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.

Morals

Situation:

Your child has crashed your car.
The damage is noticable but not massive.
You have a £500 excess if the damage was done by an under 21 year old - but zero otherwise.
The repairs will cost less than £500.

What would you do?

1. Claim on insurance knowing they wouldn't pay anything and potentially impacting your's and your child's no-claims discount
2. Pay for it yourself.
3. Get your child to pay (probably over a couple of years or through a series of chores).
4. Say it was you and get the insurance company to pay.
5. Not bother doing anything at all unless the damage makes the car illegal or unusable in some way.

Easy choice? What would you do?

Hello Autumn

For me the first weekend of November marks the height of autumn; the trees are usually colourful with autumn leaves, the weather turns crisp and the fireworks mark my birthday, or that is what I like to think. This year was different, though, as I spent the weekend in Vienna. Vienna is beautiful, walkable, the cakes are fabulous but it is very expensive with the exchange rate as it is. The highlight of the weekend was a four course meal and concert of Strauss and Mozart. OK it was a bit touristy but absolutely great. I didn't think about Guides at all.
When I got back, three days later, I was allowed to open my presents and there was a cake....pretty good, eh?

Surrey West Influential Folk Team

SWIFT is the possible acronym for the VIP Hit Squad we got together last night. Recognising that the Centenary year gives us excellent opportunities at County, Division and District level to promote Guiding to people with influence, we felt that we needed to be able to do it to the best of our ability. So last night Julia, our Centenary Champion helped by Lesley, former Lady Mayor of Guildford so has been a VIP; Cindy, my predecessor as CC; Rachel and Natalie, Chairs of M&I, met a group of young and enthusiastic girls and Leaders to talk about what was required. We got them to think about how to make people welcome, what they could say, how they should act and so on.

Their first outing is the County Service on the 22nd and we are confident this aspect will now be well looked after.

There are a couple of carrots for them too;

1. the Lord Lieutenant has asked us to provide her with a Cadet next year. This is a real honour as it means accompanying her on visits in Surrey including meeting royalty (she is their representative). Open to 15-18 year olds, we will be looking for candidates in the next few weeks.
2. CHQ have offered Counties the opportunity for five people to be trained as Media Spokespeople. The SWIFTs would be ideal for this.

If you read this and you know a 15-18 year old who would be suitable as the LL Cadet helping Mrs Goad with her bag, make polite conversation etc then please let me know. Details will be on the Weekly News.

Everybody was away this weekend

This weekend was a very busy Guiding weekend generally. A large number of girls and Leaders spent their time in capitals round Europe at Capital Jig. I really liked the fact that several Leaders-only teams went, spending quality time in Prague or Copenhagen with friends. I am going to look on the LASER website and see if there are any photos. I am sure it was a fabulous weekend wherever they went.

I was in Weyside at Lizzie's test residential. I can now admit that I have never QM'ed for more than one day at a time. This was a weekend and I think it went well - both food and everything else. We started with some craft activities and then sent them to bed only to get them up again an hour later (well they weren't asleep) to play a wide game which I called Hammurabbai's vision. I was dressed up with a mask and lots of gold cloth, sitting in the wendy house surrounded by candles (couldn't move because of the fire risk). Not all of them guessed it was me and two of them ran away when I started to talk! Saturday saw us helping Enid with chores in the rain, eating home-made pizza for lunch, trail laying in the afternoon, toad in the hole for tea (their favourite) and a campfire in the evening. Sunday was the assault course, various games, kite making and finishing the walking challenge and other badges.
Not much sleep, very little rest (all QMs know this), but great fun. Congratulations to Lizzie for organising it.

Oh yes - the Guides gave me a Kelly Kettle for my birthday. I tried it out but the wood was a bit damp. Nevertheless I made a reasonably hot cup of tea. I am going to try again when it is a bit drier and I can collect dry twigs and leaves.

