a good sleep overnight and arrived in Letchworth around 9:00 am feeling pretty good. The morning’s meeting of the HIC steering group went alright, but we haven’t made quite as much progress as we’d hoped and it is clear that everyone is beginning to feel a bit ragged. Or (I don't like to think it but ...) perhaps the tail end of my virus was making me impatient with people.
After the meeting I didn’t risk travelling to Watford. Instead I went home and worked on our tender to HCC for a county-wide “advocate for BME children”. Nor did I return to Letchworth for a family meal with my Mum and brothers and in-laws. Instead I had a good early night, just grateful to be well again - and I started calculating the "damage" caused by my few days' illness.
Monday, 15 October 2007
Day Five
All last night my temperature was on its own personal rollercoaster leaving me alternately shivering and burning. I had hoped I’d got over this - clearly this virus has a sting in its tail! I finally got to sleep at about 6:00 am. But when I awoke at lunchtime I felt much better.
I didn’t feel 100% by any stretch of the imagination, but my temperature feels reasonably stable and my body only aches in the usual places rather than in every joint and muscle. I spoke early on to Maria (where would I be without her?) who reassured me everything was under control and I should spend the day recovering properly.
So Maria cancelled my few commitments for the day, and I spent the afternoon gently working through some projects and trying to gather my strength for a return to work tomorrow.
Then just as I thought tomorrow all looked too much for me (morning meeting in Letchworth, afternoon meeting in Watford, evening meeting in Watford, later evening family gathering in Letchworth), Vanessa called to offer to attend the evening meeting in Watford. What a lovely lady. Even so, if I am going to survive re-entry to work the remainder of the day will need some serious reorganising - and I dread to think how much e-mail has built up since last Wednesday!
On the scale of global warming
I wont worry about it until I know whether or not I get a decent night’s sleep tonight. My chances of enjoying a good night's sleep weren't helped when I heard of our Health Minister's announcement that Obesity could be a health problem "on the scale of global warming". What on earth could this mean?
All last night my temperature was on its own personal rollercoaster leaving me alternately shivering and burning. I had hoped I’d got over this - clearly this virus has a sting in its tail! I finally got to sleep at about 6:00 am. But when I awoke at lunchtime I felt much better.
I didn’t feel 100% by any stretch of the imagination, but my temperature feels reasonably stable and my body only aches in the usual places rather than in every joint and muscle. I spoke early on to Maria (where would I be without her?) who reassured me everything was under control and I should spend the day recovering properly.
So Maria cancelled my few commitments for the day, and I spent the afternoon gently working through some projects and trying to gather my strength for a return to work tomorrow.
Then just as I thought tomorrow all looked too much for me (morning meeting in Letchworth, afternoon meeting in Watford, evening meeting in Watford, later evening family gathering in Letchworth), Vanessa called to offer to attend the evening meeting in Watford. What a lovely lady. Even so, if I am going to survive re-entry to work the remainder of the day will need some serious reorganising - and I dread to think how much e-mail has built up since last Wednesday!
On the scale of global warming
I wont worry about it until I know whether or not I get a decent night’s sleep tonight. My chances of enjoying a good night's sleep weren't helped when I heard of our Health Minister's announcement that Obesity could be a health problem "on the scale of global warming". What on earth could this mean?
Sunday, 14 October 2007
Day Four
After another torrid night, I think my fever finally broke this morning. I slept far better and in the afternoon I had sufficiently improved to spend two hours pottering in the garden. Later I even did an hour's writing (still on Value and Volumes).
Then I completed Lillian Smith’s extraordinary 1944 saga of the Deep South Strange Fruit - released in the slip-stream of Gone With the Wind and utterly refusing to pull its punches. Social realism at its best.
Maybe it's all over?
After another torrid night, I think my fever finally broke this morning. I slept far better and in the afternoon I had sufficiently improved to spend two hours pottering in the garden. Later I even did an hour's writing (still on Value and Volumes).
Then I completed Lillian Smith’s extraordinary 1944 saga of the Deep South Strange Fruit - released in the slip-stream of Gone With the Wind and utterly refusing to pull its punches. Social realism at its best.
Maybe it's all over?
Saturday, 13 October 2007
Day Three
Another restless night. In the afternoon I managed to make it dowstairs onto the sofa. I watched England play football and this helped me drift peacefully in and out of consciousness for a couple of hours. In the evening I watched England play rugby - two hours later I was a complete nervous wreck and grateful to get back to bed.
Another restless night. In the afternoon I managed to make it dowstairs onto the sofa. I watched England play football and this helped me drift peacefully in and out of consciousness for a couple of hours. In the evening I watched England play rugby - two hours later I was a complete nervous wreck and grateful to get back to bed.
Friday, 12 October 2007
Day Two
I had a soaring temperature and felt utterly miserable and wretched. I think at some point that I managed to call someone somewhere to explain that I was unwell. But I might have imagined it.
I had a soaring temperature and felt utterly miserable and wretched. I think at some point that I managed to call someone somewhere to explain that I was unwell. But I might have imagined it.
Thursday, 11 October 2007
Through sheer willpower, I managed to get in my car and drive to Letchworth to meet with Jacquie and Steph - we had set aside two days to work together on drafting the HIC development plan. But by the time I arrived at the North Herts CVS offices, I knew I’d seriously misjudged things.
I was physically very much present there in the office, with my laptop and files, my tissues, Beechams powders and Lockets. I remember one or two helpful discussions and some attempts at writing, but my brain was befuddled and I could contribute virtually nothing toward the day’s project. And worse, my presence only distracted Jacquie and Steph and put them at risk of catching this awful virus. Jacquie and Steph were each very kind, but after an hour or two I could tell that they both thought pretty much the same.
I left Letchworth late afternoon. I think I made some half-hearted face-saving promise to do some work overnight. I barely remember getting home. Jackie was very soothing and indulgent and put me to bed, but it was a feverish sleepless night.
I was physically very much present there in the office, with my laptop and files, my tissues, Beechams powders and Lockets. I remember one or two helpful discussions and some attempts at writing, but my brain was befuddled and I could contribute virtually nothing toward the day’s project. And worse, my presence only distracted Jacquie and Steph and put them at risk of catching this awful virus. Jacquie and Steph were each very kind, but after an hour or two I could tell that they both thought pretty much the same.
I left Letchworth late afternoon. I think I made some half-hearted face-saving promise to do some work overnight. I barely remember getting home. Jackie was very soothing and indulgent and put me to bed, but it was a feverish sleepless night.
Wednesday, 10 October 2007
Unsurprisingly after yesterday’s marathon writing session, I arrived at work late in the morning. I felt hugely relieved to have broken the back of the Value and Volumes project. I also felt "Not Quite Right" which naturally I put down to tiredness.
At the office, I spoke with Des Reid and Saud Hafiz about the possibility of a Watford CVS tender for the county-side Advocacy Project - put simply, HCC want a focal point for supporting parents and children who have experienced discrimination on the groupnds of race of religion. I have only recently picked up on the opportunity (thanks Mohamed) and the closing date is the end of next week. But between our Connexions Personal Advisors, we have a solid repository of experience and knowledge and it could bolster our existing work …
I also spoke with other colleagues paving the way for my planned absence from the office on Thursday and Friday when I will be working on the HIC development plan for Hertfordshire’s infrastructure.
But by the time I arrived home, I felt dreadful. It's certainly more than just tiredness. Jackie is off work this week after experiencing heart palpitations and I should have been nursing her - but instead I was the one collapsing on the sofa and striking a tragic pose.
At the office, I spoke with Des Reid and Saud Hafiz about the possibility of a Watford CVS tender for the county-side Advocacy Project - put simply, HCC want a focal point for supporting parents and children who have experienced discrimination on the groupnds of race of religion. I have only recently picked up on the opportunity (thanks Mohamed) and the closing date is the end of next week. But between our Connexions Personal Advisors, we have a solid repository of experience and knowledge and it could bolster our existing work …
I also spoke with other colleagues paving the way for my planned absence from the office on Thursday and Friday when I will be working on the HIC development plan for Hertfordshire’s infrastructure.
But by the time I arrived home, I felt dreadful. It's certainly more than just tiredness. Jackie is off work this week after experiencing heart palpitations and I should have been nursing her - but instead I was the one collapsing on the sofa and striking a tragic pose.
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
I had set the alarm back an hour and had hoped to have bath and breakfast before leaving for work. But I was worried about rousing Jackie so left straight away on tip toe and arrived at work about 6:30 am.
I shut myself in my office and worked on the V&V report all day determined to finish the report. I was probably a little short on those occasions when someone needed to interrupt me. I was a little exasperated by some of the figures not behaving in a gentleman-like way. I was fully focused on the report and worked like a thing possessed.
Around 10:00 pm I made a passing reference to Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle and I should have known then that it was time to stop. But I was so determined to finish the report that I ploughed on regardless. Later, I found myself making a reference to Dark Matter – I deleted the reference and excused myself as I’d only used it as a metaphor. Later still, I quoted some Chaos Theory; this was a big Red Light moment and I knew I had to give it up for the day.
Having successfully not woken Jackie in the morning, I managed also to not wake Jackie in the small hours. I deliberately didn’t set the alarm.
I shut myself in my office and worked on the V&V report all day determined to finish the report. I was probably a little short on those occasions when someone needed to interrupt me. I was a little exasperated by some of the figures not behaving in a gentleman-like way. I was fully focused on the report and worked like a thing possessed.
Around 10:00 pm I made a passing reference to Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle and I should have known then that it was time to stop. But I was so determined to finish the report that I ploughed on regardless. Later, I found myself making a reference to Dark Matter – I deleted the reference and excused myself as I’d only used it as a metaphor. Later still, I quoted some Chaos Theory; this was a big Red Light moment and I knew I had to give it up for the day.
Having successfully not woken Jackie in the morning, I managed also to not wake Jackie in the small hours. I deliberately didn’t set the alarm.
Monday, 8 October 2007
I arrived at work a little early to catch up on things. After last week’s various meetings, I had prepared a few e-mails over the weekend and soon dispatched these. Later I spoke with three different photocopier salesmen. With all due respect to photocopier salesmen everywhere, I always find this one of the most soul-destroying jobs imaginable; consequently I always treat these people with great gentleness and sympathy, as if they’d recently lost a close relative.
Vanessa (our Development and Training Officer) hosted a meeting to launch our 2007-08 training programme, and I met with Anne (our Funding Advisor), and Maria on our forthcoming networking lunches, wrote the introduction for our Community Directory and did some work on the HIC project specifications.
Watford CVS is leading on the design of two projects. One project is “to create a sustainable infrastructure to identify and meet the training needs of 3rd sector organisations in Hertfordshire” and the other is to work up a strategy for delivering IT infrastructure to voluntary groups in Herts. Also, I am contributing to the overall Infrastructure Development Strategy. And all three documents need to be completed by 16 November.
So I first need to complete the Value and Volumes study and the Community Directory. With the Community Directory nearly done, I decided at 6:00 pm that I would go home and do some work there on the V&V study.
As soon as I pulled up at my house, I realised that I had left my memory stick at the office with all my work on. Are they called memory sticks because they are so easily forgotten? Instead, Jackie and I had a quiet evening together, and I resolved to get to work early on Tuesday and to finally complete the V&V report.
Vanessa (our Development and Training Officer) hosted a meeting to launch our 2007-08 training programme, and I met with Anne (our Funding Advisor), and Maria on our forthcoming networking lunches, wrote the introduction for our Community Directory and did some work on the HIC project specifications.
Watford CVS is leading on the design of two projects. One project is “to create a sustainable infrastructure to identify and meet the training needs of 3rd sector organisations in Hertfordshire” and the other is to work up a strategy for delivering IT infrastructure to voluntary groups in Herts. Also, I am contributing to the overall Infrastructure Development Strategy. And all three documents need to be completed by 16 November.
So I first need to complete the Value and Volumes study and the Community Directory. With the Community Directory nearly done, I decided at 6:00 pm that I would go home and do some work there on the V&V study.
As soon as I pulled up at my house, I realised that I had left my memory stick at the office with all my work on. Are they called memory sticks because they are so easily forgotten? Instead, Jackie and I had a quiet evening together, and I resolved to get to work early on Tuesday and to finally complete the V&V report.
Saturday, 6 October 2007
I spent a strenuous day in the garden, completing last weekend’s fencing project and building a proper compost heap. In the evening we visited our neighbours the Johnsons. The Rugby World Cup has really come to life with surprise (but welcome) victories for England and France (sadly the Welsh are already back home).
Friday, 5 October 2007
I arrived at work about 7:00 in time to work through Steph Gallagher’s draft of the HIC project specifications from yesterday. Steph had naturally delivered as promised and I responded suggesting some small amendments. Sha-Lee has delivered a final draft of the Watford Community Directory and I also spent some time checking this.
At 11:00 I went to see Alison Stainsby (WBC Head of Community and Leisure Services), Andy Large (WBC Head of Property Services) and Ruth Ellis (YMCA) to discuss a bid to the Community Assets fund to help renovate the Orbital Community Centre. We mapped out the broad parameters of a bid, but we all recognised that the timetable is very tight (deadline for submissions is in about five weeks). As YMCA will have to do most of the work on any bid, she will prepare a rough draft to help her decide whether the timetable is feasible.
Back in the office, I found that our Development and Training Officer Vanessa has done a brilliant job on our 2007-08 Training Programme and on sorting out a planning meeting for the Watford One World forum. I wrote to staff about calendar year and leave year ending arrangements: office closure over Christmas, “thank-you” dinner for volunteers, TOIL etc.
I received a call from Jackie to say she had left work after having some quite worrying heart palpitations. Her GP has signed her off work for a week and she has to have lots of tests. She was resting at home and I said I’d join her as soon as I could.
I first returned to WBC for a further meeting with Alison Stainsby, and this time we were joined by Norman Powell of Community Matters and David Fitzpatrick of the Herts Community Foundation. I had not had time to brief David Fitzpatrick on the meeting, but he was thoroughly splendid. We had an extremely positive and productive talk through how best we can collaborate to ensure that Watford is served by thriving community centres. Discussions will continue.
Back home, Jackie was fine but a little worried. I tucked her up in bed adn while she slept like a baby, I spent a few hours preparing our Community Directory for the printers.
At 11:00 I went to see Alison Stainsby (WBC Head of Community and Leisure Services), Andy Large (WBC Head of Property Services) and Ruth Ellis (YMCA) to discuss a bid to the Community Assets fund to help renovate the Orbital Community Centre. We mapped out the broad parameters of a bid, but we all recognised that the timetable is very tight (deadline for submissions is in about five weeks). As YMCA will have to do most of the work on any bid, she will prepare a rough draft to help her decide whether the timetable is feasible.
Back in the office, I found that our Development and Training Officer Vanessa has done a brilliant job on our 2007-08 Training Programme and on sorting out a planning meeting for the Watford One World forum. I wrote to staff about calendar year and leave year ending arrangements: office closure over Christmas, “thank-you” dinner for volunteers, TOIL etc.
I received a call from Jackie to say she had left work after having some quite worrying heart palpitations. Her GP has signed her off work for a week and she has to have lots of tests. She was resting at home and I said I’d join her as soon as I could.
I first returned to WBC for a further meeting with Alison Stainsby, and this time we were joined by Norman Powell of Community Matters and David Fitzpatrick of the Herts Community Foundation. I had not had time to brief David Fitzpatrick on the meeting, but he was thoroughly splendid. We had an extremely positive and productive talk through how best we can collaborate to ensure that Watford is served by thriving community centres. Discussions will continue.
Back home, Jackie was fine but a little worried. I tucked her up in bed adn while she slept like a baby, I spent a few hours preparing our Community Directory for the printers.
Thursday, 4 October 2007
This morning I visited North Herts CVS (again) to spend a very productive few hours with Jacquie Hime and Steph Gallagher on the HIC development plan. At lunchtime, Jacquie Hime and I travelled to Great Chesterton for a regional meeting of “Consortium Leads”. In the Hertfordshire consortium, we started work on our plan back in July and we will struggle to conclude things by the end December deadline. Given this, I was alarmed to learn that at least three of the region’s consortiums have barely started work on their plans.
