I got me some bad news for you, Sunshine.

Board meeting days are always really busy and this one is no exception . I start at home on the computer finalising a board report I should have finished last night but was too tired and seriously descending into gibberish. The day at work begins with a quick meeting with one of our trustees who seeks advice on an issue relating to one of the charities he has an involvement with. It is about the distinction between a lease and a license (a subject which has fascinated land lawyers and academics for as long as I can remember). A quick word with Pauline our financial administrator and Jill our Deputy Director about some information I am giving to the board and the best way of managing the process. The board meeting itself lasts most of the morning and reviews the whole operation, accounts, the operational plan, future activity, audit, quality assurance and some of the key issues which will affect us in the future.

After it finishes I catch up phone and e-mail messages and meet Owen a former colleague and now Chair of the Hastings Intercultural Organisation - an embryonic network for BME groups for lunch. After this I return to the office for a brieifing on Intereg funding from Peter (HVAs funding advisor) prior to my meetings on Sunday and the seminar we have with potential French partners on Monday. Never having fully engaged with Interreg funding before I am in unchartered territory (and I am a tad sceptical) but Peter sends some helpful links for me to download and review and we explore possibilities.

I join the Community Network for a quick discussion about how to approach our meeting withthe chair of the LSP and the Chief Executive of the Borough Council later in the afternoon. This is ostensibly regarding the Councils restructuring and some of the concerns of local networks and forums about process and outcome. However, the meeting soon turns into a briefing for the Community Network about the latest on the Comprehensive Spending Review and what this portends for Hastings. The Chief Exec paints a potentially bleak picture which will create some significant problems for the Town in terms of its NRF funding and the kind of structures - such as the Area Management Boards It is an honest and open debate conducted at a good level and members of the Community Network, I think, impress with their grasp of the issues and their willingness to talk at a strategic level - it is a reminder of the journey which members of the network have made in terms of understanding and the confidence to really engage with senior officials. There is an interesting difference of perspective between the Statutory and Voluntary Sector when faced with financial challanges. The HBC line is downsize and collapse strcutures immediately in light of funding problems. Whereas the voluntary sector view is to be more reluctant to take such a emphatic step and seek to extend and adapt. It was also a defining moment in terms of the local authorities understanding of the voluntary sector as it was conceded that the difficult issues they face (loss of funding, uncertainty and managing transition in uncertain times) are issues which we have faced every year for a long time. There is some prospect of succesor programmes which might mitigate the impact but the delay in the CSR announcement pushes everything into very difficult territory.

Hastings Voluntary Action and its predecessor bodies have been in existence since 1855 and have never had funding for a period longer than 12 months so this is a feeling which we have come to know only too well. As ever, it creates more uncertainty which is really difficult to deal with. The meeting breaks up with as many questions as answers but I think members of the network were pleased with the honesty of the briefing if not with its contents. Again it is a wait and see job but I advocate that wait and see does not mean wait and do nothing. There is some serious work to be done to create a contingency to preserve some of the involvement structures which have taken a long time to build up and could wither all to easily. I urge the Council to look at developing an alternative approach by investing in these structures given that every major institution has funding - and a legal requirement to engage with communities. If things are not handled well the very structures which make this possible could be an early casualty. Early evening finds me restless so I go for a run to the sound of The Smiths (it had been that kind of a day). But, as they say at the end of Gone with The Wind..."Tomorrow is another day."

Anyway I almost forgot to identify our lyric reference which is from a Pink Floyd song and here it is from the film The Wall which I often feel that I am beating my head against!!http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GjU4M4G38lA