Odd happenings

I don't want to comment on the postal strike apart from to hope it means fewer trees are felled, but something odd is happening in my road. I had heard, but never really believed it, that Adam Crozier (Royal Mail CEO) lived there. This morning - and yesterday afternoon -there were photographers stood out a particularly grand and lovely house. Putting two and two together, I guess the rumours are true.
I don't live in a grand house, can I say, but would aspire to when I win the pools or lottery - neither of which I do - so it will have to be an inheritance from a very rich but hitherto unknown relative. I can dream, can't I?

QM - to be

Next weekend I am spending my first weekend as QM for my GIC's Test Residential. I have QM'ed lots of time on overnights and regularly cook for 16 at home so it ought to be OK. The Guides have chosen their menu - or at least as much as I have asked them. I am also trying to add some bits for Adventure 100 (eat up-side-down food..) so it has been a test for me too. I hope I haven't been too ambitious. The Guides love cooking so I think it should be OK although our star cook, Olivia, won't be there. Olivia last year, when we cooked Christmas dinner in tin foil because the kitchen had no pans in spite of having a proper catering cooker, made stuffing from scratch with the barest of equipment - and it was delicious. I have a lot to live up too.

The "Hammurabai's vision" wide game that is currently living in my head will be written down in the next few days.

Then all I have to do is buy the food....I have got rid of the last two bags of (unnamed) lost property from my boot. It was shoes and old clothes and my car was starting to smell really bad so it was time for them to go. The things we do in the name of Guiding- still we wouldn't do it if it wasn't fun and we couldn't laugh about it.

Just chill!

It is a little while since my last post because I have been very busy. Not with particularly pleasant things either. Is it the time of year, I wonder? Is the worsening weather leading to worsening moods? Suddenly everyone is having a go at everyone else. So much for being a Sister to all Guides! Look, people! It is easy to find something to complain about but why make the effort? In the greater scheme of things the things that upset us are mostly trivial and with a quick word in someone's ear can be resolved quickly and amicably. Why let it escalate? After all, what ends up happening is that I have to deal with it. Anger does not solve anything on any occasion. I mean - not on any occasion, none whatsoever.

Remember what Enid said - Smile, dear, or you'll make everyone miserable.

Next time something irritates you, why not take a couple of minutes to work out whether it is really important. Why not put your feet up and have a glass of wine or cup of tea while you ponder. Then either let it go - or have a quiet, friendly word in someone's ear and explain, gently, how their action/words made you feel.

If you want a fight, take up boxing not guiding.

(if anyone is upset about this posting then I am very sorry and I promise not to put negative postings on that often. This is, though, a plea from the heart)

Lots of goodbyes

This post is about work rather than Guiding - I hope you will forgive me. We are currently in that rather odd limbo where we know 19 people are being consulted for redundancy and we know most of their names - but we have to pretend we don't until they tell us themselves. Of course they will be moving on soon and there are many I will miss very much. In a recent round in New Zealand a very good friend lost her job, so this month will be difficult.

Next week a good number of people are taking early retirement and some of them have already gone.

All in all there are a lot of goodbyes. Of course, it impacts morale but I have to praise these soon-to-be redundant employees in that they are all, or at least the ones I have spoken to, positive. They often say that those who leave can be the best ambassadors for your organisation. Let's hope so. I have never regretted leaving an organisation but always look back with fondness at the time I worked there.

An unbalanced life

I am so busy! But only in hometime. As the recession continues, paid work is scarce and there are only so many times you can ring clients before it becomes stalking, so I scratch around for useful things to do during the day. We have had more redundancies and there are numerous early retirements so my office is going to be much emptier next month. To look on the bright side that will mean it is easier to get a desk.
Guiding on the other hand could more than easily fill this time - but I can't let it. Today I am, rather late in the day, trying to find a venue for a recruitment training on November 7th. I have to do the various planning permissions for Herons Wey and meet a builder for an outline quote. I should probably also ask our Treasurer how much money we already have.
I need to find some new Advisers, review which appointments are coming up, follow up on the retirement gift and new Surrey Lion Award, look through the Guiding Development Group plans, start thinking more about retention....and I still have Lost property from Wet and Wacky. My six bags have now morphed into five bags and lots of little piles. The three bags in the office remain untouched - until later today when I collect them.
I am, though, very encouraged by the number of positive comments about Wet and Wacky and pleased that some material offers of help have been produced. I have suggested to my District we hold a Mother and Daughter evening to build on this - our Friends of Guiding could get some new members or we could get more Leaders.