In the evening, Jackie and I took Rhiannon’s birthday presents around. Everyone else busied themselves and I got to play Hide and Seek with granddaughter Bethany. Great fun - and I think she enjoyed it as much as I did.
Back home, Jackie complained of her chest thumping. I offered as much sympathy and reassurance as I could.
In the evening, Jackie and I took Rhiannon’s birthday presents around. Everyone else busied themselves and I got to play Hide and Seek with granddaughter Bethany. Great fun - and I think she enjoyed it as much as I did.
Back home, Jackie complained of her chest thumping. I offered as much sympathy and reassurance as I could.
Wednesday, 3 October 2007
Making a drama out of a crisis
I spent this morning in Dacorum contributing to a “desk-top exercise” for HCC’s Emergency Planning team. The event was attended by many people from the emergency services and from the military, all looking very smart in uniforms adorned with epaulettes and occasional loops of gold braid. There were also many officers from local government and from the health services, and these could be distinguished by their smart business suits and by the plastic id cards dangling around their necks. And there was also a handful of us from the voluntary sector: we were mostly dressed for a day of gentle gardening, wearing a pleasing mixture of wool, denim and tweed. How my heart swelled.
The exercise consisted of an imaginary scenario (a train crash near Kings Langley), and discussions about risks, needs and the responses of the various emergency services etc. I was struck by four things.
First, in the event of an emergency, no-one is in overall charge and no-one takes overall responsibility. I don’t know why I should ever have assumed that there would be someone to take overall control. But there wont. Responding to emergencies is very much a partnership effort and so relies heavily on good relations and good communications.
Secondly, each agency has its own detailed procedures and “responding to an emergency” simply means “identifying the correct procedure and following it” – this is all well and good provided a procedure exists and is correctly applied.
Thirdly, no-one has looked critically at the engagement of voluntary sector agencies. Those involved in this exercise were the Red Cross, St John’s Ambulance, Women’s Royal Voluntary Reserve and Salvation Army. All of course are excellent organisations capable of deploying experienced and highly trained volunteers. But there don’t appear to be any written protocols or procedures about who might be involved and when they might be contacted. Should Volunteer Centres ask everyone if they are prepared to be called in the event of a civic emergency? What if the Scientologists arrive at a disaster scene offering counselling and advice?
Fourthly, no one at all is responsible for looking after people in general. If it is necessary to evacuate people, they will be gathered together at a “reception centre” most probably at a church hall or a community centre. But of course most people wont go to “reception centres” at all, they will find relatives and friends to stay with. Only the most isolated and vulnerable will turn up at a reception centre – perhaps a single parent family, an elderly couple, or a refugee family. No-one seems to understand that these people need to be treated with dignity, and to be afforded privacy and respect. This could be very distressing, transforming a tedious necessity into a traumatic episode.
Lunches
Back at Watford CVS I talked with two Watford groups about registering with the Charity Commission, and then enjoyed a long discussion with Maria to timetable our 2008 networking lunches and sort out some bookkeeping queries.
I spent the evening sorting through some HIC business, writing correspondence and making more progress on Watford CVS’s Community Directory. I arrived home very late.
I spent this morning in Dacorum contributing to a “desk-top exercise” for HCC’s Emergency Planning team. The event was attended by many people from the emergency services and from the military, all looking very smart in uniforms adorned with epaulettes and occasional loops of gold braid. There were also many officers from local government and from the health services, and these could be distinguished by their smart business suits and by the plastic id cards dangling around their necks. And there was also a handful of us from the voluntary sector: we were mostly dressed for a day of gentle gardening, wearing a pleasing mixture of wool, denim and tweed. How my heart swelled.
The exercise consisted of an imaginary scenario (a train crash near Kings Langley), and discussions about risks, needs and the responses of the various emergency services etc. I was struck by four things.
First, in the event of an emergency, no-one is in overall charge and no-one takes overall responsibility. I don’t know why I should ever have assumed that there would be someone to take overall control. But there wont. Responding to emergencies is very much a partnership effort and so relies heavily on good relations and good communications.
Secondly, each agency has its own detailed procedures and “responding to an emergency” simply means “identifying the correct procedure and following it” – this is all well and good provided a procedure exists and is correctly applied.
Thirdly, no-one has looked critically at the engagement of voluntary sector agencies. Those involved in this exercise were the Red Cross, St John’s Ambulance, Women’s Royal Voluntary Reserve and Salvation Army. All of course are excellent organisations capable of deploying experienced and highly trained volunteers. But there don’t appear to be any written protocols or procedures about who might be involved and when they might be contacted. Should Volunteer Centres ask everyone if they are prepared to be called in the event of a civic emergency? What if the Scientologists arrive at a disaster scene offering counselling and advice?
Fourthly, no one at all is responsible for looking after people in general. If it is necessary to evacuate people, they will be gathered together at a “reception centre” most probably at a church hall or a community centre. But of course most people wont go to “reception centres” at all, they will find relatives and friends to stay with. Only the most isolated and vulnerable will turn up at a reception centre – perhaps a single parent family, an elderly couple, or a refugee family. No-one seems to understand that these people need to be treated with dignity, and to be afforded privacy and respect. This could be very distressing, transforming a tedious necessity into a traumatic episode.
Lunches
Back at Watford CVS I talked with two Watford groups about registering with the Charity Commission, and then enjoyed a long discussion with Maria to timetable our 2008 networking lunches and sort out some bookkeeping queries.
I spent the evening sorting through some HIC business, writing correspondence and making more progress on Watford CVS’s Community Directory. I arrived home very late.
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
I did not enjoy a brilliant morning. During the drive to work I discovered that after yesterday's trips to the recycling centre my car had become a playground and reserve for spiders of all sizes. At the office, I found that everyone else was absent due to meetings / leave / illness. All alone, I tried to do three things at once in three different locations, which for some reason was beyond me skills and abilities.
I enjoyed a very promising telephone discussion with our grants assessor at the Big Lottery Fund. She said we had “a really good project” with "very strong" outcomes defined, and that our business plan was “absolutely fantastic”. I am too cynical to enjoy this praise unreservedly and concluded that she probably says similar things to everyone. But her flattery did at least slightly sweeten the pill of having to break down our annual budgets into quarterly budgets. I passed on our assessor's compliments to Vanessa and Anne (who did so much of the work on our business plan).
Then I dealt with some of the 200 e-mails I'd received since last in the office and prepared some entries for our website.
I then spent three hours or so preparing a second draft of the ten priority project definitions agreed by the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium's development steering group. This last is probably the ugliest sentences ever rendered into English. I apologise. But I can think of no other way of stating this without writing a short essay. Trust me, that's not what you want. For more information just visit Capacitybuilders.
Still exhausted from yesterday's exersions, Jackie and I opted for an early night and a companionable tilt at the Daily Telegraph crossword. We were just snuggling up when I noticed that Jackie's full mug of hot cocoa seemed somehow to be floating freely about four feet off the ground. It wasn't: it was falling freely. It hit the floor with a crash and hot cocoa erupted into the air and landed all over the floor, the rugs, the bedside tables, the pillows, the hand-stitched quilt, the valance, the bed, the curtains, the Daily Telegraph and the bemused old married couple in their 40s. It was truly spectacular. And it was another hour before we finally got to bed again.
I enjoyed a very promising telephone discussion with our grants assessor at the Big Lottery Fund. She said we had “a really good project” with "very strong" outcomes defined, and that our business plan was “absolutely fantastic”. I am too cynical to enjoy this praise unreservedly and concluded that she probably says similar things to everyone. But her flattery did at least slightly sweeten the pill of having to break down our annual budgets into quarterly budgets. I passed on our assessor's compliments to Vanessa and Anne (who did so much of the work on our business plan).
Then I dealt with some of the 200 e-mails I'd received since last in the office and prepared some entries for our website.
I then spent three hours or so preparing a second draft of the ten priority project definitions agreed by the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium's development steering group. This last is probably the ugliest sentences ever rendered into English. I apologise. But I can think of no other way of stating this without writing a short essay. Trust me, that's not what you want. For more information just visit Capacitybuilders.
In the evening, I finished Balham to Bollywood, Chris England's brilliant account of filming in India.
Still exhausted from yesterday's exersions, Jackie and I opted for an early night and a companionable tilt at the Daily Telegraph crossword. We were just snuggling up when I noticed that Jackie's full mug of hot cocoa seemed somehow to be floating freely about four feet off the ground. It wasn't: it was falling freely. It hit the floor with a crash and hot cocoa erupted into the air and landed all over the floor, the rugs, the bedside tables, the pillows, the hand-stitched quilt, the valance, the bed, the curtains, the Daily Telegraph and the bemused old married couple in their 40s. It was truly spectacular. And it was another hour before we finally got to bed again.
Monday, 1 October 2007
Jackie and I had booked the day off work so we could repair our fence. We worked solidly from about 9:30 am. It rained solidly from about 2:00 pm. We gave up at about 7:30 pm with the job still not finished. How we laughed together. We were soaking wet and utterly exhausted. We invented the new extreme sport of fence-building by torch light. We agreed that this was not a good way to spend a day off work. We will finish the fence at the weekend.
Sunday, 30 September 2007
Jackie and I spent the day clearing away the collapsed fence at the bottom of our garden. Once we had removed our six foot tall fence, we found that there were two shorter fences behind it, and that the gaps between the fences were completely filled with weeds, garden waste, and some building rubble. The current occupants of the house came out and denied all knowledge of this environmental catastrophe, saying they had only lived there for a year.
We got on fine with our neighbours-we’d-never-met-before and they helped clear away some of the rubbish. They seemed very pleasant and it was a peculiarly English collaboration: working politely together to erect a fence so that we’d never have to see each other again.
Around 5:00 pm we were visited by Rhiannon and family for a wonderful roast dinner together (how did Jackie manage that?)
We got on fine with our neighbours-we’d-never-met-before and they helped clear away some of the rubbish. They seemed very pleasant and it was a peculiarly English collaboration: working politely together to erect a fence so that we’d never have to see each other again.
Around 5:00 pm we were visited by Rhiannon and family for a wonderful roast dinner together (how did Jackie manage that?)
Saturday, 29 September 2007
At 9:00 am I was at the WCVS office loading up my car with display stands and a little while later I was setting up the stand at the Colloseum for the Watford Community Housing Trust’s big launch event. The Colloseum is a great but under-utilised venue; several of the windows are broken and the place could do with a refurbishment. My “pitch” was right next to the hot air blower that was belting out heat for the entire main hall. I found it hard to breathe while I was erecting the stand and phew was I hot!
But that aside it was a very good community event and everyone was wonderfully entertained by Watford FC’s Harry the Hornet, by the 20-strong Community Choir and by a 20-strong team of line dancers. WCHT CEO Tina Barnard and WBC Mayor Dorothy Hall both spoke very well and very briefly (respecting the community-focus of the day). For myself (once I’d recovered from the unwanted dry air sauna) it was good to see people from Watford Recycling Arts Project, West Herts Against Crime, Watford Credit Union, Watford Women’s Centre, the Short-Mat Bowls Club, and elsewhere. I enjoyed some very useful conversations and I was delighted to find that on this occasion at least Harry the Hornet was really the beautiful Sandra Fullerton of Barnet CVS.
After packing everything away I headed off to Ampthill to visit my sister, freshly returned from a Jubilee Sailing Trust trip aboard STS Lord Nelson. She enjoyed this immensely and was very impressed wiht the crew and helpers.
I arrived home about 8:00 ready for a relaxing meal and looking forward to the weekend!
But that aside it was a very good community event and everyone was wonderfully entertained by Watford FC’s Harry the Hornet, by the 20-strong Community Choir and by a 20-strong team of line dancers. WCHT CEO Tina Barnard and WBC Mayor Dorothy Hall both spoke very well and very briefly (respecting the community-focus of the day). For myself (once I’d recovered from the unwanted dry air sauna) it was good to see people from Watford Recycling Arts Project, West Herts Against Crime, Watford Credit Union, Watford Women’s Centre, the Short-Mat Bowls Club, and elsewhere. I enjoyed some very useful conversations and I was delighted to find that on this occasion at least Harry the Hornet was really the beautiful Sandra Fullerton of Barnet CVS.
After packing everything away I headed off to Ampthill to visit my sister, freshly returned from a Jubilee Sailing Trust trip aboard STS Lord Nelson. She enjoyed this immensely and was very impressed wiht the crew and helpers.
I arrived home about 8:00 ready for a relaxing meal and looking forward to the weekend!
Friday, 28 September 2007
I made several early telephone calls, including to the BIG Lottery assessor working on our second stage BASIS bid, and then I travelled up to Letchworth for an extremely productive few hours with Jacquie Hime of North Herts CVS. We worked through the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium’s Development Plan discussing and all matters arising.
I left in torrential rain and headed off for the COVER offices in Great Chesterford for a meeting of the regional Trustees Together group. I left plenty of time to arrive by 2:00 pm, but two accidents meant that I didn’t arrive until 2:30 pm and on arriving I found the meeting should have started at 1:30 pm not 2:00 pm. Sometimes I need a full-time nanny. Despite my best attempts to sabotage the meeting, it was quite productive and we exchanged news on developments in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Suffolk.
I left in torrential rain and headed off for the COVER offices in Great Chesterford for a meeting of the regional Trustees Together group. I left plenty of time to arrive by 2:00 pm, but two accidents meant that I didn’t arrive until 2:30 pm and on arriving I found the meeting should have started at 1:30 pm not 2:00 pm. Sometimes I need a full-time nanny. Despite my best attempts to sabotage the meeting, it was quite productive and we exchanged news on developments in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Suffolk.
Thursday, 27 September 2007
For any CVS, membership renewals are a perennial nightmare. All our members needed to renew in April 2007. One group (long-standing CVS members) we have now e-mailed five times and telephoned three times all for a £15 membership fee. I am sure they will rejoin sooner or later, but meanwhile they called today and still want detailed advice on a rather delicate internal matter. What should we do?
Vanessa (our Development and Training Officer) has a much expanded workload and she is currently chasing down about twenty hares that I’ve set running. One of these hares is to book both of us on the Charity Evaluation Service’s PQASSO training. A while ago, Vanessa said that CES’s enrolment form requested far too much information, including from our strategic plan. Today, Vanessa discovered that the enrolment form is only available as an uneditable pdf file, so both our forms have to be completed in long hand with old fashioned pen and ink. Vanessa was indignant at this inefficiency, despite not usually being good IT Champion material. But Vanessa is perfect Excellence Champion material so of course she would not simply accept the situation. She challenged CES. And then she was told that the form could not be made available for editing as people kept forgetting to sign them. Vanessa asked me, “do we really want to do business with these people?” and although I secretly found the situation hilarious I knew Vanessa was right. But then, mercifully, someone at CES saw sense and mailed Vanessa an editable version of the form. Another triumph for Vanessa and for Watford CVS.
I had a lesson from Helen in erecting the Volunteer Centre’s stand as I am “doing a conference” on Saturday at the Colloseum - the launch event for the Watford Community Housing Trust. The stand all works very smoothly and I rather enjoyed it. In the afternoon I attended a meeting of the steering group for the Guidepost Trust’s research project on access to Mental Health services.
And then I worked into the evening proofing our long-awaited and soon-to-be-published Directory of Community organisations. I finally left the office about 10:00 pm. But I still had to drop by to see if the Comet Hotel in Hatfield is a suitable venue for our February 2008 county-wide trustees conference.
