Between Christmas and New Year

It was supposed to be a quiet period but I have had a large amount of work descend. It is quite extraordinary - 90 jobs to be looked at. I managed 27 today before my brain fried so it looks like it will be a full day tomorrow as well as Friday, Saturday and maybe even Sunday. Still at least my back is straight again after a trip to an osteopath and kinesiologist together with some dietary supplements (recommended by the kinesiologist) and yoga (practising on my new Wii Fit).

Christmas Preparations

TO DO LIST

Send cards - DONE
Buy Presents - DONE
Put up tree - DONE
Deck the Halls - DONE
Buy food for family event - DONE
Tidy spare bedroom for Mother-in-law - STILL TO DO
Go to Work Christmas Party - OFF THERE SOON
Be an executive work at husband's Christmas Dinner - THIS EVENING
Tidy away all Guiding Stuff until New Year - MIGHT BE OPTIMISTIC

I hope your plans are on track, too.

Even CCs have the weekend off

This weekend...Canterbury to Christmas shop. Stayed at the Falstaff Hotel - pretty good and very convenient for the City centre. Lots of shopping - all presents bought apart from the one I have just thought of. Talked to a local lady in the queue when waiting for a box for a gift and she recommended a lovely restaurant "Olive Grove" which was a proper italian and extremely good, guided walk of Canterbury in a cloudburst this morning.
Guiding has just started again with the preparation for the Lord Lieutenant's Cadet in January.

VIP Briefing - two people learned what to do

Our Centenary Champion and I went to the Surrey County Council reception on Tuesday after I had presented a lovely Brownie with a well-deserved Star of Merit. This was for bearing illness throughout her life with courage and good-humour.
At County Hall Julia and I went in with a view to meeting as many Mayors as possible. By the end of the evening we had between us spoken to quite a few. We also had financial donations, offers of help and contact names we are going to follow up on. Not bad for an hour's work.

My Guiding Week

Friday - Guides. Fellow Leader throwing up so went home to be replaced by her husband.
Saturday - Trefoil Guild Centenary Tea Party. 100 TG members in Weyside having tea made by Guides, served by Senior Section while Guides collected their stories for a heritage project. A good time had by all.
Sunday - 200 Rainbows at Herons Wey discovering Winter Wonderland. Leader's husband (see Friday) was a brilliant Santa, there was a real Reindeer, the Ice Queen's Palace and Elves and much, much more. Exhausting but great fun for everyone.
Monday - Meeting to discuss Commissioner training...in 2011.
Tuesday - Presentation of Star of Merit to Katie in Godalming. Reception at County Hall with Centenary Champion - practising what we learnt about VIPs - with great success. The trick is to collar a Mayor and, after a few minutes, ask them to introduce you to another Mayor. We made a lot of useful connections - and some very generous offers were made - you will be kept informed.

so THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone who helped with everything in the last few days. It should be quietish now until the New Year. We all deserve it.

Centenary Service

It has been a while since I have written but there has been much to do. Rather late in the day, though, I thought I would put my thoughts down about the County Service. I will admit I had misgivings - did we want to re-inforce the view that Guiding is a church organisation? Were we going to be allowed enough freedom to make it a good showcase for Guiding? Would there be enough VIPs to make it a PR event if nothing else? The signs weren't good; a strict service format, a desire for flags and standards (actually they were beautiful), veto on our speaker because he was from Southwark, some mix-ups in the invitations....and very few Leaders or girls taking up tickets.
However, in the end it was a slick well-run service; not too serious and not too long. The Cathedral was full to overflowing with Leaders, girls and the Trefoil Guild. The SWIFT team worked the VIPs like pros and the feedback was brilliant. So thank you Val and Betty for your very hard work in trying circumstances.