More praise for Wet and Wacky

As the team have quite rightly had lots of congratualtions for a fabulous day, I thought just one posting about it was no more than touching the surface. So here are more comments....

I just had a long call from my friend .... who was absolutely ecstatic about Wet & Wacky. She thought it was BRILLIANT and was VERY.VERY IMPRESSED that we could organise something like this that gave girls such great opportunities to enjoy themselves in a fun and safe environment. She was blown away by it and is going to offer to be a unit helper at least at her daughter's Rainbow unit.
A HUGE big THANK YOU to you all for such a wonderful day yesterday. All our Brownies, and the Guides and Rainbows from our District, had the most fantastic day. From the singing and dancing and flag parading of the Opening Ceremony to all the various activities it was a triumph. Our girls made things, bought things, patted police horses, got wet and very foamy and the smiles never left their faces. We told our parents we would probably leave around 4pm as the girls would be tired by then, but in the event we dragged them out at 5.45pm!
I will leave the final words to our Brownies - when asked what they had enjoyed the most? - they replied "All of it"
Thank you for a most amazing start to the centenary! I did really enjoy it (even the hard work..) and I am in awe of your team and the work you put in to make it happen. I hope Voyage Around The World can be half as good. Well done and thank you... from 3000 of us!
I've already had one Brownie parent talk about having her CRB done so she can help out more because her daughter had such a good time - the same one who wasn't sure whether her daughter was robust enough to join such a big event. I just hope they don't start expecting all events to be in the same league in future!

Of course this is just a sample - but a representative one. That we are getting potential unit helpers and Leaders is simply amazing. What other event that we have put on has had that impact?

Praise for Wet and Wacky

On Sunday we launched the Centenary with Wet and Wacky. This was organised for 3000 people by just 6 (SIX) Leaders who did a fantastic job. I thought I would share with you some of the thanks they have received - I hope those who wrote them will forgive me for going public!

thank you so much for a wonderful day on Sunday. The girls had a fantastic time, ... the feedback from parents has been brilliant. I was at a school meeting last night and it was the talk of Thames Ditton Junior school - the Year 4 teachers had heard all about it from the Brownies, and some of the neighbours were very intrigued about what was going on and couldn't believe that girls could make so much noise (even though they'd had the flier through the door). I think they were a bit jealous about not being there! I think it's done a lot to raise the profile of guiding locally and it certainly got the centenary year off to a great start. I know you all worked very hard, and it showed in the range of activities available and the organisation before and on the day. The leaders and girls (and the parents of those happy but shattered girls!) from Esher Division would like to say a big Thank You. Hopefully we can return the favour one day. I've already had one Brownie parent talk about having her CRB done so she can help out more because her daughter had such a good time - the same one who wasn't sure whether her daughter was robust enough to join such a big event. I just hope they don't start expecting all events to be in the same league in future!
wow what a wonderful day, many many thanks to you all and the rest of your team, all of whom put together a memorable day. Since moving into Surrey West I have been very impressed with some great moments of guiding however, Sunday really does take the biscuit. Well done.
Alice too had a wonderful day, it was great to see her attempting things I never would have thought she would, and doing so with a huge grin. She went to bed exhausted but quoting "that was the best ever day" .. and that is what it is all about.
Thank you so much for all your hard work and that of your team who organised a fantastic day today. All my Brownies and my daughter had a wonderful day, ... We really appreciate all of your efforts over the months it has taken to organise this event, you can all be very proud of yourselves......Please pass on my thanks to your special team and I hope you get to have a celebratory drink for a job well done.
A HUGE thank you to you & your team, for all your hard work to make Wet & Wacky such a fantastic success!! It was great to see so many happy smiling Guiding faces, all having such great fun! All the Brownies, Guides, Leaders & guests that came from Farnham Division had a brilliant time, went home very happy & just a little tired.