Vanessa (our Development and Training Officer) has a much expanded workload and she is currently chasing down about twenty hares that I’ve set running. One of these hares is to book both of us on the Charity Evaluation Service’s PQASSO training. A while ago, Vanessa said that CES’s enrolment form requested far too much information, including from our strategic plan. Today, Vanessa discovered that the enrolment form is only available as an uneditable pdf file, so both our forms have to be completed in long hand with old fashioned pen and ink. Vanessa was indignant at this inefficiency, despite not usually being good IT Champion material. But Vanessa is perfect Excellence Champion material so of course she would not simply accept the situation. She challenged CES. And then she was told that the form could not be made available for editing as people kept forgetting to sign them. Vanessa asked me, “do we really want to do business with these people?” and although I secretly found the situation hilarious I knew Vanessa was right. But then, mercifully, someone at CES saw sense and mailed Vanessa an editable version of the form. Another triumph for Vanessa and for Watford CVS.
I had a lesson from Helen in erecting the Volunteer Centre’s stand as I am “doing a conference” on Saturday at the Colloseum - the launch event for the Watford Community Housing Trust. The stand all works very smoothly and I rather enjoyed it. In the afternoon I attended a meeting of the steering group for the Guidepost Trust’s research project on access to Mental Health services.
And then I worked into the evening proofing our long-awaited and soon-to-be-published Directory of Community organisations. I finally left the office about 10:00 pm. But I still had to drop by to see if the Comet Hotel in Hatfield is a suitable venue for our February 2008 county-wide trustees conference.
Wednesday, 26 September 2007
Today I had my first visit to North Herts CVS’s new offices, located on an industrial estate on the outskirts of Letchworth: open plan, modern, spacious, light, good wiring. I was quite envious. They are based on the first floor and there is no wheelchair access, but nor was there access at their previous premises.
I was there for a meeting of the HIC steering group and we had a very productive day sorting out the next stage of the HIC Consortium Development Plan and starting to discuss future projects. The timetable for completing this work is now pretty tight and we are just starting to feel the pressure a bit. But we are making very good progress and I am confident we will end up with a good plan. I am meeting Jacquie Hime again on Friday to try and finalise planning for the next steps.
Back home, I worked through the Value and Volumes results. There are still a few discrepancies to resolve but sometime soon I will finally be able to say that this task is completed.
The news from Burma is not good, with the military junta suppressing the pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks. I know the current Burmese dictatorship is abhorrent, but I don’t know the particular agenda of the Buddhist monks. In recent years, the words freedom and democracy have been grievously corrupted. The words now have something to do with the ability to use coercion (including invasion, terror, bombing, beatings, torture, kidnapping) to impose a way of life on other people. In both east and west, it seems deeply unfashionable to believe that people should exercise free will and enjoy personal freedom to live as they choose.
Also on the subjects of religion and politics, I watched The Protestant Revolution on television. Tonight's episode contained a line from Dr Tristram Hunt that I will long savour: "What is the connection between this urinal and the Protestant Revolution?"
I was there for a meeting of the HIC steering group and we had a very productive day sorting out the next stage of the HIC Consortium Development Plan and starting to discuss future projects. The timetable for completing this work is now pretty tight and we are just starting to feel the pressure a bit. But we are making very good progress and I am confident we will end up with a good plan. I am meeting Jacquie Hime again on Friday to try and finalise planning for the next steps.
Back home, I worked through the Value and Volumes results. There are still a few discrepancies to resolve but sometime soon I will finally be able to say that this task is completed.
The news from Burma is not good, with the military junta suppressing the pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks. I know the current Burmese dictatorship is abhorrent, but I don’t know the particular agenda of the Buddhist monks. In recent years, the words freedom and democracy have been grievously corrupted. The words now have something to do with the ability to use coercion (including invasion, terror, bombing, beatings, torture, kidnapping) to impose a way of life on other people. In both east and west, it seems deeply unfashionable to believe that people should exercise free will and enjoy personal freedom to live as they choose.
Also on the subjects of religion and politics, I watched The Protestant Revolution on television. Tonight's episode contained a line from Dr Tristram Hunt that I will long savour: "What is the connection between this urinal and the Protestant Revolution?"
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
I spent the early morning dispatching some e-mails and trying to sort out my diary (which was beginning to look a little wayward).
Promptly at 10:00 we had a meeting of our accommodation working group (expertly chaired by Pam Handley) and easy agreement was reached on the next steps. This group has now met three times and to the outsider I suppose it appears there has been little progress. But from the inside, I see this group gradually positioning itself to achieve something quite exciting.
With a continued steady hand from Pam Handley, continued commitment from the various participants, and in due course appropriate political buy-in from Watford Borough Council, I think …. Well. We shall see.
Maria (our Office Co-ordinator) is one of those people who absorbs knowledge effortlessly and seems able to turn her hand to anything. After the accommodation meeting, I spent a few happy hours with her going through the post audit journals and reversing journals. Eight weeks ago, Maria had never done any bookkeeping whatsoever. Now she knows the software as well or better than I do, and easily understood the purposes of the various journals we posted.
After this, I met with Sha-Lee (our Directory and Information worker) to talk through the first draft of the new Community Directory for Watford. Sha-Lee has collated and checked all the data and produced a simple very attractive design for the Directory. Now we are at the final proof-reading stage and it should be at the printers very soon.
Before leaving the office, I responded to the consultation Delivering Quality Health Care for Hertfordshire. I made the points that the PCTs needed to have an open honest partnership with the voluntary sector properly informed by the Compact, and that voluntary transport schemes could provide a perfectly practical and cost effective solution to the transport problems faced by many of the PCT’s users.
I finally left the office about 6:30 but still had to drop off for a few visits on the way home.
Back home, worrying news from Burma led to a minor disagreement with Jackie about whether Burma had a border with China. I was wrong of course, there is a border of about 1,000 miles. She barely crowed at all. Has there ever existed a more perfect and lovely being than my dearest Jackie? I think not.
Promptly at 10:00 we had a meeting of our accommodation working group (expertly chaired by Pam Handley) and easy agreement was reached on the next steps. This group has now met three times and to the outsider I suppose it appears there has been little progress. But from the inside, I see this group gradually positioning itself to achieve something quite exciting.
With a continued steady hand from Pam Handley, continued commitment from the various participants, and in due course appropriate political buy-in from Watford Borough Council, I think …. Well. We shall see.
Maria (our Office Co-ordinator) is one of those people who absorbs knowledge effortlessly and seems able to turn her hand to anything. After the accommodation meeting, I spent a few happy hours with her going through the post audit journals and reversing journals. Eight weeks ago, Maria had never done any bookkeeping whatsoever. Now she knows the software as well or better than I do, and easily understood the purposes of the various journals we posted.
After this, I met with Sha-Lee (our Directory and Information worker) to talk through the first draft of the new Community Directory for Watford. Sha-Lee has collated and checked all the data and produced a simple very attractive design for the Directory. Now we are at the final proof-reading stage and it should be at the printers very soon.
Before leaving the office, I responded to the consultation Delivering Quality Health Care for Hertfordshire. I made the points that the PCTs needed to have an open honest partnership with the voluntary sector properly informed by the Compact, and that voluntary transport schemes could provide a perfectly practical and cost effective solution to the transport problems faced by many of the PCT’s users.
I finally left the office about 6:30 but still had to drop off for a few visits on the way home.
Back home, worrying news from Burma led to a minor disagreement with Jackie about whether Burma had a border with China. I was wrong of course, there is a border of about 1,000 miles. She barely crowed at all. Has there ever existed a more perfect and lovely being than my dearest Jackie? I think not.
Monday, 24 September 2007
Early problems and disappointments
The day began with a particularly unpleasant storm. Hopefully it will kill off this autumn’s plague of Crane Flies (what’s the plural of Daddy Long Legs?). The rain bought out heavy traffic and this delayed my arrival at the office. When I did arrive, I found that Maria’s PC had lost its network connection. I had no real time to help with this, but instead went straight into a meeting with a group from Inspiral Arts.
Inspiral Arts are a group of arts-orientated young people. They have a huge amount to offer their community and (without wishing to sound too old and pompous) I am keen to provide as much support and encouragement as I can. On this occasion, Inspiral Arts were eager to discuss how to convince WBC to support a bid to the Community Assets Fund for money to create a community arts centre in Watford. Sadly, I had to report that timings and logistics meant that WBC could support only a bid from YMCA. I felt like a cad and a bounder. But the group took the disappointment very well and I am sure their day will come.
"Isn't it strange; they've got their acts together"
After this meeting, I spent time trying to fix Maria’s PC. But without luck. Eventually I asked Maria to contact our IT support chap Angelo as I had to rush off to a PCT “showcase” meeting in Hatfield. This seems to be the meeting at which the various Herts PCTs all publicly signed up to the commonly agreed plan. This plan identifies three different service strands (outpatients, elective surgery, emergency care) and plans accordingly. It really does seem very logical and sensible. Professor Sir George Alberti, National Clinical Director for Emergency Access, seemed very impressed with the Herts PCTs: “isn’t it strange, they’ve got their act together”.
The turnout from the voluntary sector was tiny but at least someone was present to represent the VCS view. It wasn’t me: I was beaten to the draw by a lady from the Public Consultation Forum. But I did bump into my Chair Pam Handley, whose day job is chair of North and East Herts PCT.
At the end of the day
I checked in at the office and found that Maria had successfully rejoined her PC to the network with help from our IT chap Angelo.
In the evening I finished reading the marvellous Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories. Within the book, she makes gauche and incongruous references to the technical specifications of motor cars in the apparent belief that this is what men like to read about. Jeremy Clarkson has so much to answer for. With any other female writer, these awkward references would seem clumsy and pretentious. But with Kate Atkinson they only underline the charm and character of the book and its writer.
The day began with a particularly unpleasant storm. Hopefully it will kill off this autumn’s plague of Crane Flies (what’s the plural of Daddy Long Legs?). The rain bought out heavy traffic and this delayed my arrival at the office. When I did arrive, I found that Maria’s PC had lost its network connection. I had no real time to help with this, but instead went straight into a meeting with a group from Inspiral Arts.
Inspiral Arts are a group of arts-orientated young people. They have a huge amount to offer their community and (without wishing to sound too old and pompous) I am keen to provide as much support and encouragement as I can. On this occasion, Inspiral Arts were eager to discuss how to convince WBC to support a bid to the Community Assets Fund for money to create a community arts centre in Watford. Sadly, I had to report that timings and logistics meant that WBC could support only a bid from YMCA. I felt like a cad and a bounder. But the group took the disappointment very well and I am sure their day will come.
"Isn't it strange; they've got their acts together"
After this meeting, I spent time trying to fix Maria’s PC. But without luck. Eventually I asked Maria to contact our IT support chap Angelo as I had to rush off to a PCT “showcase” meeting in Hatfield. This seems to be the meeting at which the various Herts PCTs all publicly signed up to the commonly agreed plan. This plan identifies three different service strands (outpatients, elective surgery, emergency care) and plans accordingly. It really does seem very logical and sensible. Professor Sir George Alberti, National Clinical Director for Emergency Access, seemed very impressed with the Herts PCTs: “isn’t it strange, they’ve got their act together”.
The turnout from the voluntary sector was tiny but at least someone was present to represent the VCS view. It wasn’t me: I was beaten to the draw by a lady from the Public Consultation Forum. But I did bump into my Chair Pam Handley, whose day job is chair of North and East Herts PCT.
At the end of the day
I checked in at the office and found that Maria had successfully rejoined her PC to the network with help from our IT chap Angelo.
In the evening I finished reading the marvellous Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories. Within the book, she makes gauche and incongruous references to the technical specifications of motor cars in the apparent belief that this is what men like to read about. Jeremy Clarkson has so much to answer for. With any other female writer, these awkward references would seem clumsy and pretentious. But with Kate Atkinson they only underline the charm and character of the book and its writer.
Saturday, 22 September 2007
A relaxing romantic day reminiscing with Jackie.
And I finished Russell Braddon’s biography Nancy Wake or the “Little White Mouse”. She was an Australian girl who travelled to Europe in the late 1930s, married a Marseilles businessman, and then at the outbreak of WWII helped found an escape route for allied soldiers, then fled France herself in 1942, only to return a year later as a trained SOE agent to lead a force of 7,000 Maquis in the Massif Central. An amazing story of bravery and self-sacrifice.
And I finished Russell Braddon’s biography Nancy Wake or the “Little White Mouse”. She was an Australian girl who travelled to Europe in the late 1930s, married a Marseilles businessman, and then at the outbreak of WWII helped found an escape route for allied soldiers, then fled France herself in 1942, only to return a year later as a trained SOE agent to lead a force of 7,000 Maquis in the Massif Central. An amazing story of bravery and self-sacrifice.
Friday, 21 September 2007
Talking of chairs
In the morning, I met with Pam Handley for my monthly supervision meeting. In all truthfulness, rarely a day goes by when I do not at some point have cause to be thankful that I have Pam as my Chair of trustees. At this meeting, we had a typically constructive and wide-ranging discussion about politics, needs and priorities. Enormously helpful.
After, I spoke with Helen Price about the vacant role of Chair at Volunteering Herts. I suggested that she might consider offering to fill the role for a short period. Obviously she has the skills and ability to perform this role, but I had previously been concerned that Helen is already swamped with work within Watford. But this is a good development opportunity for Helen too, and she is smart enough to make sure that Watford gains maximum benefit from her closer engagement with county-wide agendas. So I hope Helen will “allow her name to go forward”.
I confirmed to WBC that I would attend a meeting on how to overcome inequalities in health care. As I was packing my bag to leave the office, I took a call from Herts County Council who invited me to a “desktop exercise” on planning for local emergencies. I think this was in response to an enquiry I had made about emergency planning in Watford following the summer’s flooding. Anyway, I said I would attend the event to make sure that I understood what might be expected of the voluntary sector in an emergency.
I replaced the receiver and was about to leave rushing to catch a train, when I received a message that the Ministry of Defence were on the telephone for me. My curiosity piqued, I took the call. There was a very pleasant man on the telephone inviting me to a meeting in London as advance planning for Veterans Day on 27 June. Different to Remembrance Sunday, the main purpose of Veterans Day is to remind people that veterans are of all ages and backgrounds and that they make an active contribution to their communities. I couldn’t make the London meeting but said I would be interested in helping stage a Watford event on 27 June.
At the end of the call I bolted from the office and just caught my train into London for a meeting at the Disability Law Service in Whitechapel. It was a useful meeting. DLS has made enormous strides in the past month or two and is still waiting to learn the outcome of further funding bids. London seems to change every time I visit. I arrived home just after 7:00 pm and enjoyed a nice evening at home.
In the morning, I met with Pam Handley for my monthly supervision meeting. In all truthfulness, rarely a day goes by when I do not at some point have cause to be thankful that I have Pam as my Chair of trustees. At this meeting, we had a typically constructive and wide-ranging discussion about politics, needs and priorities. Enormously helpful.
After, I spoke with Helen Price about the vacant role of Chair at Volunteering Herts. I suggested that she might consider offering to fill the role for a short period. Obviously she has the skills and ability to perform this role, but I had previously been concerned that Helen is already swamped with work within Watford. But this is a good development opportunity for Helen too, and she is smart enough to make sure that Watford gains maximum benefit from her closer engagement with county-wide agendas. So I hope Helen will “allow her name to go forward”.
I confirmed to WBC that I would attend a meeting on how to overcome inequalities in health care. As I was packing my bag to leave the office, I took a call from Herts County Council who invited me to a “desktop exercise” on planning for local emergencies. I think this was in response to an enquiry I had made about emergency planning in Watford following the summer’s flooding. Anyway, I said I would attend the event to make sure that I understood what might be expected of the voluntary sector in an emergency.
I replaced the receiver and was about to leave rushing to catch a train, when I received a message that the Ministry of Defence were on the telephone for me. My curiosity piqued, I took the call. There was a very pleasant man on the telephone inviting me to a meeting in London as advance planning for Veterans Day on 27 June. Different to Remembrance Sunday, the main purpose of Veterans Day is to remind people that veterans are of all ages and backgrounds and that they make an active contribution to their communities. I couldn’t make the London meeting but said I would be interested in helping stage a Watford event on 27 June.
