On the Road again...

This morning the executive of Hastings Community Transport met to discuss the future plans for the company. HVA have been involved helping to create the community transport service out of an older Dial a Ride service and make it sustainable. It has now become, I think the largest social enterprise in Hastings and caters for the needs of about 20,000 users per year. Although HVA is used to working in partnership to set up projects I had never worked on a transport service before. As a consequnece I now know about claiming tax back onm fuel and the licensing requirements of the Department of transport!! Anyway the company has got past its first year - always the most probloematic according to business advisers - and has won new contracts. This afternoon was spent discussing the funding implications of the LAA and a problem of baroque complexity involving East Sussex County Council, Hastings Borough Council and the Government Office of the South East - reminds you of one of those jokes about how many people it takes to change a lightbulb doesn't it. Tonight I am going on a ghost walk run by volunteers as part of Old Town week and hearing about some of the spookier happenings of the old towns past. One of them involves The Stag pub which has a mummified cat in the bar so I guess some intake of beer will be required to keep my nerves intact!!!