There were, of course, many, many more. I would like to add a Thank you form me - Ladies I hope someone is at home tomorrow at your house as there may be a delivery for you....

And there were some comments like this.....
PS One of my Mums who came as her daughter's guest was so enthused by it all that she has now finally decided to become a leader with me at Guides!!! So a very special thank you for that little bonus too!

You couldn't hope for more!

Fantastic Centenary Launch

Yesterday was our Centenary launch party, Wet n Wacky. What a splendid day! Good weather, lots of activities, a lovely site and, at the end of the day, lots of happy people. As usual running these events is a bit like the swan - looking serene and in control above the water while paddling furiously underneath. The committee was just six people and they are to be applauded for the magnificent job they did. Of course, there were hiccups but these were outweighed by the successes.

Now I have six bin bags of lost property; more than half unnamed, to find owners for.

Oh - and 1st Weybridge remains the front runner for first unit in Surrey West as Shere was 1917. I have heard that 1st St Johns has a good claim though. My own Guide unit, 1st Horsell (now closed) was 1916. There must be lots of 100 year old or nearly 100 year old units - let's hear about them. Oh, and Hindhead Guides is suspended now too or their claim would be almost unbeatable as they existed as a Scout unit before 1910.

Welcome back

Nearly September and my Guide-free summer is at an end. Not Guide-free really of course with the Centenary launches looming added to:

• continued work on the new Herons Wey toilet blocks
• the launch of GO!
• enquiries about places in units
• a couple of complaints - no details but I will say how hard it is to help with people who won't listen
• appointment of a Guide Adviser duo
• review of accounts
• reading Adventure 100 - now there is a year's worth of programme ideas on its own.
• writing reports on P50K funding (OK I haven't done it yet)
• talking about a Commissioners Conference
• talking about training for Leaders n behavioural issues
• more - much more...

As I come up to one year in role I can look back and realise I have learnt a lot. Not being a manager, I am learning much about dealing with people.

Goodbye - back in time for Streamline

Off on holiday again on Saturday! Iceland which requires jumpers being only 13 degrees. I will be back in time for the Streamline launch. So no emails from me but I imagine no-one has yet had a Guide-free summer.

Eco-friendly buildings

The first August post! Sorry but I have been ill - not swine flu but one of the bugs going round.

On Wednesday Julie Alexander and I visited a couple of eco-houses near Herons Wey to try to decide to what extent we could/should be eco-friendly when building the toilet block. It was very interesting.....At the moment it looks like generating our own power through solar panels makes sense (expensive but there are grants available and we can sell back to the grid) as does rainwater harvesting for flushing loos. Hot water on the other hand would not be worth it as it seems to be too efficient for our small needs! Julie is pursuing this with various surveyors. We need to understand about it as it will have an impact on the design of the toilet block mainly in how the roof is constructed (angle of roof, single or double slope, spacing between roof tresses etc).

I also visited the Cabin to see how it is to be refurbished if we get planning permission to hire it out for sleepovers. I am optimistic we will. Actually it really only needs a tidy up, some changes to the "hygiene" arrangements and some heating (wood burning stove would be lovely) and it would be a lovely space.

20:10 20/10 2010 - what about 19/10/1910?

Did you know that 1st Weybridge Guide unit was formed, according to its certificate, on 19th October 1910? There is a belief that it was the 3rd unit formed in the UK. Who were the first and second, I wonder? So 2010 is also the Centenary of Guiding in Surrey (West).

9am BBC Radio Surrey Friday 31st July

If you read this in time, try to listen at 9 am to BBC Radio Surrey to hear one of our Channel Swimmers, Sarah Glenister, talking about the swim. Fantastic PR for us!

Back from holiday with a cold

I had a good week of quality time with Chris and Mark at Center Parcs last week - I watched more snooker than ever before.....or want to again. I arrived back to find several problems solved in my absence including complaints from Sheephatch Lane neighbours, appointment of a new County Administrator and some oher bits and bobs. Not that it means I have nothing left to do but after this week I have two weeks unpaid leave offered by my employer as a cost-saving measure - but very welcome when you have children. I have plenty of things to do before another week's holiday.