At the end of the call I bolted from the office and just caught my train into London for a meeting at the Disability Law Service in Whitechapel. It was a useful meeting. DLS has made enormous strides in the past month or two and is still waiting to learn the outcome of further funding bids. London seems to change every time I visit. I arrived home just after 7:00 pm and enjoyed a nice evening at home.
Thursday, 20 September 2007
Herts CVS
Knowing that I had a 9:30 meeting of the CEOs from all the Herts CVSs, I arrived early this morning to get some correspondence out of the way. Then Paul Ruskin (our regional IT champion) called to say he was held up in traffic in Cambridgeshire and would be late for the Herts CVS meeting. We had a very pleasant and productive talk through some IT issues. I know the call took 47 minutes because Paul told me so just as we said goodbye. Thanks Paul.
The 9:30 meeting of Herts CVS was plagued by bad traffic in Hertfordshire too and we finally got underway about 10:00. Paul Ruskin arrived and gave an interesting presentation on database options and the development of a county-wide “share hub” to share (and publish) core information. Over the past couple of years Paul has achieved a great deal for the Cambridgeshire Circuit Riders project and as the regional IT champion, but I'm pleased to say that he still carries about him the dash and swagger of the private sector and the evangelical enthusiasm of the new convert.
Also around the table was our saintly and wise Chairperson Ian Richardson, always seeking consensus and always ready with a kind word. Almost single-handedly and with few resources, Ian has fashioned a viable CVS operation over Broxbourne and East Herts, a fantastic achievement.
Also present were the utterly divine Jacquie Hime, who has transformed the fortunes of the CVS in North Herts making it a major service provider; and the elegant and steadfast Mary Green who has drawn on bottomless reserves of patience and creativity to sustain a CVS presence in Three Rivers; and the intrepid but demure Ann Jansz of Stevenage who very ably represents the county’s voluntary sector on Hertfordshire Forward; and the vivacious and adroit Laura Cronshaw who delivers an excellent CVS service in St Albans; and of course the charming and perspicacious Robin Charnley of Hertsmere who, equipped only with a sow’s ear, makes sure that voluntarism has a strong voice throughout Hertsmere.
That’s enough flattery for now. But my point is that the Herts CVS group are all intelligent and good people working hard to secure the best possible conditions for voluntarism. In this I think the County is well-served. The question is always: how best to co-ordinate our efforts when we each operate in such different circumstances?
Connexions
In the afternoon I met with our three Connexions Personal Advisors (Des, Farzana and Saud) to go through the feedback from our contract manager Louise Jones. This was extremely useful and also interesting as it highlighted one or two practical difficulties. For example, at each meeting with a young “client”, the system requires the PA to write up a few key points and get the client to sign their name to the sheet. But often the clients are in some state of crisis and always they resist formality to a greater or lesser extent. And the mere act of requesting a signature transforms the meeting and the relationship, not necessarily for the better.
Other things
Later in the afternoon I had a call from a BBC producer who had just finished recording at a local supermarket and who had a “van full of dry goods" to donate to a local charity. We do receive calls like this fairly often and are always pleased to help divert goods to our member organisations. In this instance, I suggested that the BBC contact the excellent New Hope Trust.
Vanessa asked about recruiting for a food hygeine course. Funding had been provided by Watford Borough Council and spaces were very limited - I suggested that she promote the course only to our member organisations. It’s often difficult to define which groups can benefit from each service, but when spaces are limited we have to give priority to our members.
Knowing that I had a 9:30 meeting of the CEOs from all the Herts CVSs, I arrived early this morning to get some correspondence out of the way. Then Paul Ruskin (our regional IT champion) called to say he was held up in traffic in Cambridgeshire and would be late for the Herts CVS meeting. We had a very pleasant and productive talk through some IT issues. I know the call took 47 minutes because Paul told me so just as we said goodbye. Thanks Paul.
The 9:30 meeting of Herts CVS was plagued by bad traffic in Hertfordshire too and we finally got underway about 10:00. Paul Ruskin arrived and gave an interesting presentation on database options and the development of a county-wide “share hub” to share (and publish) core information. Over the past couple of years Paul has achieved a great deal for the Cambridgeshire Circuit Riders project and as the regional IT champion, but I'm pleased to say that he still carries about him the dash and swagger of the private sector and the evangelical enthusiasm of the new convert.
Also around the table was our saintly and wise Chairperson Ian Richardson, always seeking consensus and always ready with a kind word. Almost single-handedly and with few resources, Ian has fashioned a viable CVS operation over Broxbourne and East Herts, a fantastic achievement.
Also present were the utterly divine Jacquie Hime, who has transformed the fortunes of the CVS in North Herts making it a major service provider; and the elegant and steadfast Mary Green who has drawn on bottomless reserves of patience and creativity to sustain a CVS presence in Three Rivers; and the intrepid but demure Ann Jansz of Stevenage who very ably represents the county’s voluntary sector on Hertfordshire Forward; and the vivacious and adroit Laura Cronshaw who delivers an excellent CVS service in St Albans; and of course the charming and perspicacious Robin Charnley of Hertsmere who, equipped only with a sow’s ear, makes sure that voluntarism has a strong voice throughout Hertsmere.
That’s enough flattery for now. But my point is that the Herts CVS group are all intelligent and good people working hard to secure the best possible conditions for voluntarism. In this I think the County is well-served. The question is always: how best to co-ordinate our efforts when we each operate in such different circumstances?
Connexions
In the afternoon I met with our three Connexions Personal Advisors (Des, Farzana and Saud) to go through the feedback from our contract manager Louise Jones. This was extremely useful and also interesting as it highlighted one or two practical difficulties. For example, at each meeting with a young “client”, the system requires the PA to write up a few key points and get the client to sign their name to the sheet. But often the clients are in some state of crisis and always they resist formality to a greater or lesser extent. And the mere act of requesting a signature transforms the meeting and the relationship, not necessarily for the better.
Other things
Later in the afternoon I had a call from a BBC producer who had just finished recording at a local supermarket and who had a “van full of dry goods" to donate to a local charity. We do receive calls like this fairly often and are always pleased to help divert goods to our member organisations. In this instance, I suggested that the BBC contact the excellent New Hope Trust.
Vanessa asked about recruiting for a food hygeine course. Funding had been provided by Watford Borough Council and spaces were very limited - I suggested that she promote the course only to our member organisations. It’s often difficult to define which groups can benefit from each service, but when spaces are limited we have to give priority to our members.
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
I had tried to arrive early but heavy traffic delayed me. I arrived only just on time and had mixed feelings on discovering that my first meeting of the day (with a local group on charity registration) had been cancelled. Instead, I gratefully busied myself dispatching several overdue e-mails.
Later in the day I had a lengthy discussion with Laura here about voluntary transport in general and the PCT re-organisation in particular. Laura has identified seven voluntary organisations in Watford that use volunteer drivers, and an overall shortfall of 20-30 volunteer drivers. The current health service consultations are exposing major concerns about hospital transport. Yet the PCTs cut funding for our transport scheme a year ago. Laura is attending a health “transport summit” in tomorrow in Welwyn Garden City so maybe there is hope …
I heard from WBC that their preference is to bid to the Community Assets Fund for the Orbital Community Centre. This makes sense, and may leave the way open for continued negotiations / discussions around the scenery store.
The Sunflower Centre dropped by to erect an exhibition on domestic violence.
In the afternoon I left for home (dropping off to get some cheques signed), enjoyed an hour with Jackie and then went to Hertford to chair another PCT consultation meeting. This turned out to be not in St Andrew’s Church Hall as I had been told, but in St Andrew’s Church. This was quite an unexpected and magnificent treat.
I did not feel that the panel’s presentations and responses were quite as persuassive as at the Potters Bar meeting. Some responses to questions were even a little curt: perhaps PCT staff are feeling jaded as they near end of their sixteen week consultation period.
Later in the day I had a lengthy discussion with Laura here about voluntary transport in general and the PCT re-organisation in particular. Laura has identified seven voluntary organisations in Watford that use volunteer drivers, and an overall shortfall of 20-30 volunteer drivers. The current health service consultations are exposing major concerns about hospital transport. Yet the PCTs cut funding for our transport scheme a year ago. Laura is attending a health “transport summit” in tomorrow in Welwyn Garden City so maybe there is hope …
I heard from WBC that their preference is to bid to the Community Assets Fund for the Orbital Community Centre. This makes sense, and may leave the way open for continued negotiations / discussions around the scenery store.
The Sunflower Centre dropped by to erect an exhibition on domestic violence.
In the afternoon I left for home (dropping off to get some cheques signed), enjoyed an hour with Jackie and then went to Hertford to chair another PCT consultation meeting. This turned out to be not in St Andrew’s Church Hall as I had been told, but in St Andrew’s Church. This was quite an unexpected and magnificent treat.
I did not feel that the panel’s presentations and responses were quite as persuassive as at the Potters Bar meeting. Some responses to questions were even a little curt: perhaps PCT staff are feeling jaded as they near end of their sixteen week consultation period.
Tuesday, 18 September 2007
Another fun day cram-packed with competing priorities
I started the morning with a very nice e-mail from Leslie Billy at Guideposts Trust: Just a quick note to say thank you very much for organising the theatre trip on Friday, Lorna, Howard, clients and I really enjoyed the evening and was very impressed with actors/actresses. Please pass our sincere regards to all the people involved in helping you to organise Friday’s event you should be very proud of your staff team and volunteers it was a great success.
I also received a less welcome e-mail from the Governance Hub: …I regret to inform you that the Governance Hub is not able to support your proposal …. we are unable to provide individual feedback …. We knew it was a "long shot" and we can guess the reasons for the rejection, but "unable to provide individual feedback"? Have these people not heard of the Freedom of Information Act? Open government? Do they think they are completely unaccountable?
I also followed up an enquiry I’d made of WBC about emergency plannign procedures and learnt a bit about Hertfordshire Resilience - the County’s emergency plan.
I continued discussions / negotiations with WBC about getting broader community sector access to training.
I began organising a WCVS stall for the Community Housing Trust launch on 29 Saturday.
I sent some notes to Inspiral Arts about plans for the refurbishment of the Palace Theatre’s scenery store.
I met with Vanessa about trustee training in Herts and about plans for a County-wide trustees conference early in 2008.
I spoke to Andrew Burt at County Hall about plans for a vacant HCC building in Watford’s Lower High Street – sadly HCC have plans for the building so WCVS can’t discuss using it.
I revised WCVS’s entry on the HCC website.
In the afternoon I met with Louise Jones of Hertfordshire Connexions who manages our contract. We had a very thorough meeting about our performance against the contract, and about our partnership with Connexions and with local schools: it was a most productive meeting and I think we made huge progress.
I also spoke with a very helpful chap from Digital Umbrella – an IT services arm of High Peaks CVS. They have a website that contains many of the features I want for Watford CVS’s website. We’ve an application in for funding – let’s hope it’s successful!
Around 5:00 I started work to clear some outstanding minutes that have been piling up. I managed to complete minutes for August’s meeting of the VCS Accommodation working group, and for more recent meetings of the Executive Committee, the Watford One World Forum, and of course our AGM (for which thankfully Vanessa had done most of the hard work).
The Good Life
I left around 7:30 pm and arrived home to a lovely meal. Wonderful stuff. My pleasure was only tempered by the sharp drop in temperature - winter is coming.
I started the morning with a very nice e-mail from Leslie Billy at Guideposts Trust: Just a quick note to say thank you very much for organising the theatre trip on Friday, Lorna, Howard, clients and I really enjoyed the evening and was very impressed with actors/actresses. Please pass our sincere regards to all the people involved in helping you to organise Friday’s event you should be very proud of your staff team and volunteers it was a great success.
I also received a less welcome e-mail from the Governance Hub: …I regret to inform you that the Governance Hub is not able to support your proposal …. we are unable to provide individual feedback …. We knew it was a "long shot" and we can guess the reasons for the rejection, but "unable to provide individual feedback"? Have these people not heard of the Freedom of Information Act? Open government? Do they think they are completely unaccountable?
I also followed up an enquiry I’d made of WBC about emergency plannign procedures and learnt a bit about Hertfordshire Resilience - the County’s emergency plan.
I continued discussions / negotiations with WBC about getting broader community sector access to training.
I began organising a WCVS stall for the Community Housing Trust launch on 29 Saturday.
I sent some notes to Inspiral Arts about plans for the refurbishment of the Palace Theatre’s scenery store.
I met with Vanessa about trustee training in Herts and about plans for a County-wide trustees conference early in 2008.
I spoke to Andrew Burt at County Hall about plans for a vacant HCC building in Watford’s Lower High Street – sadly HCC have plans for the building so WCVS can’t discuss using it.
I revised WCVS’s entry on the HCC website.
In the afternoon I met with Louise Jones of Hertfordshire Connexions who manages our contract. We had a very thorough meeting about our performance against the contract, and about our partnership with Connexions and with local schools: it was a most productive meeting and I think we made huge progress.
I also spoke with a very helpful chap from Digital Umbrella – an IT services arm of High Peaks CVS. They have a website that contains many of the features I want for Watford CVS’s website. We’ve an application in for funding – let’s hope it’s successful!
Around 5:00 I started work to clear some outstanding minutes that have been piling up. I managed to complete minutes for August’s meeting of the VCS Accommodation working group, and for more recent meetings of the Executive Committee, the Watford One World Forum, and of course our AGM (for which thankfully Vanessa had done most of the hard work).
The Good Life
I left around 7:30 pm and arrived home to a lovely meal. Wonderful stuff. My pleasure was only tempered by the sharp drop in temperature - winter is coming.
Monday, 17 September 2007
A very mixed day began with news from the 9th North Watford Scouts, who have received a letter informing them that the freehold of the land they occupy has transferred from Watford Borough Council to the new Watford Community Housing Trust. Why? And what does it augur? I mailed WBC to find out.
Then I had a long meeting with some key people from the Watford Disability Forum. This is one of CVS’s forums, but we are looking to raise its profile a little by finding a logo and revisiting its Terms of Reference. Forum members eventually agreed revised Terms of Reference and a new strapline: “opening the door to equality”. Sha-Lee will work on a new logo.
Then I reorganised our telephone tariff, talked with Herts County Council about Compact, and worked on proposals to create a new community arts venue in the centre of Watford.
Then Vanessa and I met to talk about trustee training, a county-wide trustees event, and PQASSO mentoring. PQASSO is a good QA system. But how on earth does it take five days training before the Charity Evaluation Service will authorise you to even talk to people about the standard? It will cost £1,000 each for Vanessa and I to qualify as PQASSO mentors. Do we really want to go through with it? After a long long talk, our answer is “yes”.
We are also trying to arrange / negotiate general voluntary and community access to training courses being run by WBC for Watford's five Community Centres. Obviously WBC want the five Community Centres to receive priority booking so it is suggested that other VCS groups receive just one weeks notice of any vacancies. And at 4:00 pm I am asked if I can fill six vacant places on a Trusteeship course starting at 6:00 pm. What a waste.
Then I had a long meeting with some key people from the Watford Disability Forum. This is one of CVS’s forums, but we are looking to raise its profile a little by finding a logo and revisiting its Terms of Reference. Forum members eventually agreed revised Terms of Reference and a new strapline: “opening the door to equality”. Sha-Lee will work on a new logo.
Then I reorganised our telephone tariff, talked with Herts County Council about Compact, and worked on proposals to create a new community arts venue in the centre of Watford.
Then Vanessa and I met to talk about trustee training, a county-wide trustees event, and PQASSO mentoring. PQASSO is a good QA system. But how on earth does it take five days training before the Charity Evaluation Service will authorise you to even talk to people about the standard? It will cost £1,000 each for Vanessa and I to qualify as PQASSO mentors. Do we really want to go through with it? After a long long talk, our answer is “yes”.
We are also trying to arrange / negotiate general voluntary and community access to training courses being run by WBC for Watford's five Community Centres. Obviously WBC want the five Community Centres to receive priority booking so it is suggested that other VCS groups receive just one weeks notice of any vacancies. And at 4:00 pm I am asked if I can fill six vacant places on a Trusteeship course starting at 6:00 pm. What a waste.
