My apologies to avid readers of my blog that this New Year addition is so long overdue. In all honesty I didn’t think as many people read it but having received a number of e-mails and comments chasing me up I have finally found some time to remedy this situation.
Christmas and New Year was spent at home and in Barcelona for 5 days with family which whilst hectic was great but all to soon it was 2008 and back to work.
First week back is always difficult particularly having enjoyed a week off but a few meetings around the shared service agenda with my impending vacancy list growing certainly concentrates the mind. The Friday was spent with officials from the DWP and Government Connect discussing becoming a key pilot site for this platform along with Bedford run by fellow Council member, Kevin Stewart. The importance of what has been a project that has been around for a few years with little momentum suddenly has new impetus with a solution needed for the data exchange issues. My advice go and see your ICT managers to get them tuned into getting the Governments Co Co validation process started as adopting the secure internet link via GCSx has risen up the Governments agenda.
A weekend spent updating my NDR and Council Tax notes in preparation for my Swindon students who I am seeing again soon is followed by 3 days in work spent largely pulling together a number of options for changes to the concessionary travel scheme I am responsible for administering at work. Leave on the Wednesday night for a journey up to Manchester where I have a meeting over dinner with David Magor. The 2 day trip allows us to attend the Civica conference which is held at the Theatre of Dreams at Old Trafford and the great man “Mr Ferguson” makes a surprise visit to the conference to listen to a key note speech given by the king of spin and his close friend Alistair Campbell. He was surprisingly very down to earth and entertaining but I missed the opportunity of a prized photo opportunity on the IRRV stand as I got shy just at the moment they walked within inches of Messrs Doherty, Magor and myself. The evening was spent in good company being put on the same table as Barry Norman of 80’s film buff fame. Having only watched about 10 films start to finish in my entire life (including Forest Gump twice) meant conversation at dinner was not as easy as it should have been! We took the opportunity to undertake a visit to the G-Mex early on Friday in preparation for the October conference having been joined by Gary Watson in his new role as Deputy Chief Executive. Away by lunchtime meant I had time to get back to the office for a evening at the laptop
Popped in on the Saturday to catch up before spending the rest of the weekend with friends, shopping for an impending trip to Thailand and tidying the study (a trip to the recycling plant with all the paper I seem to accumulate very quickly is necessary!)
The Monday is spent in a series of meetings with Members and preparing for not being in the office for a fortnight and thankfully the evening’s committee meeting is short. An early morning drive to Swindon in atrocious weather conditions sees it take me nearly 4 hours to do what is at most a 2 hour drive where I arrive just on time to deliver 10 hours of NDR training over the following 26 hours. Leave early in the afternoon for the relatively short drive to Bristol where I present a paper on Delivering Excellence in Customer Service to the Severnside association. I have now done 7 papers to different regional associations in my first 4 months so I am well on target to visit them all. This means getting in just before 9pm and thankfully J has packed my bag for my journey to Thailand the following day.
Thursday morning is spent at work tidying up some loose ends and making sure my blackberry will work whilst out of the country so I don’t come back to hundreds of e-mails. Just before boarding the coach down to Heathrow hear a plane has crash landed meaning all flights out are delayed which sees me preparing for a long wait but fortunately I am only delayed a couple of hours jetting out just before midnight. The usual “I’m 6 foot 2 and any chance of additional legroom” pays off as I am assigned the seat next to the toilets (for every upside there is a downside) but 12 hours later I arrive in the Far East where I have been invited to give a paper at an international conference. The benefit of such a long flight and a few days break is I catch up on 16 IdeA front office case studies, the KLOE’s out for consultation and some other reading which guarantees no one asks to borrow your reading material when you finish with it. The intention is to get some R&R, do a little bit of work hence me sending e-mails at midnight being received in the office part way through the morning and take in some visits to Government offices in advance of the conference.