Nearly time for holiday

Today was my last day at work before holiday - but I still have work today to finish and will do this between interviews tomorrow. Tomorrow we are interviewing for Julie's replacement and then I am going to Sussex central's Annual Review. On Saturday evening we are going to a Russell Watson concert at Kenwood. I think I may go shopping on Sunday as my husband it at Lords then it is holiday for a week. I am looking forward to it.

Catch Up

It has been a few days since I wrote but I haven't been doing nothing. Yesterday we picked cherries in Kent/Sussex as we rent a tree there (£30 a year from www.rentacherry.com). Then we went to Bodiam Castle. Today I spent all day stoning and packing cherries.

Guiding things still ongoing:

• Accounts - Denise is back from holiday and had some questions
• Thanks yous - lots of last meetings for Advisers coming to the end of their appointments plus the Streamline team so we have been buying a lot of flowers
• Guide Adviser appointments - not quite there yet as still need to get people together
• Brownie Adviser - still sorting out dates to meet
• Julie's replacement - interviews later this week but need to sort out contracts, package etc
• Toilet block - lots of decisions about how environementally friendly we should be.
• Retirement letters - drafting them and finding out who we need to send one to. Also should we have a standard County retirement gift?
• Awards Committee - deciding who is in it and whether we should replace the Surrey Lion.
• HW funding - have had offer of help locally
• HW neighbours - wrote to apologise and offer to take them around the site.

I may have missed something....then there is my 50th birthday party to organise.

And my Scenic has broken down - it may only be a split hose in the cooling system but this could be a sign it is time to replace the 11 year old usually very reliable car with something similar like another Scenic. When I was discussing cars with Muriel she said stowage was what as important - and I quite agree.

Next week I am away on business (Guernsey but working) and then on holiday for a week.

Channel swimmers

Today I visited Heron Lake at 8.30am which is when our channel swimmers get OUT having swum round it. I am not a swimmer so I doubt I could even try to swim across the lake without stopping but these ladies talk confidently about completing the crossing next Summer - and I think they will. The five swimming today are pictured with me.

International selection

This weekend I spent time with 40 girls who wanted to be selected for international trips. As usual their abilities varied but, in the main, they were all capable, friendly girls who we would happily send abroad. Some were exceptional and a few, only a few, were just not ready. In one case her mobile phone was obviously far more interesting than anything we were doing!

Now, when you go abroad you are likely to come up against unfamiliar food so the challenge was to produce some that they looked at and weren't quite sure about. A Philippine friend of mine had prepared black sticky rice for them. This is simply a rice pudding made with coconut milk but it is very black. Actually it tasted very nice but more than half tried about half a grain of rice and said they didn't like it. Several, when asked what it was, suggested it was poo (now where in the world do they eat poo if they aren't a dung beetle?). If we had been more upfront that it was competitive and not everyone would go abroad, I wonder whether there would have been a different response - I suspect not, sadly.

I would also like to say Thank you to all the people who came to the weekend especially Ann Wright and Hannah Roberts who gave up their entire weekend.

Count to ten!

My week has been a series of highs and lows! Blues and Twos was brilliant of course but there have been some moments when I just wanted to scream and smash things. Usually I contain myself to slamming a few doors. I can't go into details on any of the situations but the thing that really, really p***** me off is when people accuse me of acting dishonestly particularly when I have gone out of my way to check my steps out and the situation is not of my making. To be accused of cheating, being deliberately disruptive or anything if there is a grain of truth is one thing, but not if there is absolutely no grain of truth.

However, there is a lesson I have learnt over a period of time and that is to count to ten before replying and then waiting a bit longer as the steam may still be coming out of my ears even after ten. Then I can plan a proper reply - usually involving what my father calls a "Save Your arse" file where evidence is gathered to support you if the situation ever arises again. Fortunately, being unkeen on the phone and being an avid emailer and writer, I can usually build a satisfactory audit trail.