Sunday, 16 September 2007
Jackie and I spent a relaxing day visiting my Mum, babysitting our grand-daughter Beth and visiting our friend’s new Art Gallery in Letchworth.
In a household comprising two 40-something adults, two 19 year-old boys/men and one cat, I am the only vertebrate that does not scream like a girl at the merest sight of a spider. This past few days I have had to deal with four spiders of exceptional size and speed: big hairy things that move like greased lightning. Perhaps these spiders are another consequence of the wet summer like the super-abundance of fruit and slugs? And after bravely hunting down these ugly eight-legged brutes, my family ask: “oh, you didn’t kill it did you?”
In a household comprising two 40-something adults, two 19 year-old boys/men and one cat, I am the only vertebrate that does not scream like a girl at the merest sight of a spider. This past few days I have had to deal with four spiders of exceptional size and speed: big hairy things that move like greased lightning. Perhaps these spiders are another consequence of the wet summer like the super-abundance of fruit and slugs? And after bravely hunting down these ugly eight-legged brutes, my family ask: “oh, you didn’t kill it did you?”
Saturday, 15 September 2007
I finished AA Gill’s book The Angry Island where he expands on his theory that the defining characteristic of the English is the subversion of ferocious and deep-seated anger. He makes some plausible points. But the book’s most lasting impression on me will be that AA Gill is deeply insecure and occasionally spiteful like a child: I think he needs some big hugs.
Mind you, having said all that I was pretty angry about today’s result from White Hart Lane. Grrrrrr!
Mind you, having said all that I was pretty angry about today’s result from White Hart Lane. Grrrrrr!
Friday, 14 September 2007
In the morning I had long meetings with Des and then Saud about WCVS’s contract with Connexions (ahead of next week’s contract review meeting).
At lunchtime I hurried off to put in an appearance at the formal opening of Watford YMCA’s new residential accommodation. But I had the wrong time and was thirty minutes late, and by the time I arrived everyone had already feasting. With so much to do back at the office, I wolfed down a plate of food, nodded a few greetings and then rushed back to the office. I do hope YMCA don’t think I was too ungracious.
I briefly saw Mary Green of Three Rivers CVS who is thankfully returning from a long illness. I was meant to have met again with Sarah Pinnock of WBC but she had to reorganise her day as she is now going to be absent for some weeks for an operation.
In the evening, fifty people from Watford One World Forum gathered at WCVS for an Indian buffet and then a trip to Watford Palace Theatre where we saw an Indian cast production of A Midsummer Nights’ Dream: a very very good night indeed.
At lunchtime I hurried off to put in an appearance at the formal opening of Watford YMCA’s new residential accommodation. But I had the wrong time and was thirty minutes late, and by the time I arrived everyone had already feasting. With so much to do back at the office, I wolfed down a plate of food, nodded a few greetings and then rushed back to the office. I do hope YMCA don’t think I was too ungracious.
I briefly saw Mary Green of Three Rivers CVS who is thankfully returning from a long illness. I was meant to have met again with Sarah Pinnock of WBC but she had to reorganise her day as she is now going to be absent for some weeks for an operation.
In the evening, fifty people from Watford One World Forum gathered at WCVS for an Indian buffet and then a trip to Watford Palace Theatre where we saw an Indian cast production of A Midsummer Nights’ Dream: a very very good night indeed.
Thursday, 13 September 2007
I started today meeting with Sarah Pinnock and Kathryn Robson of WBC to discuss the need to link together WBC’s Cultural and Community Engagement strategies with our own nascient Community Development strategy and the Community Empowerment strategy that will be prepared by the new Watford Community Housing Trust. We had a very helpful discussion during which I also pressed successfully for the inclusion of the Hertfordshire Community Foundation who would soon be establishing a Watford Community Fund.
Over the coming years, this quadumvirate could be a key grouping.
I also got to follow up last week’s meetings: sending thank you notes to speakers at Networking Lunch and the AGM, and welcoming aboard our two new trustees with promises of a proper induction before our next meeting.
In the evening, aged Ken (our decrepit cat) lost his final tooth. A sad occasion.
Over the coming years, this quadumvirate could be a key grouping.
I also got to follow up last week’s meetings: sending thank you notes to speakers at Networking Lunch and the AGM, and welcoming aboard our two new trustees with promises of a proper induction before our next meeting.
In the evening, aged Ken (our decrepit cat) lost his final tooth. A sad occasion.
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Compact
After a morning trying to catch up on correspondence I travelled to St Albans to chair a meeting of the Hertfordshire Compact Working Group. This was a special meeting to address two key questions.
The first question was:
· Is the Compact a statement of absolute minimum standards (as might be expected if it is negotiated around the table with half a dozen statutory agencies moving at the pace of the slowest)?
· Is the Compact an aspirational statement of best practice (in which case “compact breaches” should be accepted as commonplace rather than otherwise)?
· Or is the Compact a quasi-legal agreement of standards to which everyone will comply and to which compliance can be enforced (in which case many statutory agencies will be far less happy to engage)?
Secondly: how many Compacts should there be in Hertfordshire? At present there is one County-wide Compact, and then an expectation that each District / Borough will also have its own (and some do and some don’t). If all did, we would then have sixty-six Compact documents in Hertfordshire, all needing to be regularly updated and distributed.
We had a useful discussion and consensus emerged around some important issues. There was general agreement that Compact standards and principles should be seen as a minimum requirement below which we should not sink. There was also agreement that if anyone does sink below the standards, then political and moral pressure should be used. There was clear agreement that the Compact should not be about “sticks” or legal enforcement. There was also agreement that the Compact documents would benefit from being shorter and clearer. Generally, it also seemed to be agreed that there should in the fullness of time etc etc be only one Compact in Hertfordshire. These are all very useful "wins" locally - specially at a time when the Public Law Project are seeking a judicial review to enforce Compact standards in Cumbria.
But mostly, consensus emerged around the immediate urgent need to Do Nothing.
This might seem like prevarication. Perhaps it is. But there is also logic because renegotiating a Compact or a Code of Practice can take months of hard work, as can realigning Compact agreements across the County. Meanwhile, the Compact Commissioner has resigned (after committing the Commission to revising all the national Codes of Conduct) and LAA2 is on the horizon for Hertfordshire. Any precipitous moves could easily result in a lot of extra work that is ultimately fruitless.
We agreed to meet again in December to review progress
Hertfordshire Children's Fund
From Compact I went to Hatfield for a meeting of the Hertfordshire Children’s Fund Partnership which is now in the process of winding up its affairs. They seem to have done a good job engaging with 5-13 year-olds. Over the past five years more than forty projects across Hertfordshire have been funded. Many have been very successful but it is too early to know how many will actually be picked up to receive mainstream funding: of the fourteen voluntary sector projects, I counted only one that had been picked up for mainstream funding.
After a morning trying to catch up on correspondence I travelled to St Albans to chair a meeting of the Hertfordshire Compact Working Group. This was a special meeting to address two key questions.
The first question was:
· Is the Compact a statement of absolute minimum standards (as might be expected if it is negotiated around the table with half a dozen statutory agencies moving at the pace of the slowest)?
· Is the Compact an aspirational statement of best practice (in which case “compact breaches” should be accepted as commonplace rather than otherwise)?
· Or is the Compact a quasi-legal agreement of standards to which everyone will comply and to which compliance can be enforced (in which case many statutory agencies will be far less happy to engage)?
Secondly: how many Compacts should there be in Hertfordshire? At present there is one County-wide Compact, and then an expectation that each District / Borough will also have its own (and some do and some don’t). If all did, we would then have sixty-six Compact documents in Hertfordshire, all needing to be regularly updated and distributed.
We had a useful discussion and consensus emerged around some important issues. There was general agreement that Compact standards and principles should be seen as a minimum requirement below which we should not sink. There was also agreement that if anyone does sink below the standards, then political and moral pressure should be used. There was clear agreement that the Compact should not be about “sticks” or legal enforcement. There was also agreement that the Compact documents would benefit from being shorter and clearer. Generally, it also seemed to be agreed that there should in the fullness of time etc etc be only one Compact in Hertfordshire. These are all very useful "wins" locally - specially at a time when the Public Law Project are seeking a judicial review to enforce Compact standards in Cumbria.
But mostly, consensus emerged around the immediate urgent need to Do Nothing.
This might seem like prevarication. Perhaps it is. But there is also logic because renegotiating a Compact or a Code of Practice can take months of hard work, as can realigning Compact agreements across the County. Meanwhile, the Compact Commissioner has resigned (after committing the Commission to revising all the national Codes of Conduct) and LAA2 is on the horizon for Hertfordshire. Any precipitous moves could easily result in a lot of extra work that is ultimately fruitless.
We agreed to meet again in December to review progress
Hertfordshire Children's Fund
From Compact I went to Hatfield for a meeting of the Hertfordshire Children’s Fund Partnership which is now in the process of winding up its affairs. They seem to have done a good job engaging with 5-13 year-olds. Over the past five years more than forty projects across Hertfordshire have been funded. Many have been very successful but it is too early to know how many will actually be picked up to receive mainstream funding: of the fourteen voluntary sector projects, I counted only one that had been picked up for mainstream funding.
Tuesday, 11 September 2007
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
Driving through early mornign mists, and via an hour or so at the office, I arrived early at the Niland Centre for the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium's self assessment day (paid for by CapacityBuilders and facilitated by Liisa Wiseman) to assess our strengths and weaknesses and define our future priorities. The timing was a bit odd as HIC has already established a steering group that is now part way through … assessing our strengths and weaknesses and defining future priorities. But the first three-quarters of the day were useful in approaching things differently and extending the discussion beyond the steering group.
Those present (less than half of HIC members) had to assess ourselves across six headings: Stakeholder Engagement, Skills and Knowledge, Equalities, Performance Management, Consortium Team, and Communications. In each category there was a good discussion and in each category we scored ourselves somewhere around the middle.
Asset Transfers
In the evening I was back in Watford for a meeting of the Community Centre Strategic Group co-ordinating the attempted transfer of five community centres to local management. The meeting was chaired by Normal Powell of Community Matters who occupies No-Man’s Land somewhere between all parties.
The overall project seems to be quite some way along its trajectory, although some centres are more advanced than others. Two of the five transfers are being sponsored (not quite the right word) by substantial and experienced local groups (YMCA and the Women’s Centre) so will probably happen. Another transfer involves a consortium of groups all looking for place in the Holywell Centre And this will probably happen because it must. The other two transfers are more difficult as they involve smaller groups in looser alliances needing more support.
Community matters have set aside more than 40 days of training events for the five transfers. I think this is rather a lot. I must see if the more general VCS can “piggy back” on some of this training.
A brief chat with YMCA convinced me that they could build a good application to the Community Assets Fund built around the refurbishment needs of the Orbital Community Centre. Given staff absences and turmoil elsewhere this might be the simplest option. But I still beleive that the strongest application would be a no-holds-barred bid to renovate the Palace Theatre's old scenery store.
Driving through early mornign mists, and via an hour or so at the office, I arrived early at the Niland Centre for the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium's self assessment day (paid for by CapacityBuilders and facilitated by Liisa Wiseman) to assess our strengths and weaknesses and define our future priorities. The timing was a bit odd as HIC has already established a steering group that is now part way through … assessing our strengths and weaknesses and defining future priorities. But the first three-quarters of the day were useful in approaching things differently and extending the discussion beyond the steering group.
Those present (less than half of HIC members) had to assess ourselves across six headings: Stakeholder Engagement, Skills and Knowledge, Equalities, Performance Management, Consortium Team, and Communications. In each category there was a good discussion and in each category we scored ourselves somewhere around the middle.
Asset Transfers
In the evening I was back in Watford for a meeting of the Community Centre Strategic Group co-ordinating the attempted transfer of five community centres to local management. The meeting was chaired by Normal Powell of Community Matters who occupies No-Man’s Land somewhere between all parties.
The overall project seems to be quite some way along its trajectory, although some centres are more advanced than others. Two of the five transfers are being sponsored (not quite the right word) by substantial and experienced local groups (YMCA and the Women’s Centre) so will probably happen. Another transfer involves a consortium of groups all looking for place in the Holywell Centre And this will probably happen because it must. The other two transfers are more difficult as they involve smaller groups in looser alliances needing more support.
Community matters have set aside more than 40 days of training events for the five transfers. I think this is rather a lot. I must see if the more general VCS can “piggy back” on some of this training.
A brief chat with YMCA convinced me that they could build a good application to the Community Assets Fund built around the refurbishment needs of the Orbital Community Centre. Given staff absences and turmoil elsewhere this might be the simplest option. But I still beleive that the strongest application would be a no-holds-barred bid to renovate the Palace Theatre's old scenery store.
Monday, 10 September 2007
I was supposed to be at the Holywell Centre in Watford hosting a Networking Lunch on the theme Working with Youth. The exciting speakers list included presentations from Millennium Volunteers / Prince’s Trust, Woodside Community Motorcycle Club, West Herts Youth Service, Hertfordshire Connexions, Hertfordshire Partnership Mental Health Trust, Stop Gap and StreetStars.
Instead I spent the day at home hiding my face from polite society and nursing a large “blemish” on my cheek. I worked on the Value and Volume report of our research into on the voluntary sector’s impact across Hertfordshire. But I would much rather have been at the Holywell Centre.
By the end of the day, my blemish had all but disappeared and my face was almost back to its usual radiant beauty. Back to work tomorrow.
Instead I spent the day at home hiding my face from polite society and nursing a large “blemish” on my cheek. I worked on the Value and Volume report of our research into on the voluntary sector’s impact across Hertfordshire. But I would much rather have been at the Holywell Centre.
By the end of the day, my blemish had all but disappeared and my face was almost back to its usual radiant beauty. Back to work tomorrow.
Sunday, 9 September 2007
This morning, my face looked even worse. Although I felt fine, my face looked as though I’d been in a bar-room brawl or had been kicked in the face by a mule. I spent the day in the garden.
Late in the afternoon I had a call from Anne (our Funding Advisor) to say that she would be off work on Monday so wouldn't attend the Networking Lunch that I was due to chair. I decided (vainly?) that I really shouldn’t be showing my face either. After all, who would believe that I hadn’t been fighting in the street? Or worrying mules?
I spoke to a few members of staff who seemed well able to cope without me, and I telephoned Pam Handley who was very understanding and agreed to chair the lunch in my absence.
Late in the afternoon I had a call from Anne (our Funding Advisor) to say that she would be off work on Monday so wouldn't attend the Networking Lunch that I was due to chair. I decided (vainly?) that I really shouldn’t be showing my face either. After all, who would believe that I hadn’t been fighting in the street? Or worrying mules?
I spoke to a few members of staff who seemed well able to cope without me, and I telephoned Pam Handley who was very understanding and agreed to chair the lunch in my absence.
Saturday, 8 September 2007
I drove Bobby to Brighton in readiness for the new academic year. His new house is right in the centre of Brighton’s arty bohemian district so I expect he’ll like it.
In the evening I sat out in the garden and then sat up with Jackie. On retiring to bed I discovered that half my face had turned a horrible shade of black. What’s going on?
In the evening I sat out in the garden and then sat up with Jackie. On retiring to bed I discovered that half my face had turned a horrible shade of black. What’s going on?
Friday, 7 September 2007
Our AGM
Everything went swimmingly despite several members of staff feeling very much par. Everyone went the extra mile and helped make a very good event. Despite my worries, the venue was fine. Despite my fussing, Maria and Sha-Lee managed the food brilliantly. The Chair of Watford Borough Council was supportive and succinct. Our external speakers both gave perfectly weighted talks: Tina Barnard introducing the Watford Community Housing Trust and Ann Jansz explaining the Hertfordshire LAA. And of course Pam Handley chaired the whole event to perfection.
Six candidates took part in a competitive election for the two vacancies on the trustee board. At the end of the meeting, Pam announced that our trustee board will now be joined by John Casstles (of the Sea Scouts) and Leslie Billy (of the Guideposts Trust).
