What my work colleagues didn't know....

Last week I presented, at very short notice, at a "Third Sector" conference. I was given no briefing but had a title - Responsible Reward. As that isn't much of a guide to content I just decided to talk about getting more from less - i.e. how to make sure people do the right thing at the right time in the right way. To do this I had to establish credibility so introduced them to Surrey West (9000 members, 1300 volunteers, 2 staff and 1 campsite) and my role. I then talked through what we are trying to do making sure our volunteers know what is expected of them and introducing them to the idea of performance management for volunteers.

It went well but what surprised me was how many of my wok colleagues came and said they didn't know that I did all this in my spare time. I was amazed as I have occasionally worn my uniform to work, am always borrowing things and doing copying. Still, some people are just not that observant

Spring is sprung

What fabulous weather we are having. Today I planted chard, beans, rocket and squash in my veg patch; tomates, courgettes and blueberries in pots; salad leaves and herbs in wooden boxes. We also had the winter spinach still growing in the veg patch from last year as part of our dinner. Personally I don't care for spinach but the small cost of a packet of seeds has paid us back manyfold.
Recently I went to a day at River Cottage on urban kitchen gardens and Mark, the gardener, urged us to plant cut and come again crops and also planting lots of seeds (well there can be hundreds in the packet) and then eating the seedlings as they taste as good and sometimes more intensely than the full grown plants.
I have also created the most fabulous compost - there is something magic about putting rotten old peelings and newspaper in a heap and then a year later finding it has turned into lovely crumbly stuff. I have three compost bins. I fill the left one and then when it is full transfer it to the middle bin having moved the contents of the middle bin into the right hand bin - which is likely to be empty by that stage. The turning the compost gives you the air bit you need - no need to turn every few weeks - or if there is then someone else must be doing it when I am not looking. I also encourage my son to wee in the left hand bin, which he seems quite happy to do. Boys are far better designed to do this than girls, of course.

A Guide is honest and can be trusted

Here is a conundrum for you:

• Surrey West has now got more units than in 2009.
• Surrey West has 300 fewer girls ( note this is a similar proportion in other Counties) on Go! than in the 2009 Census

Well maybe we overdeclared last year - but as we had more control over what was declared in 2009, is that likely?

This is a serious problem. I know one unit which is a full and thriving one who has only two girls on Go - I don't know what they have declared for their subscription. The impact is this: the fewer members we declare the less income we have. The County budget is carefully worked out to break even on the basis of 9000 members, itself somewhat lower than the 9200 in 2009. Yet we now have 8700 according to Go. That is a loss of income to County of £1500 or, to put it in terms you can relate to; the cost of renting the County Office, reduces our ability to support girls going on International trips by 25% , would reduce the number of copies of Air and Share by one half. You get the picture, I am sure.

I know that some people have been resistant to using Go and we have done all we can to support them and provide them with alternatives. There are still some units not on but it now appears that some units are entering a few girls just to say they have. Ladies, this is not good enough!! I am going to spend an unhappy few days finding out who you are by looking at your 2009 Census numbers against the numbers on Go! I didn't volunteer in Guiding to do that! If you are an offender then you will hear from me for an explanation.

Sorry for the rant. Food Poisoning has made me tetchy.