The difference with international events I have found in recent years is they like to start early 8am and finish late with organised networking opportunities arranged at every break but the conference is interesting in terms of the different issues we all face in both the developed and developing world. Following the conference dinner of 9 courses and declining to sing on the karaoke machine following my Scottish exploits, the evening ends with a cultural trip of Bangkok nightlife organised by the hosts. I retire fairly early as I have an early flight back to Heathrow originally booked to enable me to get back to attend the Blackpool weekend school run by the Lancs and Cheshire Association which I have supported for a number of years. Unfortunately, due to low numbers it is cancelled for the first time since it started 20 years or more ago which in hindsight is a blessing in disguise as having blagged the extra legroom seat by the toilets again I failed to get any sleep meaning most of Saturday involves sleeping and getting my body clock back to UK time zones.
Having caught up with some work on Sunday morning, Julie and I head down to London in the afternoon in readiness for the January Council Round we have 4 times a year. A couple of meetings in the evening before I step down from my Chairmanship of the Commercial Services committee on the Monday but take up the role of the Chairing the Full Council meeting as President on the Tuesday morning. We tend to cram a lot into this day and a half and we make some decisions to hopefully see the Institute prosper in the coming year and onwards.
Back by mid afternoon allows me to get back to work (being President means you keep some very funny hours) and early Wednesday morning as I have booked an afternoons leave to stand in for Julie who is lecturing on the West Midlands Technician course – just my luck as students are treated to an afternoon of grasping Transitional Arrangements and Payment of Interest. Back in work on Thursday the afternoon is spent at the neighbouring Council at one of our bi monthly meetings of all the Head of Services in the county where we discuss ongoing and future collaborative working arrangements. Whilst not impacted by the forthcoming unitary changes, we have been committed for a number of years to working closely across the County where possible which has resulted in a lot of our successes as a Council.
Arrive and leave work early on Friday to get the late afternoon train down to London where I am attending the London and Home Counties dinner hosted by Andy Cummings and well organised as always by Gordon and Carla Heath. It is a very enjoyable night in a beautiful setting close to Tower Bridge and having had a different wine with each course, the evening ends with cup of hot chocolate and lights out just before midnight (gone are my days of hell raising !).
We leave London early to get back for the England v Wales rugby match (I wish I hadn’t bothered) and catch up with day to day chores. Spend all day Sunday writing committee reports on a number of corporate initiatives I am responsible for which need to be in as I am in Harrogate at the Benefits and Fraud conference most of the following week. Spend most of Monday morning proof reading and amending them! The afternoon is spent talking at the local Older Peoples forum meeting on travel and benefit issues before driving up to Harrogate in the evening in readiness for conference.
Having just returned from a busy week, the revised format of running the Benefits and Fraud event back to back makes for a well attended event which although subject to an unfortunate late pull out by James Plaskett MP produced a programme full of the latest issues with both Senior Government and Council speakers and most pleasing some great presentations by new Local Government speakers. This bodes well for the future and hopefully means the call for papers in future will mean the work can be shared around more than the usual suspects. If any of you reading this are interested in speaking at an IRRV future event, drop me, David Magor or Gary Watson an e-mail with what you want to talk about and we will see what opportunities we have to give you the platform.
Return on the Friday having hosted 2 gala dinners and chaired a number of sessions including an interactive and live debate. Last years President Allen Traynor and his partner Dee call in on the way home from the airport before we crash in front of the TV with some fish finger sandwiches (a real treat after the hectic week)
Oh well that brings me up to date, today has been spent e-mailing and preparing for some meetings Monday. Looking at my diary, things are a little less busy on the Institute front in the coming weeks which for me is welcome as we prepare for year end, billing, the issue of the new free bus passes and LHA. My benefit manager leaves next Friday so we have a busy week ahead in ensuring arrangements are in place so we as a small team can continue to deliver. Apparently response to our advert in opportunities to fill a few vacancies I already have has received a good response so hopefully we will be back up to full strength by the Spring.