My goodness, it was cathartic to get that off my chest!

Blues and Twos Day - brilliant all round

Yesterday we held a "Blues and Twos"Day for Brownies at Herons Wey with the Ambulance Service, Fire Service, Police Dogs, RNLI and Fake wounds. It was fantastic and here is why:

• 500 Brownies paid to come
• They had a brilliant time
• The weather was fantastic
• The VIPs were very impressed
• Everyone worked together well
• Lots of money was raised for the water fund - and we gave leaflets out with the badges
• The closing was the arrival, for a few minutes, of the Air Ambulance (with some rather good-looking personnel in the top-gun mould)

Once again I am in awe of how some people just get on and do things - Enid excelled herself again - she is now on a well-earned holiday.

Royal Ascot and phone calls

I've been to Royal Ascot as a guest - in a box (just as well as the wind really whistles through the grandstand). I had a lovely time - 1 winner and 1 2nd: £3 down on the day which I consider pretty good. Don't think I am a gambler but as an occasional day out it is quite fun.

I have also had a few phone calls from potential County Administrators. Lovely ladies all of them. I am going to really hate the bit where I have to say "you were wonderful - but we preferred someone else" - I hope they won't all resent me afterwards!

Swings and roundabouts

People come and people go! As I am in the middle of making appointments (Chair of trefoil, Guide Adviser, Brownie Adviser...) I also find myself about to re-recruit for County Administrator. Sadly, Julie has decided to move to east Anglia with her family. It seems houses are much cheaper than in Surrey and, with her husband self-employed, they can move more easily than other people. However, that means we will be looking for a replacement. So I will be looking for someone who primarily has a big smile (or sounds like they have), are very organised, don't mind working on their own, must be able to cope with lots of people asking them to do things, who doesn't mind working part-time and term-time but is prepared to spare some evenings for County Exec meetings.....the job ad will be in the Weekly News but I know people read this and I want to make sure anyone who might be interested hears about it. If you are interested then contact me on countycommissioner@girgluidingsurreywest.org.uk

Transport

The Tube strike was an interesting experience yesterday - I usually walk to my office near Victoria from Waterloo. It takes about 30 minutes but is good for my soul and good for my heart. Yesterday, there were far more people walking; many of them clearly suffering with sweat running down their faces and the realisation that flat shoes may be uncool but uncool is good in some circumstances.

However, in the afternoon I had to travel across London to Tower Hill. Thinking I would be clever, I booked a cab. Unfortunately just as we set out they closed Whitehall which had a knock on impact on Westminster backing up to Victoria. A half hour journey took three times as long to do. I was very,very late so I only had ten minutes with my client before they had to leave.

On my way back I popped into Tower Hill tube in case there were any trains - and there were. I almost had a train to myself. At Embankment the Northern Line was running so I got to Waterloo very quickly.

For the rest of the week I am going to work at home!

Feast or famine

It's odd isn't it? Last week I had very little to do but this week I am struggling to fit in everything. Running a training course takes me away for two days and then another day will be spent pulling together a proposal - a colleague was doing it but ran out of time. Then I need to go into the County office and meet a new Commissioner. As I only work 80% that is my "day off" (for which read "Guiding Day"). So that leaves one day to do everything else including to read and test a new training programme. No-one seems to be able to tell me how much time that will take so I think I might make a start now while I am sitting in a hotel room on my own in Nottingham.

Project Streamline

If you haven't heard of Streamline and are part of Surrey West then you obviously aren't getting the Weekly News - or reading it - or IT literate, in which case you aren't reading this.

Yesterday I went to a Streamline training and can I say that, in spite of the slightly slow response rate, it is really rather good. It involves putting details on the GO! database and that means there will be a bit of a job to do in September but after that it will be great! Easy emails! No more paper records. Leaflets online.

Go to a training - now!

Georgina

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.

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...

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.

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.

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?