Everything went swimmingly despite several members of staff feeling very much par. Everyone went the extra mile and helped make a very good event. Despite my worries, the venue was fine. Despite my fussing, Maria and Sha-Lee managed the food brilliantly. The Chair of Watford Borough Council was supportive and succinct. Our external speakers both gave perfectly weighted talks: Tina Barnard introducing the Watford Community Housing Trust and Ann Jansz explaining the Hertfordshire LAA. And of course Pam Handley chaired the whole event to perfection.
Six candidates took part in a competitive election for the two vacancies on the trustee board. At the end of the meeting, Pam announced that our trustee board will now be joined by John Casstles (of the Sea Scouts) and Leslie Billy (of the Guideposts Trust).
Thursday, 6 September 2007
Today was devoted to AGM preparations: correcting papers, final planning, fretting about numbers, etc.
Amidst all this, I was very pleased to note that Maria's work is paying dividends: the local free paper this week has devoted a full page to volunteering. Six months ago it would have been just a few square inches, but Maria has won them over. Excellent stuff.
In the evening, I travelled to Potters Bar to chair a public meeting on the future of NHS hospital services in Hertfordshire and North London. It was very interesting. There were two very good presentations and then a very good discussion. Several people attending seemed determined to dig their heels in and defend the current hospital arrangements: exactly the same hospitals with the same services and the same beds. This “radical conservatism” is a curious phenomenon: if things remain the same for long enough they become part of Britain’s unwritten constitution, part of our birthright for which people will go to the barricades - metaphorically, at least: this is Britain, after all. But of course things move on. What did people in the 1960s and before know about today’s health needs?
Amidst all this, I was very pleased to note that Maria's work is paying dividends: the local free paper this week has devoted a full page to volunteering. Six months ago it would have been just a few square inches, but Maria has won them over. Excellent stuff.
In the evening, I travelled to Potters Bar to chair a public meeting on the future of NHS hospital services in Hertfordshire and North London. It was very interesting. There were two very good presentations and then a very good discussion. Several people attending seemed determined to dig their heels in and defend the current hospital arrangements: exactly the same hospitals with the same services and the same beds. This “radical conservatism” is a curious phenomenon: if things remain the same for long enough they become part of Britain’s unwritten constitution, part of our birthright for which people will go to the barricades - metaphorically, at least: this is Britain, after all. But of course things move on. What did people in the 1960s and before know about today’s health needs?
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
I started this morning meeting with our auditors. There is one minor change to the draft audited accounts circulated for the AGM (a couple of wrong figures deep inside the detail of note 15) but everything else is fine.
I spent the rest of the day-time on correspondence and on preparations for the Friday’s AGM. Yes there is a problem with the paper I have written for the AGM amending our constitution. The proposed amendment included in the paper is exactly correct, but the text I have said is to be deleted is from the wrong paragraphs.
And at 4:00 pm I learn of an even greater problem. I thought the AGM was booked into the Main Hall at the Beechen Grove Baptist Church. It isn’t. It is booked into the smaller Lecture Theatre. Oh dear.
In the evening, there was a meeting of the Watford One World Forum. It was poorly attended. Our own fault: many people are still on holiday, it is the first day back at school for many others, it is two days before our AGM and five days before a networking lunch. What were we thinking?
I spent the rest of the day-time on correspondence and on preparations for the Friday’s AGM. Yes there is a problem with the paper I have written for the AGM amending our constitution. The proposed amendment included in the paper is exactly correct, but the text I have said is to be deleted is from the wrong paragraphs.
And at 4:00 pm I learn of an even greater problem. I thought the AGM was booked into the Main Hall at the Beechen Grove Baptist Church. It isn’t. It is booked into the smaller Lecture Theatre. Oh dear.
In the evening, there was a meeting of the Watford One World Forum. It was poorly attended. Our own fault: many people are still on holiday, it is the first day back at school for many others, it is two days before our AGM and five days before a networking lunch. What were we thinking?
Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Sarah Pinnock (Watford Borough Council) and I spent the day in Cambridge learning about the East of England Development Agency’s Building Communities Fund and the Big Lottery Fund’s Community Assets Fund. Fascinating stuff.
The Building Communities Fund is £6m for the East of England region over two years and offers grants of £250,000 - £750,000 to groups wanting to buy premises for community purposes. Their focus is the sustainable economic impact of any project. One or two Watford groups might be interested.
The Community Assets Fund is £30m nationally and offers grants of up to £1m to refurbish properties that local authorities are in the process of transferring to community ownership. My guess is that Hertfordshire might end up with £500,000. The emphasis here seems to be very much on strategic change: transfers that will transform communities and the capacity of the local voluntary sector.
But the closing date for applications is only ten weeks away. This timescale hardly allows new transfer proposals to be developed. So most of the fund will probably be used to ease through transfers that were already in train. And long-standing transfer plans are hardly likely to reflect the latest policy directions of the Quirk Report and the Third Sector Strategy of the Department for Communities and Local Government.
On the return journey, Sarah and I had a long discussion about how best Watford should approach this opportunity. There are three options.
First, we could construct a bid around an existing planned transfer such as one of the five Community Centres already being transferred. Drawing up a bid will be a lot of work, and I don’t think it will really hit the right buttons as far as strategic change is concerned. But will any other local authority be better placed?
Secondly, we would identify an entirely new project or select one of those in the very earliest stages of incubation. There are a few of these sorts of projects, including the redevelopment of the Palace Theatre’s old scenery store and of the Hare Breaks Centre, but it is a vast amount of work to squash into ten weeks.
Thirdly, we can just do nothing and let the opportunity pass. After all, two key WBC officers are going to be on extended absence during the ten week development period.
What to do? My instinct is that if we are going to make a bid, we have to bite the bullet and go for option two. But is this feasible? Especially with the absence of two key WBC officers? Sarah and I agreed that there should probably be serious discussion of these three options and an early decision taken.
Foraging
In the garden, our tomatoes and peppers are struggling, but it is a bumper year for apples and (less welcome) for slugs. Jackie and I walked out into the woods and hedgerows foraging. We are too late for greengages and plums, which have already come and gone. But we gathered several pounds of blackberries, lots of elderberries and rosehips, and enough sloes for a bottle or two of sloe gin. Not a bad haul for a couple of hours walking.
The Building Communities Fund is £6m for the East of England region over two years and offers grants of £250,000 - £750,000 to groups wanting to buy premises for community purposes. Their focus is the sustainable economic impact of any project. One or two Watford groups might be interested.
The Community Assets Fund is £30m nationally and offers grants of up to £1m to refurbish properties that local authorities are in the process of transferring to community ownership. My guess is that Hertfordshire might end up with £500,000. The emphasis here seems to be very much on strategic change: transfers that will transform communities and the capacity of the local voluntary sector.
But the closing date for applications is only ten weeks away. This timescale hardly allows new transfer proposals to be developed. So most of the fund will probably be used to ease through transfers that were already in train. And long-standing transfer plans are hardly likely to reflect the latest policy directions of the Quirk Report and the Third Sector Strategy of the Department for Communities and Local Government.
On the return journey, Sarah and I had a long discussion about how best Watford should approach this opportunity. There are three options.
First, we could construct a bid around an existing planned transfer such as one of the five Community Centres already being transferred. Drawing up a bid will be a lot of work, and I don’t think it will really hit the right buttons as far as strategic change is concerned. But will any other local authority be better placed?
Secondly, we would identify an entirely new project or select one of those in the very earliest stages of incubation. There are a few of these sorts of projects, including the redevelopment of the Palace Theatre’s old scenery store and of the Hare Breaks Centre, but it is a vast amount of work to squash into ten weeks.
Thirdly, we can just do nothing and let the opportunity pass. After all, two key WBC officers are going to be on extended absence during the ten week development period.
What to do? My instinct is that if we are going to make a bid, we have to bite the bullet and go for option two. But is this feasible? Especially with the absence of two key WBC officers? Sarah and I agreed that there should probably be serious discussion of these three options and an early decision taken.
Foraging
In the garden, our tomatoes and peppers are struggling, but it is a bumper year for apples and (less welcome) for slugs. Jackie and I walked out into the woods and hedgerows foraging. We are too late for greengages and plums, which have already come and gone. But we gathered several pounds of blackberries, lots of elderberries and rosehips, and enough sloes for a bottle or two of sloe gin. Not a bad haul for a couple of hours walking.
Monday, 3 September 2007
After an absence of two weeks, I enjoyed an ideal return to the office this morning: no disasters, no major crises, no urgent messages to deal with. Just people getting on with their work. Maria particularly has been very impressive. Even my e-mails have been pruned and I only have 200 to deal with. I spend the day talking to staff, reading e-mails, reading post and making telephone calls. In short, exactly what I’d wanted to do on my first day back in the office. Wales seems a long way away.
Sunday, 2 September 2007
Along with about 50,000 others, Jackie and I spent the day visiting Bhaktivedanta Manor where the Hare Krishna community were celebrating the Janmashtami festival. The weather was perfect for the event, and the combination of friendly atmosphere and unfamiliar images made it feel like we were attending the annual fete of the village next door.
According to our kind and attentive host Jasu Kalan, there were 1,500 volunteers at the Manor for the festival and altogether planning and delivering the event requires about 500,000 hours of volunteer time.
Latest reading
A fanatical fundamentalist sect trying to grasp political power and establish God's kingdom on earth, under laws derived directly from scripture? During my break I read Fifth Monarchy Men by BS Capp. The puritan Fifth Monarchists were Britain's most successful fundamentalist movement and made several attempts to grasp power during and immediately after the English Civil War. Although certainly more successful than the Ranters and Levellers, they were probably never that close to real power although for several years they did hold the ear of Oliver Cromwell. I also read The Three Evangelists by Fred Vargas (a very good murder mystery translated from the French) and The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder (who wrote Sophie's World) translated from the original Norwegian.
According to our kind and attentive host Jasu Kalan, there were 1,500 volunteers at the Manor for the festival and altogether planning and delivering the event requires about 500,000 hours of volunteer time.
Latest reading
A fanatical fundamentalist sect trying to grasp political power and establish God's kingdom on earth, under laws derived directly from scripture? During my break I read Fifth Monarchy Men by BS Capp. The puritan Fifth Monarchists were Britain's most successful fundamentalist movement and made several attempts to grasp power during and immediately after the English Civil War. Although certainly more successful than the Ranters and Levellers, they were probably never that close to real power although for several years they did hold the ear of Oliver Cromwell. I also read The Three Evangelists by Fred Vargas (a very good murder mystery translated from the French) and The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder (who wrote Sophie's World) translated from the original Norwegian.
Saturday, 1 September 2007
I got to baby-sit my grand-daughter Bethany for the afternoon. When I asked her what she wanted to do when she grew up, she replied that she wanted to “cut carrots with a sharp knife”. At three years old, this pleasure has so far been denied her.
Friday, 31 August 2007
We finished decorating the bedroom and I cleared out the study. I spoke with Maria at Watford CVS (where?) who assured me that everything was fine. Jackie and I spent the evening with a bottle of wine in the garden watching the bats.
Wednesday, 29 August 2007
After packing the boys off to Brighton, Jackie and I decided to take the opportunity to decorate our bedroom: why do we do this to ourselves?
Tuesday, 28 August 2007
I spent the day in the garden.
Once or twice a year I shave off my beard; generally after I have absent-mindedly used my beard trimmer without its guard. Today I thought I would try removing the longer greyer bits of my eyebrows using the beard trimmer. And I forgot the guard. I entered the living room and announced that I had accidentally shaved off my eye-brows. I thought I might get some sympathy. With the benefit of hindsight, I can see this was foolish. It was some minutes before my loving family stopped laughing. I do hope my eyebrows grow back before I have to return to work.
Once or twice a year I shave off my beard; generally after I have absent-mindedly used my beard trimmer without its guard. Today I thought I would try removing the longer greyer bits of my eyebrows using the beard trimmer. And I forgot the guard. I entered the living room and announced that I had accidentally shaved off my eye-brows. I thought I might get some sympathy. With the benefit of hindsight, I can see this was foolish. It was some minutes before my loving family stopped laughing. I do hope my eyebrows grow back before I have to return to work.
Sunday, 26 August 2007
Jackie and I spent the day walking around Chester’s City Walls, then met with all my cousins for an evening meal, and then drove home to Welwyn Garden City – arriving back about 1:00 am.
Saturday, 25 August 2007
My brother took us on a sailing trip from Holyhead with his partner Marni. On the way back, we stopped off at Northrop Park to see my cousin Janet and her family. Janet had recently organised a local scarecrow competition that produced 200 local entries and raised £2,000 for the village school. Very impressive.
Back in Broughton, we enjoyed Fish ’n’ Chips, wine and Midsomer Murders. Such decadence.
Back in Broughton, we enjoyed Fish ’n’ Chips, wine and Midsomer Murders. Such decadence.
Friday, 24 August 2007
We awoke in a cloud, but the sun soon appeared to dry off everything. We packed up and prepared to visit my Aunt in Broughton. We took our time and on the way visited the Cathedral at St Asaph. But nothing could have prepared us for the sheer luxury of a clean bathroom, a comfortable sofa, and homemade Shepherd’s Pie. Such joy.
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Thankfully, we finally enjoyed an entire day without the car - just walking along the River Llugwy from the campsite toward Capel Curig and Betws-y-Coed.
The best day yet. We saw a magnificent buzzard. I embarrassed Jackie by singing old hiking songs.
Feeling very pleased with ourselves, we returned anticipating an evening of high jinks over a bottle of wine. But as the magnificent sun faded, a terrible wind blew, and as the wind faded we were invaded by midges. Ho hum.
The best day yet. We saw a magnificent buzzard. I embarrassed Jackie by singing old hiking songs.
Feeling very pleased with ourselves, we returned anticipating an evening of high jinks over a bottle of wine. But as the magnificent sun faded, a terrible wind blew, and as the wind faded we were invaded by midges. Ho hum.
Wednesday, 22 August 2007
We drove from Capel Curig, down the Vale of Conway to Llandudno and Great Orme. It was a wonderful place: Jackie found a beautiful haberdashery in Llandudno and I enjoyed the eccentric second-hand bookshop in the Great Orme visitor centre. We walked the length of Llandudno Bay enthusing about wonderful Wales: beautiful scenery, magnificent history, and a great seaside town. What more could we want?
Then we got careless and drove ten miles further along the coast to Rhyl. The transformation was complete: from elegant quaint Victorian splendour to bleak soulless modern slum. How could anyone tolerate this?
Then we got careless and drove ten miles further along the coast to Rhyl. The transformation was complete: from elegant quaint Victorian splendour to bleak soulless modern slum. How could anyone tolerate this?
Tuesday, 21 August 2007
Took the train up Snowdon. The “visitor’s centre” on the peak is being rebuilt (about time!) so we only got as far as Clogwyn, but this included spectacular views down Llanberis Pass. At Clogwyn, as the mists came down, many walkers wanted to join the train back down – including a very miserable pair of teenage Goths who had walked up wearing only black T-shirts.
Monday, 20 August 2007
We rose early, packed up, and drove to Llantilio Pertholey – source of the ancient and noble line of the Jones family. The church of Saint Telio dates from the fourteenth century, but it is claimed as a Christian site since the sixth century (I don’t know on what evidence). The church was pretty rather than beautiful, and the site boasted many large Yew trees. The churchyard is full of Joneses, but we could find no direct ancestors although we know that many are buried there.
From Llantilio Pertholey we drove through Abergavenny, Builth Wells, Llandrindod Wells, Newtown, Llanidloes, the spectacular Llyn Clywedog, Machynleith, Dolgellau (the foot of Cader Idris), Blenau Ffestiniog and Betws-y-Coed to Capel Curig. Here we found a campsite right beneath the dramatic peak of Tryfen.
The local birds seems fearless: swifts, wren and robin all nested nearby and flew almost within arms reach.
