Education Education Education

Well whats been going on?

No less a figure than Kevin Curley - the Chief Executive of NAVCA has joined the HVA Facebook group and thinks it may be the first of its type in the entire Country. To think when I first knew Kevin he was unaware of what an ipod was (and used words like Gramophone and "Home Service") and here he is now a pioneer of New Media with Facebook and podcasts to his name.

Yesterday I was asked to attend a joint meeting with a funder and a group with a very good project but one which is facing some compliance issues. We offer support and may be asked to become more formally involved but we shall see. If I am honest the week has gone with a bit of a blur with lots going on - I have been a stranger to my desk so this Friday is a bit of an admin catch up. The Board papers have to go out and there are lots of them this time as there are some decisions about the CVS Partnership structure the new premises and the agreement of HVA Environmental and Public Interest Disclosure (whistleblowing) policies to be agreed.

This morning it is a meeting of the LSP Learning and Skills Theme Group where we talk education reform and learning. We are keen to get training for community activists seriously addressed so I attend these quarterly meetings to sniff out some opportunities. We take an update on the serious issues affecting education in Hastings. Much change is afoot with a federation structure for local secondary schools and an Academy in the offing. Things need to change as 4 local schools have 30% or less GCSE attainment (5 A-C grades including English and Maths). The Government have recently issued an edict that any school not achieving 30% by 2011 will be listed for closure - so the stakes are fairly high. At the meeting I meet a manager of Job Centre Plus who tells me he enjoyed reading the blog so only appropriate that he should now feature in it!

So another week ends and seeing as I have spent part of the day talking about education here is a classic video to start the weekend

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=d0y3jCbDv08&feature=related

Art for Arts Sake...Money for God's sake

Today I wake feeling a bit sore from yesterdays efforts. I ran the first ever Bexhill Half Marathon which would have been lovely on a summers day but given the rain and appalling wind felt like running the wrong way in a wind tunnel. It is all good preparation for the big one on December 14th the 26 miles of which I have ludicrously agreed to run to raise funding for the St Thomas's childrens surgical unit where Jacob had his heart operation. I creep into work to catch up with a Fran who has just returned from travels in China. Thereafter it is a whole succession of meetings and then some preparation for a big members meeting of the Arts Forum in the evening at which I have agreed to act as their independant chair. They face some financial challenges and the Committee needed to bring their membership up to date with their plans. We have been adivsing together with a business coach who is helping them cut coat according to cloth as it were. As ever artistic people find creative ways of raising money and an auction and fundraising event are planned. The committee, on realising the extent of the problem have worked tirelessly to get on top of it and I wish them success with this little video.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5ICh235gj0o&feature=related

On again on again...

Looking back over the past weeks make me realise what a varied time it has been. We are in the middle of seeking to secure some train to gain funding to resource our staff development programme so we have been revisting our business plan with the help of a local adviser from the Enteprise Centre. It is all fairly general stuff. My casework is throwing up some interesting but complex issues from an organisation with significant financial issues to another in which we are trying to implement some proper systems to record activity so that the group can account to its funders in an effective way. In the meantime I am advising on a few employment law issues. I evaluate with the coordinator of the PULSE project a recent drama production around the issue of youth homelessness which they funded. Actually a good piece of theatyre a cut above a lot of the agit-prop stuff of this type you usually see. I caught the performance at the White Rock and it had a well researched script and was performed by professional actors. Apart from that there is some cover for a colleague on long term sick live so my working life is a little hectic at the moment. Some really good news from the volunteering passport side as another of our students is moving into permanent paid work and is the first person in the entire country to achieve the new Level 3 Certificate in Community Volunteering. That whole area of work was an idea conceived when I was running the Hastings Marathon which is translating into a really classy intervention. I indicated that there is lots to my job including advising Jill (HVAs deputy director) about a new hairstyle. She is preparing for a visit to 11 Downing Street as part of the East Sussex Compact delegation who have been nominated for an award.