Looking forward to a quiet weekend - away

On Friday I am going with my family to stay with my sister in her French house. Before I go I have a training course to run - joint UK/US so timed 12 noon to 8pm although with driving we are really talking 10am to 10pm as it is in Cambridge. Then I have a Commonwealth badge to test on Thursday and it is off to France on Friday. Therefore, it was important to get the agenda and noted for the County Exec ready asap to give people time to read them and think about them. Well, I did it yesterday and I feel really relieved. I am trying to be very orderly about managing my time and for the moment it seems to be working. This involves not doing things today unless it is essential but allocating tasks to a date in the future. Each day has enough activity for that day and no more - if someone wants to add something then it is deferred to the next available day unless essential in which case something else is deferred. I hope you are keeping up with this explanation! I find it particularly useful if required to make phone calls which I will avoid at all costs unless forced.

If you are reading this blog would you mind leaving a comment? Even just to say that you look at it from time to time. I know people do look at it as they tell me but I have no idea who the rest are. Also someone asked me about Twitter - I don't know about it so it worth finding out abut?

A few things ticked off the list

This is what I have done since my last message (not an exhaustive list, of course):
1 Bought sister a birthday present (Umbrella)
2 Threatened to sack the drilling man if things didn't happen; spoke to geologist to say I want the original specification and wouldn't consider anything else if it cost more; asked the surveyor to engage the trenching people, plumber and electrician. So far the borehole has started to be dug - down 5.5 metres so far apparently.
3 Phoned stepbrother re:will
4 Unwound a bit of knitting as I had dropped a stitch - and then reknitted it
5 Booked a holiday (hadn't mentioned that, had I?)
6 Ransacked Guiding cupboard for programme ideas.
7 Gone to the Gym twice this week. I've lost a Kg so far but I might have been breathing in.
8 Thought about County team restructure to get round problem of lack of Chair of Programme.
9 Put together a Queens' Guide mailing for those no longer in Guiding but living locally.
10 Read through the accounts.
11 Drawn up the County Exec agenda and written some of the notes for it.
12 Drafted a couple of pieces for Air and Share.
13 Engaged a gardener to redesignmy front garden - can't do the back as it is used a football/cricket pitched and all plants get smashed to pieces.
.... and done a bit of paid work too.

I am also reading a book by Mark Forster about time management which tells you to write a list and then put a day's worth of it to do tomorrow - only moving some to today if you have time and they merit it. It has made me super efficient.

Tonight we have Guiding Development Group. This may not be familiar to you but consists of a Commissioner, Chair of Adult Support, Chair of Marketing and Info, Treasurer and, if we had one, Chair of Programme - and me. We are looking at what we need to be focussing on as a County to be successful. The ideas came from the Strategy Day we held a month ago. Today we are going to look at things which will have a big impact but will take some planning to do. Wish us luck.

I need to tick off items in my "To do" list

I have a very long "to do" list and I have an urgent personal need to say "I have done that" and get rid of it but, at the moment, this is proving frustratingly difficult to do.

I have a pile of census papers but can't find out which bits need to be sent on and to whom
I can not get dates in the diary to get the borehole drilled
I have not found anyone to help organise the family camping weekend - and it is only admin!
I want to make sure I have taken all actions I have been allocated from the Herons Wey review but can't locate the notes
I want to find a Finance Manager for HW but have had no offers.
I need to finalise my step-father's estate and agree bequests but the other executor will not respond.
I have to buy a birthday present for my sister (for last week) but don't have time.
I need to finish knitting a jumper I started in January - but when?

The list goes on - and I find it intensely frustrating. How can I move forward? Suggestions, please.
Happy Easter

40 miles up and down mountains

I had a fabulous week last week in Turkish Cyprus walking in the mountains. We formally walked for about 40 miles but this was up and down mountains and before one of the walks we had to walk up 462 steps (not included in the final distance) and over 600 before another. That is without the walking for sightseeing purposes. However, this was graded easy/medium.....Nevertheless it is the first time my husband and I have tried anything like this and we came back with one blister between us and no sunburn (thank you factor 30). Now I shall offer to lead a walk on May 9th for our sponsored walk for Herons Wey, perhaps 7 miles. We also intend to walk more and are looking at the south Downs Way.
After one day at work I am off to camp tomorrow for two days before one more day at work and then the Easter break. What a life!