From Llantilio Pertholey we drove through Abergavenny, Builth Wells, Llandrindod Wells, Newtown, Llanidloes, the spectacular Llyn Clywedog, Machynleith, Dolgellau (the foot of Cader Idris), Blenau Ffestiniog and Betws-y-Coed to Capel Curig. Here we found a campsite right beneath the dramatic peak of Tryfen.
The local birds seems fearless: swifts, wren and robin all nested nearby and flew almost within arms reach.
Sunday, 19 August 2007
We eventually left the house about 6:00 am and on a whim decided to drive to the Brecon Beacons without the aid of motorways. This proved to be a good decision and we saw plenty of the country: Hemel Hempstead, Aylesbury, Bicester, Oxford, Chipping Norton, Stow-on-the-Wold …
At Tewkesbury we paused briefly to visit the Old Baptist Chapel where I have ancestors buried. Tewkesbury is a beautiful town but the evidence of recent flooding was all too plain: water marks, removed skirting boards, boarded up windows, and occasional piles of domestic furniture and ruined white goods. During our visit, the water level was back to normal - a good 12 feet below the flood.
Rather subdued, we continued to our journey via Ledbury, Ross-on-Wye, Monmouth, Abergavenny, Crickhowell, and Bwlch to Pencelli. At Pencelli there were only two campsites: a multi-award winning site of pebbled pathways and numbered pitches, and a field on a working farm. We chose the field, where several families spent the evening playing a game of football-cum-rugby all conducted in the loudest Welsh. We drank wine and toasted them occasionally.
At Tewkesbury we paused briefly to visit the Old Baptist Chapel where I have ancestors buried. Tewkesbury is a beautiful town but the evidence of recent flooding was all too plain: water marks, removed skirting boards, boarded up windows, and occasional piles of domestic furniture and ruined white goods. During our visit, the water level was back to normal - a good 12 feet below the flood.
Rather subdued, we continued to our journey via Ledbury, Ross-on-Wye, Monmouth, Abergavenny, Crickhowell, and Bwlch to Pencelli. At Pencelli there were only two campsites: a multi-award winning site of pebbled pathways and numbered pitches, and a field on a working farm. We chose the field, where several families spent the evening playing a game of football-cum-rugby all conducted in the loudest Welsh. We drank wine and toasted them occasionally.
Saturday, 18 August 2007
Part way through packing I suddenly remembered about 25 things I had forgotten to tell Maria so I dispatched a lengthy e-mail. How does she put up with me?
Friday, 17 August 2007
My final day in the office for two weeks and I spent the entire day tying up loose ends. By Sunday morning I will be in Llantilio Pertholey and then ....
Thursday, 16 August 2007
My neice Abi called this morning with news that she had got the A-level results she needed and would soon be off to the University of Wales.
Today was meant to have been a completely clear day devoted to IT and the selection of a new MIS for Watford CVS (with CRM installation problems apparently overcome). Instead I spent the entire day working to get papers out for our AGM. At least this helped underline why we so desperately need a new MIS for mailings! But in truth I already knew.
In the evening I visited my Mum, for what would have been Dad's 85th birthday. Our first without him. Very melancholy, But with a few laughs too. We ended up going through Dad's records of the old Jones family in Llantilio Pertholey - very appropriate given my impending visit to the Wales.
Today was meant to have been a completely clear day devoted to IT and the selection of a new MIS for Watford CVS (with CRM installation problems apparently overcome). Instead I spent the entire day working to get papers out for our AGM. At least this helped underline why we so desperately need a new MIS for mailings! But in truth I already knew.
In the evening I visited my Mum, for what would have been Dad's 85th birthday. Our first without him. Very melancholy, But with a few laughs too. We ended up going through Dad's records of the old Jones family in Llantilio Pertholey - very appropriate given my impending visit to the Wales.
Wednesday, 15 August 2007
Today was my last busy day of meetings before I disappear on leave next week.
Most interestingly, I met with a group from Inspiral Arts who are interested in renovating Watford Palace Theatre’s old Scenery Store for use as a community arts venue. This is a great idea and fits in well with WBC’s plans to develop an “Artistic Quarter” around the theatre. But the plans will cost perhaps £750,000 and of course they need resourcing. We talked at length about funding options and project management options.
There is a briefing session for the Community Assets Fund early in September, and I had hoped it would be possible to send a combined team from WCVS, Inspiral Arts and WBC. Later I discovered that places were restricted to two per local authority, so I will be attending with Sarah Pinnock of WBC. I’ve already had a preliminary talk about the fund with Anne Boyd, our Funding Advisor: if we decide a Watford bid is practicable, we will have to move very fast.
At lunchtime, we had one of our occasional staff meetings. Ideally, we would meet as a group a bit more often, but we are all such busy people. Today only Vanessa was absent. The rest of us had a good talk through some domestic issues such as future accommodation needs, IT, the reception area, meetings, and training.
Later still, I met with She-Lee who tells me that a draft of the Community Directory will be available within the next week or two, and we were joined by Maria to talk through the exact mailing protocols for our September AGM.
Then I was visited by Alison Plant of the new Watford Community Housing Trust. These are major new players in the local voluntary sector, and we will doubtless be doing a lot of work together in the future.
In the evening, Jackie and I stayed in and listened to the pouring rain outside. We do not have an arctic-ready storm-proof tent: its label describes it as "weather proof" which could mean anything. Or more probably nothing. The weather forecast would better be described as bleak than encouraging. We did some contingency planning. Then we did a Daily Telegraph crossword.
Most interestingly, I met with a group from Inspiral Arts who are interested in renovating Watford Palace Theatre’s old Scenery Store for use as a community arts venue. This is a great idea and fits in well with WBC’s plans to develop an “Artistic Quarter” around the theatre. But the plans will cost perhaps £750,000 and of course they need resourcing. We talked at length about funding options and project management options.
There is a briefing session for the Community Assets Fund early in September, and I had hoped it would be possible to send a combined team from WCVS, Inspiral Arts and WBC. Later I discovered that places were restricted to two per local authority, so I will be attending with Sarah Pinnock of WBC. I’ve already had a preliminary talk about the fund with Anne Boyd, our Funding Advisor: if we decide a Watford bid is practicable, we will have to move very fast.
At lunchtime, we had one of our occasional staff meetings. Ideally, we would meet as a group a bit more often, but we are all such busy people. Today only Vanessa was absent. The rest of us had a good talk through some domestic issues such as future accommodation needs, IT, the reception area, meetings, and training.
Later still, I met with She-Lee who tells me that a draft of the Community Directory will be available within the next week or two, and we were joined by Maria to talk through the exact mailing protocols for our September AGM.
Then I was visited by Alison Plant of the new Watford Community Housing Trust. These are major new players in the local voluntary sector, and we will doubtless be doing a lot of work together in the future.
In the evening, Jackie and I stayed in and listened to the pouring rain outside. We do not have an arctic-ready storm-proof tent: its label describes it as "weather proof" which could mean anything. Or more probably nothing. The weather forecast would better be described as bleak than encouraging. We did some contingency planning. Then we did a Daily Telegraph crossword.
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
I spent the morning sorting out a new design for Watford CVS’s e-newsletter. And then I spent a long time trying to sort out our testing of Microsoft’s CRM software. According to a Microsoft engineer in Taiwan, it seems that our installation difficulties may arise because of a conflict within SQL 2005. To avoid the need to reinstall SQL on our server, our IT chap agreed to set up a test area on his server.
At 1:00 pm I went to Cassio Lodge for a meeting of the One Watford LSP. It was a very full agenda, and we finally seem to be addressing some of the big issues.
Returning to the office around 4:00 pm, I spent the remainder of the day preparing our AGM mailing: agenda, speakers, and nomination papers for the trustee board. It is now all ready for distribution apart from the actual audit, which should be ready any day now. I hope.
Today was Bobby’s birthday. I arrived home about 7:00 pm and Jackie had prepared a great meal for us all. Lovely.
Sadly, Tottenham spoiled the party by losing 1-3 to Everton. Have they no sense of occasion?
At 1:00 pm I went to Cassio Lodge for a meeting of the One Watford LSP. It was a very full agenda, and we finally seem to be addressing some of the big issues.
Returning to the office around 4:00 pm, I spent the remainder of the day preparing our AGM mailing: agenda, speakers, and nomination papers for the trustee board. It is now all ready for distribution apart from the actual audit, which should be ready any day now. I hope.
Today was Bobby’s birthday. I arrived home about 7:00 pm and Jackie had prepared a great meal for us all. Lovely.
Sadly, Tottenham spoiled the party by losing 1-3 to Everton. Have they no sense of occasion?
Monday, 13 August 2007
This morning I met with Dorothy Thornhill, Watford’s elected Mayor. WBC is still suffering from the major flood they suffered earlier this year. In the municipal grandness and vastness of Watford Town Hall, our elected Mayor is currently “making do” in a small spartan office slightly off the beaten track. Something about this is very endearing and very British.
Briefly, it amused me to suspect some elaborate charade to impress the voluntary sector and that nearby Dorothy had a second grander office with a marble desk, hardwood parquet block flooring, Persian rugs, Louis XV chairs and a crystal chandelier.
But more seriously, Dorothy and I had a precise hour to talk through several issues vaguely clustered under the heading of “accommodation” but covering in one broad sweep: Watford CVS’s own accommodation needs, the accommodation needs of Watford’s voluntary sector as a whole, the Community Development challenge, the Third Sector Strategy issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government, the concept of “Community Anchors”, the Office of the Third Sector review on The Future of the Third Sector in Social and Economic Regeneration, Community Foundation endowments, the Quirk Report, the Community Assets Fund, the use of section 106 agreements for community gain, Community engagement, the role of faith groups, Leavesden Green Community Centre, Watford Palace Theatre’s old furniture store, the Local Strategic Partnership, and future liaison between WBC and Watford CVS.
It was pretty intense.
The end results were that we needed to improve liaison, we should accelerate moves toward a more strategic approach to section 106 agreements, and we should take an early decision on a Watford bid to the Community Assets Fund for either the Furniture Store or possibly Leavesden Green Community Centre.
In the afternoon, I visited Leavesden Green Community Centre and was given a brief tour. The Centre accommodates some important local services but it is pretty bleak and is in dire need of a renovation programme. And large parts of the site are unused for large parts of the week. Food for thought.
Briefly, it amused me to suspect some elaborate charade to impress the voluntary sector and that nearby Dorothy had a second grander office with a marble desk, hardwood parquet block flooring, Persian rugs, Louis XV chairs and a crystal chandelier.
But more seriously, Dorothy and I had a precise hour to talk through several issues vaguely clustered under the heading of “accommodation” but covering in one broad sweep: Watford CVS’s own accommodation needs, the accommodation needs of Watford’s voluntary sector as a whole, the Community Development challenge, the Third Sector Strategy issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government, the concept of “Community Anchors”, the Office of the Third Sector review on The Future of the Third Sector in Social and Economic Regeneration, Community Foundation endowments, the Quirk Report, the Community Assets Fund, the use of section 106 agreements for community gain, Community engagement, the role of faith groups, Leavesden Green Community Centre, Watford Palace Theatre’s old furniture store, the Local Strategic Partnership, and future liaison between WBC and Watford CVS.
It was pretty intense.
The end results were that we needed to improve liaison, we should accelerate moves toward a more strategic approach to section 106 agreements, and we should take an early decision on a Watford bid to the Community Assets Fund for either the Furniture Store or possibly Leavesden Green Community Centre.
In the afternoon, I visited Leavesden Green Community Centre and was given a brief tour. The Centre accommodates some important local services but it is pretty bleak and is in dire need of a renovation programme. And large parts of the site are unused for large parts of the week. Food for thought.
Sunday, 12 August 2007
A wonderful day in the garden. In the evening we stayed up to see the Perseids. It was cold and my neck ached, but we were rewarded with one spectacular Perseid that zapped half-way across the sky, north to south.
After the deep pleasure of reading Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle, I attempted E=MC2 - a biography by David Bodanis. Not quite so exhilirating, and I think 100 pages of footnotes was a bit excessive. Today I finished Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear. I could just about accept the female 1930 private eye, rescued from a life in service and set up in some sort of social enterprise by philanthropic aristocrats. With gritted teeth I could even put up with the comic cockney cripple. I think the final straw came when the comic cockney cripple was sent off for pilates exercises to cure his war wound. It would have been easier to digest as a comic novel. I am sure Jacqueline Winspear has a devoted readership, but I wont be joining them. Now I am reading Early English Land Tenure by Eric John. Perhaps it will throw some light on the Community Assets Fund. Ho ho.
After the deep pleasure of reading Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle, I attempted E=MC2 - a biography by David Bodanis. Not quite so exhilirating, and I think 100 pages of footnotes was a bit excessive. Today I finished Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear. I could just about accept the female 1930 private eye, rescued from a life in service and set up in some sort of social enterprise by philanthropic aristocrats. With gritted teeth I could even put up with the comic cockney cripple. I think the final straw came when the comic cockney cripple was sent off for pilates exercises to cure his war wound. It would have been easier to digest as a comic novel. I am sure Jacqueline Winspear has a devoted readership, but I wont be joining them. Now I am reading Early English Land Tenure by Eric John. Perhaps it will throw some light on the Community Assets Fund. Ho ho.
Saturday, 11 August 2007
Jackie and I spent the day surrounded by maps and tent pegs and camping stoves etc preparing for our walking holiday in Wales. We may need porters.
Here we go again
Spurs began the new football season in grand style, losing to a last minute goal.
Here we go again
Spurs began the new football season in grand style, losing to a last minute goal.
Friday, 10 August 2007
Another day of catching up and preparation. I beavered away at my e-mails. At the start of the day I had 80 bearing little red “to do” flags. At one point I had whittled this down to 40. But by the end of the day the little red flags had risen again to 55. Still, the overall direction of travel is good.
Thursday, 9 August 2007
My son Bobby returned from America, stayed the night and was gone again: international man of mystery.
My focus at the moment is on leaving things as stable as possible when I go on leave from 17 August. This means ensuring that staff feel comfortable with their work, understand the nature of various deadlines, understand the range of outcomes that are possible – and how welcome they are, and have the confidence to deal with these things.
Several other staff will also be absent while I am away, so an awful lot will rest on the shoulders of those who remain. Particularly on the tender shoulders of Maria Waszkis, our Office Co-ordinator. I spent a large part of the day with Maria talking through what she needs to do in relation to our 5 September One World forum meeting, our 7 September AGM, our 10 September Networking Lunch and our 14 September trip to the theatre. This is an important cycle of meetings and it is important that we get a good turn out for each event. By the time I return to work on 3 September, it will be too late for me to influence things. So Maria has to chase up attendance etc. I also spent time showing Maria our accounts system. I am very impressed with how quickly she understands things.
In the afternoon, I called Mary Green of Three Rivers CVS who has been absent from work for a while. She is coping ok and I was as supportive as I could be.
On leaving work I took cheques to be signed by Pam Handley. She kindly showed me the chickens she keeps in her back garden. It is a nice coincidence that only last week Jackie and I discussed the possibility of keeping chickens in our back garden.
My focus at the moment is on leaving things as stable as possible when I go on leave from 17 August. This means ensuring that staff feel comfortable with their work, understand the nature of various deadlines, understand the range of outcomes that are possible – and how welcome they are, and have the confidence to deal with these things.
Several other staff will also be absent while I am away, so an awful lot will rest on the shoulders of those who remain. Particularly on the tender shoulders of Maria Waszkis, our Office Co-ordinator. I spent a large part of the day with Maria talking through what she needs to do in relation to our 5 September One World forum meeting, our 7 September AGM, our 10 September Networking Lunch and our 14 September trip to the theatre. This is an important cycle of meetings and it is important that we get a good turn out for each event. By the time I return to work on 3 September, it will be too late for me to influence things. So Maria has to chase up attendance etc. I also spent time showing Maria our accounts system. I am very impressed with how quickly she understands things.
In the afternoon, I called Mary Green of Three Rivers CVS who has been absent from work for a while. She is coping ok and I was as supportive as I could be.