Oh well signing off. I won’t leave it as long next time….promise
Bob
Christmas and New Year was spent at home and in Barcelona for 5 days with family which whilst hectic was great but all to soon it was 2008 and back to work.
First week back is always difficult particularly having enjoyed a week off but a few meetings around the shared service agenda with my impending vacancy list growing certainly concentrates the mind. The Friday was spent with officials from the DWP and Government Connect discussing becoming a key pilot site for this platform along with Bedford run by fellow Council member, Kevin Stewart. The importance of what has been a project that has been around for a few years with little momentum suddenly has new impetus with a solution needed for the data exchange issues. My advice go and see your ICT managers to get them tuned into getting the Governments Co Co validation process started as adopting the secure internet link via GCSx has risen up the Governments agenda.
A weekend spent updating my NDR and Council Tax notes in preparation for my Swindon students who I am seeing again soon is followed by 3 days in work spent largely pulling together a number of options for changes to the concessionary travel scheme I am responsible for administering at work. Leave on the Wednesday night for a journey up to Manchester where I have a meeting over dinner with David Magor. The 2 day trip allows us to attend the Civica conference which is held at the Theatre of Dreams at Old Trafford and the great man “Mr Ferguson” makes a surprise visit to the conference to listen to a key note speech given by the king of spin and his close friend Alistair Campbell. He was surprisingly very down to earth and entertaining but I missed the opportunity of a prized photo opportunity on the IRRV stand as I got shy just at the moment they walked within inches of Messrs Doherty, Magor and myself. The evening was spent in good company being put on the same table as Barry Norman of 80’s film buff fame. Having only watched about 10 films start to finish in my entire life (including Forest Gump twice) meant conversation at dinner was not as easy as it should have been! We took the opportunity to undertake a visit to the G-Mex early on Friday in preparation for the October conference having been joined by Gary Watson in his new role as Deputy Chief Executive. Away by lunchtime meant I had time to get back to the office for a evening at the laptop
Popped in on the Saturday to catch up before spending the rest of the weekend with friends, shopping for an impending trip to Thailand and tidying the study (a trip to the recycling plant with all the paper I seem to accumulate very quickly is necessary!)
The Monday is spent in a series of meetings with Members and preparing for not being in the office for a fortnight and thankfully the evening’s committee meeting is short. An early morning drive to Swindon in atrocious weather conditions sees it take me nearly 4 hours to do what is at most a 2 hour drive where I arrive just on time to deliver 10 hours of NDR training over the following 26 hours. Leave early in the afternoon for the relatively short drive to Bristol where I present a paper on Delivering Excellence in Customer Service to the Severnside association. I have now done 7 papers to different regional associations in my first 4 months so I am well on target to visit them all. This means getting in just before 9pm and thankfully J has packed my bag for my journey to Thailand the following day.
Thursday morning is spent at work tidying up some loose ends and making sure my blackberry will work whilst out of the country so I don’t come back to hundreds of e-mails. Just before boarding the coach down to Heathrow hear a plane has crash landed meaning all flights out are delayed which sees me preparing for a long wait but fortunately I am only delayed a couple of hours jetting out just before midnight. The usual “I’m 6 foot 2 and any chance of additional legroom” pays off as I am assigned the seat next to the toilets (for every upside there is a downside) but 12 hours later I arrive in the Far East where I have been invited to give a paper at an international conference. The benefit of such a long flight and a few days break is I catch up on 16 IdeA front office case studies, the KLOE’s out for consultation and some other reading which guarantees no one asks to borrow your reading material when you finish with it. The intention is to get some R&R, do a little bit of work hence me sending e-mails at midnight being received in the office part way through the morning and take in some visits to Government offices in advance of the conference.
