Thursday 21 May 2009

More things I had to do

I am gradually getting rid of those long-outstanding things from my list; birthdays to remember, parties to organise, wills to execute, committees to set up. So the focus is moving on.

We have made very good progress with
  • the review of how Herons Wey operates although there is still much to do to increase the income - I need someone to look carefully at our pricing and see if we would ever break even or if we need to be more active users of grants; and
  • a review of County. I am very pleased with the new Mission which should be published in Air and Share and Guiders will be hearing a lot about. it says:
Mission and Vision
Girlguiding Surrey West is committed to Girlguiding UK’s vision of enabling girls and young women to fulfil their potential and to take an active and responsible role in society. We support this by;
§ Attracting people of all ages to help the girls who join us participate in our distinctive, stimulating and enjoyable programme of activities;
§ Training adults and Young Leaders in the skills they will use in Guiding;
§ Inspiring them to continue giving us support;
§ Facilitating delivery of Girlguiding UK’s programme through the provision of and access to essential resources;
§ Providing a flexible and supportive environment; and
§ Combining respect for the individual with having fun.

This might be aspirational at the moment but it is what we are going to try to get right in future. As it is quite wide-ranging much will fit under it but, possibly more importantly, we need to drive out those sins of both omission and commission that stop us keeping to this commitment. Work has already started particularly around adult support with a review of our induction processes; we have set up a retention working group to consider how to retain skills; we are looking for Guide and Brownie Adviser teams to make sure good practice is shared and an exciting range of activities are available; we are encouraging jobshares and other flexible practices and publicising them. The last bullet is one we think underpins everything we do - and we don't need to do more than state it. I hope you agree.

Tuesday 19 May 2009

Bear Grylls - a good choice for the Scouts

It's been a little while since the last posting on here. I've been busy doing this and that; accounts, finding advisers, thinking through a few things....but what I really wanted to say was "Well done, Scouts" for getting Bear Grylls to be Chief Scout. We really need to do the same. So what I need is a role model from Surrey happy to be a super-ambassador for Surrey West. But who? Julia Bradbury of Countryfile - she lives in Rutland? Katy Hill - she lives in LA? Dame Ellen McCarthy - she must live near the sea? One of the Olympic rowers - actually that might be worth looking into...

Saturday 9 May 2009

I spoke to soon

Yes the borehole has been drilled.....but the pressure vessel (a storage tank) which was destined to be sited in the power house arrived ... and then they discovered it wouldn't go through the door..... but am I depressed? No, the end is in sight.

Thursday 7 May 2009

Crayfish in the Wey and bread ovens

Today I enjoyed a belated birthday present seashore foraging in Charmouth in an event run be River Cottage (Yes, I did see Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall). Now I am not going to tell you about the day apart from to say it was good and you should go, but I did learn a few useful, but almost totally unrelated things;
1. how to build a pizza oven - so maybe we can have one on Heron Wey.
2. Signal Crayfish (the American pests) are very common in the Wey around Guildford. These burrow into river banks and undermine them and also cause the loss of our native crayfish. They are however good eating - so are there any around our bit of the Wey at HW? As an experiment, if I remember, I am going to take some bacon and string and a shrimp net on Saturday and see if I catch anything. I will also need to know if a license is necessary because if there are crayfish there it would be good to catch loads and have regular crayfish feasts - for the good of the environment, you understand.

Tuesday 5 May 2009

Water, water everywhere....




At last, at last we have a borehole. Cheers all round. At last, at last I have had answers to my many emails about how to put water into our pipes without the need to completely recreate the system. And it is as I thought - we can put water from the borehole into our existing pipes providing the mains water is no longer going into the same pipes - so we need to separate them.




So we have a borehole producing water. The water needs to be analysed to make sure it is both potable and palatable and the filters calibrated to deal with anything that should be removed. The pipework needs to be separated into two systems so we need to work out where to do that. The borehole needs to be connected up. As the camping season is now on us it is going to be September before we connect it just in case there is a problem but I can now say that the end is in sight for the lack of water on Herons Wey - until we build the new toilet blocks and use lots more.


Picture of the drilling rig is attached - it is difficult to photograph a borehole so this will have to do.

After the weekend away - Air and Share

Having come back from a weekend away in France, my mind returns to Guiding and particularly what I have to write for Air and Share and the Charity Commission returns. I have been thinking about Air and Share. I think it is mostly read by Leaders although I do recognise that some parents rather enjoy it too. So maybe we should make it clearly for Leaders. For example, lots of Counties (who have far less glossy ones than we do) put their awards in their publication; licenses gained, ALQs completed and that sort of thing. Also several people have bemoaned the lack of a training card - so why not publicise trainings and events?

Then - do you know what the results of the Census were?
Would you like to know what came out of the Herons Wey toilet review - or how much we have raised towards the borehole (so it is a borehole then??) and new toilet blocks (so it is several is it??).
Maybe we ought to put something in about the advisers....
It is all work in progress - what do you think?