Nothing if not varied

A pretty random day full of appointments. Firstly a discussion and review of our porposed commissioning response to the Borough Council which will need to be in shortly. Thereafter it is an induction visit with the Councils new Community Cohesion Officer where we discuss this important and sensitive area of work and ways of apporaching it in light of recent and tragic events in the Town. Then it is onto a health workshop where we discuss the best way of interfacing the services of the new walk in medical centre planned for the Town and related VCS support services like alcohol drugs and debt counselling. This is a difficult one as GPs have so little time and referall pathways need to be spot on. We make some progress and the convenor of the workshop makies a special trip to HVA to thank us for our involvement later in the day so we must have given good value. I also review a few cases with members of the team who are supporting groups at various critical phases of development. I then call in at a couple of placements where a couple of our volunteering passport students are based. I enjoy a conversation with a group of volunters who run a charity shop about how and why they got involved. I am considering writing up some of these stories for the UN International. Volunteering Day. Tonight I am supposed to be doing a 7 mile run as part of my marathon training but I seem to have picked up some kind of virus on the place back from Greece so how far I actually get may be open to question.

Keep the faith

It has been what you may call a challanging week all round. The economy is in freefall and the bankers and city people all look like the preverbial is about to hit the fan big time. Workwise I am covering the bases and speak at the launch of a local inter-faith forum. I am genuinely touched by the ffort everyone makes to bring this off and meet moslems, christians, buddhists students from the international village with everyone learning and really enjoying the experience. I was a little nervous, being something of a heathen but I talk about the values that underpin all the major faiths - a kind of doctrinal DNA if you will. It seems to be well received. On the work front I am in the middle of a squabble with the local authority and its Director of Regeneration and Planning. We met for a drink and are now squaring up to each other in writing about some transitional funding arrangements which were - or were not - agreed some months ago. I hate this kind of exchange but hope we can focus on the future in a way that is constructive. Actually, the Director in question is someone I rather like and it seems a bit odd to be "at odds" with each other on this one. Anyway despite our frequent allegations of compact breaches and exchange of e-mails I dedicate this rather lovely number from a jazz festival to the spirit of comon sense. I give you...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89nKf1zCSfc

And Off It Goes

Today is stage 2 of the looming lottery deadline. I awake to 8 urgent messages on my mobile phone from our property lawyer. He has deeds of transfer leases and partnership agreements for me to review and is worried because his server went down and caused a significant delay. So I spend the day reviewing, raising questions and writing confirmation letters to get everything moving. In the meantime, Glyn our contact at the Borough Council (who incidentally has been brilliant throughout) coordinates planning permissions, architects drawings and suchlike.

Apart from that I provide an induction briefing to the Brighton Housing Trust who are envisaging some work in the Hastings area and are launching a training project. I then sit down with one of the mental health bridgebuilder team who is about to embark on a community development degree - then it is a planning meeting about a fund we are seeking to establish to encourage corporate giving. A brief catch up with messages and the most urgent faxes and e-mails and on the practical side a visit to the bank to get petty cash to keep it all ticking over. In recognition of the enormous work undertaken by Glyn I drop off a bottle of wine as a small token of our thanks. On my way the first Death in Vegas album screams out at me to be bought for a mere 85p from the Shelter Charity shop. I listen to its dynamic and diverse beats as I write this.

In the meantime it is now 5pm and our lottery plans are now on their way to Newcastle - all should be well as I signed it with my lucky pen!!!

Talking of lottery check this out...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJReSZKKGNw

Today's the day

My working life has been revolving round keeping the general plate spining going and also working to submit a detailed business plan for the Community Asset Transfer project. Well today was the day and I dutifully hand over the plan to Glyn from the council who is our partner on the project. By the end I was pretty sick of the sight of the thing and anyone who menitons service charges rental footage or business rates to me over the next week gets smacked in the mouth. Apart from that I chair a team meeting and advise one of the companies who are bidding for the new medical centre about how to build relationships with voluntary organisations in a coherent fashion. Then onto a discussion about the community bridgebuilder project and then back to the e-mails that could not wait.

I decide to celebrate by buying myself a big piece of steak to cook only to find that the butchers/greengrocers ion the Old Town is now closed down. Here in Hastings Old Town we can buy lots of arts and crafts but not, apparently a pork chop! There is now no local butcher which is a shame as my hopes of a steak disappear and the only thing to eat is some vegetarian bolognnaise. I put on some running gear and stride out to the Marina Pavilian and back to the sounds of a new Dubstep podcast I have subscribed to be. Dubstep beiong, of course, the best music to run to as I am discovering. Maybe something about the beat replicating the heart-beat I guess.