The difference with international events I have found in recent years is they like to start early 8am and finish late with organised networking opportunities arranged at every break but the conference is interesting in terms of the different issues we all face in both the developed and developing world. Following the conference dinner of 9 courses and declining to sing on the karaoke machine following my Scottish exploits, the evening ends with a cultural trip of Bangkok nightlife organised by the hosts. I retire fairly early as I have an early flight back to Heathrow originally booked to enable me to get back to attend the Blackpool weekend school run by the Lancs and Cheshire Association which I have supported for a number of years. Unfortunately, due to low numbers it is cancelled for the first time since it started 20 years or more ago which in hindsight is a blessing in disguise as having blagged the extra legroom seat by the toilets again I failed to get any sleep meaning most of Saturday involves sleeping and getting my body clock back to UK time zones.
Having caught up with some work on Sunday morning, Julie and I head down to London in the afternoon in readiness for the January Council Round we have 4 times a year. A couple of meetings in the evening before I step down from my Chairmanship of the Commercial Services committee on the Monday but take up the role of the Chairing the Full Council meeting as President on the Tuesday morning. We tend to cram a lot into this day and a half and we make some decisions to hopefully see the Institute prosper in the coming year and onwards.
Back by mid afternoon allows me to get back to work (being President means you keep some very funny hours) and early Wednesday morning as I have booked an afternoons leave to stand in for Julie who is lecturing on the West Midlands Technician course – just my luck as students are treated to an afternoon of grasping Transitional Arrangements and Payment of Interest. Back in work on Thursday the afternoon is spent at the neighbouring Council at one of our bi monthly meetings of all the Head of Services in the county where we discuss ongoing and future collaborative working arrangements. Whilst not impacted by the forthcoming unitary changes, we have been committed for a number of years to working closely across the County where possible which has resulted in a lot of our successes as a Council.
Arrive and leave work early on Friday to get the late afternoon train down to London where I am attending the London and Home Counties dinner hosted by Andy Cummings and well organised as always by Gordon and Carla Heath. It is a very enjoyable night in a beautiful setting close to Tower Bridge and having had a different wine with each course, the evening ends with cup of hot chocolate and lights out just before midnight (gone are my days of hell raising !).
We leave London early to get back for the England v Wales rugby match (I wish I hadn’t bothered) and catch up with day to day chores. Spend all day Sunday writing committee reports on a number of corporate initiatives I am responsible for which need to be in as I am in Harrogate at the Benefits and Fraud conference most of the following week. Spend most of Monday morning proof reading and amending them! The afternoon is spent talking at the local Older Peoples forum meeting on travel and benefit issues before driving up to Harrogate in the evening in readiness for conference.
Having just returned from a busy week, the revised format of running the Benefits and Fraud event back to back makes for a well attended event which although subject to an unfortunate late pull out by James Plaskett MP produced a programme full of the latest issues with both Senior Government and Council speakers and most pleasing some great presentations by new Local Government speakers. This bodes well for the future and hopefully means the call for papers in future will mean the work can be shared around more than the usual suspects. If any of you reading this are interested in speaking at an IRRV future event, drop me, David Magor or Gary Watson an e-mail with what you want to talk about and we will see what opportunities we have to give you the platform.
Return on the Friday having hosted 2 gala dinners and chaired a number of sessions including an interactive and live debate. Last years President Allen Traynor and his partner Dee call in on the way home from the airport before we crash in front of the TV with some fish finger sandwiches (a real treat after the hectic week)
Oh well that brings me up to date, today has been spent e-mailing and preparing for some meetings Monday. Looking at my diary, things are a little less busy on the Institute front in the coming weeks which for me is welcome as we prepare for year end, billing, the issue of the new free bus passes and LHA. My benefit manager leaves next Friday so we have a busy week ahead in ensuring arrangements are in place so we as a small team can continue to deliver. Apparently response to our advert in opportunities to fill a few vacancies I already have has received a good response so hopefully we will be back up to full strength by the Spring.
Oh well signing off. I won’t leave it as long next time….promise
Bob