On leaving work I took cheques to be signed by Pam Handley. She kindly showed me the chickens she keeps in her back garden. It is a nice coincidence that only last week Jackie and I discussed the possibility of keeping chickens in our back garden.
Wednesday, 8 August 2007
I started the morning having a long discussion with Helen (our Volunteer Centre Co-ordinator) about our team of volunteers.
I spent much of the day drafting papers for our September AGM. At 4:30 we had a small workshop for anyone interested in becoming a Watford CVS trustee, and I was able to use the papers as a handout for this meeting.
The meeting went very well: five potential new trustees attended, three of our current trustees were present to offer support and advice, Vanessa gave a virtuoso performance outlining the role to people, and Pam chaired the meeting with her usual effortless grace.
But before this happy end to the day, we had a series of nightmares on the network, with machines hanging and sessions being lost. Our staff and volunteers were far more patient than I’d have been. Eventually, Angelo tracked the problem down and we think we’ve resolved it. For now.
In the evening, Jackie and I enjoyed another good walk before settling down to sort out some details of our forthcoming holiday. I do hope that the weather holds.
I spent much of the day drafting papers for our September AGM. At 4:30 we had a small workshop for anyone interested in becoming a Watford CVS trustee, and I was able to use the papers as a handout for this meeting.
The meeting went very well: five potential new trustees attended, three of our current trustees were present to offer support and advice, Vanessa gave a virtuoso performance outlining the role to people, and Pam chaired the meeting with her usual effortless grace.
But before this happy end to the day, we had a series of nightmares on the network, with machines hanging and sessions being lost. Our staff and volunteers were far more patient than I’d have been. Eventually, Angelo tracked the problem down and we think we’ve resolved it. For now.
In the evening, Jackie and I enjoyed another good walk before settling down to sort out some details of our forthcoming holiday. I do hope that the weather holds.
Tuesday, 7 August 2007
Annual accounts
I began the day meeting with our auditor Gary Howard. We had a good talk through Watford CVS’s accounts. There are two tricky issues.
First, charities with income below a certain limit have only to produce independently examined accruals accounts rather than a full audit. To readers of the accounts, there is very little difference between the two. The difference is in the amount of work and the cost involved.
For 2006-07, Watford CVS’s income has exceeded £250,000. This means that under the rules in place at the time, we have to have a full audit. The threshold has now been raised to £500,000, but this only applies to financial years beginning after February 2007.
I suggested that we just used our commonsense and stuck with independently examined accruals accounts, as we did last year, and as we will do next year. Gary looked at me with a slight hint of pity. But surely there should be some transitional arrangements that allow people to apply a bit of commonsense?
Secondly, Watford CVS is part of a Pensions Trust scheme. We have received an annual statement from the Trust saying that the WCVS scheme is under funded to the tune of £150,000. Although very real, this liability only materialises if WCVS winds up the scheme. The problem is that the note to the accounts explaining all this will run to nearly two pages.
I also installed our accounts software (QuickBooks) on to the PC of Maria Waszkis (our talented and versatile Office Co-ordinator) and showed her how to enter some data. She picked it up so quickly. Excellent.
Most of the remainder of the day I devoted to tidying up the last few audit queries and completing a draft of the Trustees Report.
Other things
I had another long look at our IT problems as things are getting quite difficult. Our IT guru Angelo and I have nursed the network along for another year, but we now need to start planning an upgrade.
I ended the day by offering some views on a draft questionnaire for some research into the Mental Health needs of local Asian women.
I began the day meeting with our auditor Gary Howard. We had a good talk through Watford CVS’s accounts. There are two tricky issues.
First, charities with income below a certain limit have only to produce independently examined accruals accounts rather than a full audit. To readers of the accounts, there is very little difference between the two. The difference is in the amount of work and the cost involved.
For 2006-07, Watford CVS’s income has exceeded £250,000. This means that under the rules in place at the time, we have to have a full audit. The threshold has now been raised to £500,000, but this only applies to financial years beginning after February 2007.
I suggested that we just used our commonsense and stuck with independently examined accruals accounts, as we did last year, and as we will do next year. Gary looked at me with a slight hint of pity. But surely there should be some transitional arrangements that allow people to apply a bit of commonsense?
Secondly, Watford CVS is part of a Pensions Trust scheme. We have received an annual statement from the Trust saying that the WCVS scheme is under funded to the tune of £150,000. Although very real, this liability only materialises if WCVS winds up the scheme. The problem is that the note to the accounts explaining all this will run to nearly two pages.
I also installed our accounts software (QuickBooks) on to the PC of Maria Waszkis (our talented and versatile Office Co-ordinator) and showed her how to enter some data. She picked it up so quickly. Excellent.
Most of the remainder of the day I devoted to tidying up the last few audit queries and completing a draft of the Trustees Report.
Other things
I had another long look at our IT problems as things are getting quite difficult. Our IT guru Angelo and I have nursed the network along for another year, but we now need to start planning an upgrade.
I ended the day by offering some views on a draft questionnaire for some research into the Mental Health needs of local Asian women.
Monday, 6 August 2007
I started today meeting with Anne to follow up our "formal" January review meeting and to discuss implementation of the Basis project including the development of a fundraising strategy for Watford's voluntary and community sector as a whole. Anne has given this a lot of thought and had some good ideas.
After this, I spent most of the day dodging e-mails and trying to focus on drafting out our Trustees' report.
At the close of the day, I had to tackle a number of network problems. There are several biggish problems about our network - but mostly I just had to clear out lots of junk stored on hard drives.
After this, I spent most of the day dodging e-mails and trying to focus on drafting out our Trustees' report.
At the close of the day, I had to tackle a number of network problems. There are several biggish problems about our network - but mostly I just had to clear out lots of junk stored on hard drives.
Sunday, 5 August 2007
Another fine day. Summer seems to have arrived at last. It was too hot to venture out in the garden other than for short periods. In the evening we enjoyed a particularly long walk across the fields. Very pleasant.
Saturday, 4 August 2007
A relaxing day, topped off by a delightful evening in the garden. Shortly after dusk, two large white birds passed low over the gardens with a curious undulating flight; Jackie and I convinced ourselves they were a pair of owls.
I completed Voyage of the Beagle. This was occasionally tough going, but a fascinating insight into Charles Darwin. In this book, he displays as much interest in geology as he does in biology and zoology. And he makes many social and personal observations. After more than 500 pages, the climax of his book is not about natural science at all, but is a passionate condemnation of the slave trade - "it makes my blood boil".
I completed Voyage of the Beagle. This was occasionally tough going, but a fascinating insight into Charles Darwin. In this book, he displays as much interest in geology as he does in biology and zoology. And he makes many social and personal observations. After more than 500 pages, the climax of his book is not about natural science at all, but is a passionate condemnation of the slave trade - "it makes my blood boil".
Friday, 3 August 2007
After a morning on the telephone, I think I have now sorted out WCVS's next few networking lunches. On 10 September at the Holywell Centre we will focus on working with youth. On 3 December at the North Watford Mosque, we will focus on Watford’s diverse Muslim community. On 21 January (at a venue to be decided) we will focus on The community and mental health.
For the past few days, I have been in the process of sorting out our 2006-07 accounts. My office has looked like the refuge of a mad scientist with papers, files and books strewn across every available surface, including on occasion the floor. I have not tidied up at night because … well, because I feared that if I tidied everything away I would never get it out again.
And this afternoon I finally had a few hours clear to work on the accounts. And at the end of the day I got my figures and tables and analyses e-mailed off to our auditors. I feel so much better.
The perils of answering the telephone
At one point in the afternoon, perhaps eager for a break from reconciling figures, I answered the telephone. So careless of me. I spent the next hour (or what seemed like an hour) listening to a perfectly pleasant lady recount to me her story of several operations, two ungrateful children, a much loved grand-child and an unreliable postal service. Of course I could have interrupted her to end the call, or I could simply have hung up. But she just seemed so damn happy to have someone to talk to.
Back home
A lovely evening with Jackie: eating al fresco, a bottle of wine, a Midsomer Murder.
For the past few days, I have been in the process of sorting out our 2006-07 accounts. My office has looked like the refuge of a mad scientist with papers, files and books strewn across every available surface, including on occasion the floor. I have not tidied up at night because … well, because I feared that if I tidied everything away I would never get it out again.
And this afternoon I finally had a few hours clear to work on the accounts. And at the end of the day I got my figures and tables and analyses e-mailed off to our auditors. I feel so much better.
The perils of answering the telephone
At one point in the afternoon, perhaps eager for a break from reconciling figures, I answered the telephone. So careless of me. I spent the next hour (or what seemed like an hour) listening to a perfectly pleasant lady recount to me her story of several operations, two ungrateful children, a much loved grand-child and an unreliable postal service. Of course I could have interrupted her to end the call, or I could simply have hung up. But she just seemed so damn happy to have someone to talk to.
Back home
A lovely evening with Jackie: eating al fresco, a bottle of wine, a Midsomer Murder.
Thursday, 2 August 2007
By some distance, “meeting people” is the part of my job that I enjoy most. But after yesterday’s maelstrom of meetings, it would have been nice to have a clear day to focus on the accounts. Instead I had another busy day of meetings.
First, I met with Anne (Funding Advisor), Helen (Volunteer Centre Co-ordinator) and Vanessa (Development and Training Officer) to review our finances and our financial procedures. I explained to them the new systems being introduced, and we also discussed further changes that are necessary. Most importantly, we discussed what progress we are making toward our £40,000 fundraising target for the year. “Not enough” is the answer. We have spent too long on our Basis bid and too long trying to recruit a finance officer.
From this meeting, I went straight to the Multi-Cultural Community Centre to meet with a delegation visiting from Novgorod - Watford’s twin town in Russia.
After this, I hurried straight back to attend the Steering Group for the Guideposts Trust’s project exploring the mental health needs of Watford’s Asian communities. And after this I had further discussions with members of the steering group. Then I met with Helen to talk about some accounts queries, and then with Sha-Lee (Directory and Information Worker), Maria (Office Co-ordinator), and Saud Hafiz (Connexions PA).
Finally, at about 5:30 pm, I started work on the accounts themselves. I made good progress and was quite pleased. When I arrived home at 11:00 pm, Jackie reminded me that a key target from my annual review was to restore work-life balance. She didn’t actually say anything (she was upstairs fast asleep) but I knew what she meant.
First, I met with Anne (Funding Advisor), Helen (Volunteer Centre Co-ordinator) and Vanessa (Development and Training Officer) to review our finances and our financial procedures. I explained to them the new systems being introduced, and we also discussed further changes that are necessary. Most importantly, we discussed what progress we are making toward our £40,000 fundraising target for the year. “Not enough” is the answer. We have spent too long on our Basis bid and too long trying to recruit a finance officer.
From this meeting, I went straight to the Multi-Cultural Community Centre to meet with a delegation visiting from Novgorod - Watford’s twin town in Russia.
After this, I hurried straight back to attend the Steering Group for the Guideposts Trust’s project exploring the mental health needs of Watford’s Asian communities. And after this I had further discussions with members of the steering group. Then I met with Helen to talk about some accounts queries, and then with Sha-Lee (Directory and Information Worker), Maria (Office Co-ordinator), and Saud Hafiz (Connexions PA).
Finally, at about 5:30 pm, I started work on the accounts themselves. I made good progress and was quite pleased. When I arrived home at 11:00 pm, Jackie reminded me that a key target from my annual review was to restore work-life balance. She didn’t actually say anything (she was upstairs fast asleep) but I knew what she meant.
Wednesday, 1 August 2007
Lammas Day
I believe Hertfordshire was the last county to enjoy “lammas land” – land that belonged to the manor until lammas day and then became common land for the winter. Don’t quote me: I may have got this horribly wrong.
But I am sure that today is the official centenary of the Scouts. 40,000 Scouts are celebrating at Hylands Park in Essex, and I have learnt that eleven of the twelve people to have visited the moon were scouts. Happy birthday.
Today, I enjoyed a hectic day of meetings. At 10:00 I attended the first meeting of WCVS’s working group on the accommodation needs of the local voluntary sector. This was very productive. I have a few follow-up actions, but these will just have to wait until the audit is completed.
Immediately after, I had a short walk with Marv Renshaw of Inspiral Arts. We looked around the Palace Theatre’s old scenery store, which Inspiral Arts now have ambitious plans to turn into a community arts centre. Frankly, it is difficult to see anything else for which the building could be used. This brings to mind a comment made by Richard Ahrens (of Watford Recycling Arts Project) that the voluntary sector is the goo that seeps into all the areas that other sectors can’t reach. I am pretty sure that Richard put it rather more elegantly.
At 1:00 I met with Jay Gaglani, chair of the Watford One World Forum and then at 2:00 I met with Huywaydah Malik of the Muslim Awareness Forum to discuss the December networking lunch. Then at 4:00 I had a long telephone conversation with Tim Allard (of Space East) who is concerned to ensure that the broader supported housing sector receives adequate infrastructure support.
Between all these things, I managed to make only slow progress on the accounts. Maybe tomorrow.
In the evening, Jackie and I enjoyed another lovely walk.
I believe Hertfordshire was the last county to enjoy “lammas land” – land that belonged to the manor until lammas day and then became common land for the winter. Don’t quote me: I may have got this horribly wrong.
But I am sure that today is the official centenary of the Scouts. 40,000 Scouts are celebrating at Hylands Park in Essex, and I have learnt that eleven of the twelve people to have visited the moon were scouts. Happy birthday.
Today, I enjoyed a hectic day of meetings. At 10:00 I attended the first meeting of WCVS’s working group on the accommodation needs of the local voluntary sector. This was very productive. I have a few follow-up actions, but these will just have to wait until the audit is completed.
Immediately after, I had a short walk with Marv Renshaw of Inspiral Arts. We looked around the Palace Theatre’s old scenery store, which Inspiral Arts now have ambitious plans to turn into a community arts centre. Frankly, it is difficult to see anything else for which the building could be used. This brings to mind a comment made by Richard Ahrens (of Watford Recycling Arts Project) that the voluntary sector is the goo that seeps into all the areas that other sectors can’t reach. I am pretty sure that Richard put it rather more elegantly.
At 1:00 I met with Jay Gaglani, chair of the Watford One World Forum and then at 2:00 I met with Huywaydah Malik of the Muslim Awareness Forum to discuss the December networking lunch. Then at 4:00 I had a long telephone conversation with Tim Allard (of Space East) who is concerned to ensure that the broader supported housing sector receives adequate infrastructure support.
Between all these things, I managed to make only slow progress on the accounts. Maybe tomorrow.
In the evening, Jackie and I enjoyed another lovely walk.
Tuesday, 31 July 2007
I endured horrid traffic travelling to work this morning. But on arrival I was cheered to discover that our IT chap Angelo had managed to install a test version of Microsoft CRM on our server. Previous attempts had failed due to some conflict with Microsoft Outlook - you think they'd have sorted that one out! We are assessing CRM against Volbase and we need to take a decision soon as our need for contact management software is becoming quite urgent.
I played a little with CRM, just testing its interface and the underlying data structure it imposes: there are a few key things I need to learn about the software before really pushing it.
Most of the day I spent working on our accounts (which need to be bought up to date) and on our audit (which needs to be finalised soon).
But I also had a meeting with Louise Jones to review our Connexions contract: this took most of the afternoon but was extremely useful. And I met with Maria to discuss arrangements for our next Networking Lunch, to agree new arrangements for processing financial transactions, and discuss options for meeting our reception needs.
I played a little with CRM, just testing its interface and the underlying data structure it imposes: there are a few key things I need to learn about the software before really pushing it.
Most of the day I spent working on our accounts (which need to be bought up to date) and on our audit (which needs to be finalised soon).
But I also had a meeting with Louise Jones to review our Connexions contract: this took most of the afternoon but was extremely useful. And I met with Maria to discuss arrangements for our next Networking Lunch, to agree new arrangements for processing financial transactions, and discuss options for meeting our reception needs.
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