A growing County

Today I collected the Census data from Joyce, our Registration Secretary. I haven't gone through it in great detail but overall we are up 1%. 2/3 of Divisions have grown - the biggest growth being 10% in River Ash. The remainder have declined with the biggest fall being 10%. Interestingly both Woking divisions fell which makes me wonder if there is a wider demographic change there. Leader numbers have remained fairly steady but we have a few more units than last year. Joining lists have fluctuated and we still have a big demand for Rainbow places where the girls are already old enough.
We probably need to do some work to work out what is happening - is it something about the locality, the leaders, the commissioner, PR.......it would be great to discover the reasons before the Recruitment training on Saturday but I expect that is optimistic.

An important day for the future

When I became CC I set myself the task of doing proper planning. To do that you need to know what you are trying to be - or what, in this case, the County should be trying to be. On Saturday a further step was taken towards achieving that when 30 Commissioners, Trainers and Advisers joined me and our facilitator Fiona to work through some thoughts about what we can do. It was an interesting session and ther were many great ideas. The Guiding Development Group meets on Thursday to try and put them into the start of a plan. Exciting times!

The best campsite in Surrey?

At the end of last year, two Guiders took on the task of reviewing Herons Wey and Weyside. For those outside Surrey West, these are our campsite and Residential centre and are in a beautiful, peaceful part of Surrey on a 50 acre site with many activities on-site. We have never looked closely at how it runs and the report, delivered in February, made many recomendations. These have been presented to the County Executive and the Herons Wey Management Committee and yesterday a sub-committee met for the first time to discuss how to move forward. Several of the recommendations have already been actioned - either wholly or in part. Some others need to be started on while others may be set aside as either too hard or not appropriate at this time. Included in this is a wide-ranging review of the marketing of Herons Wey (we are focussing on the campsite here and not on Weyside which already has very high levels of use). Watch this space. In the meantime I am after people who have never camped at Heron's Wey or prefer not to, who will visit it and take a critical view of what is there and what should be added/improved/changed. Volunteers?

Silent Guiding

As part of our effort to Change The World, 98th Old Palace Guides (my unit - if you want to know about the unit name I'll let you know sometime), held a sponsored silence tonight for Plan International. It was very hard for some of them! However, the best bit was the silent singing of Taps which had several of them in hysterics. It is moments like that that make it all worthwhile.

Life outside Guiding

Today was my husband's 50th birthday so we went to Le Manoir Aux Quat'Saisons. We used an offer from the RHS which is actually really good value for a meal with all wines included as well as a tour of the garden and a flower arranging demonstration (not on all of them). Anyway, what really made our day was that our paths crossed that of Raymond Blanc, the owner and well-known chef, who both welcomed us and shook our hands - how cool is that? Of course, I am expecting great things when it comes to my birthday in November.

Strategy Day plans

Today I met Fiona who is going to facilitate our Strategy Day in a couple of weeks time. We discussed the agenda and what I hoped to achieve from the day. If it does what we have talked about it will be fantastic and I hope will energise people - now all I need is a few more people to come along and help Surrey West plan for the next five years.

Herons Wey Borehole

There are times when I think the borehole will never be dug - and perhaps I shouldn't count my chickens now. However, in spite of a major change in plans, it looks likely to be up and running before the camping season.

A change of plans? Yes, I had a couple of concerns:
1. the borehole would be at the far end of the site and Weyside and Garners Field would both be a long way away.
2. there seemed to be little support for the single toilet block we had planned - not one of the 30 responses so far from campers supported it. Therefore, the borehole didn't have to be near the meadow at all.
Moving it up next to the powerhouse, where it will now be, seemed much more sensible as it means the lower sites can be served from the mains while the top sites, Weyside and Garners Field are served by the borehold and will therefore have better supply.
Not only that but there is room in the power house for the machinery and tank so we don't need to spend the £1500 or so to build a separate shed.
And so there won't be an eyesore.
The only question now is where to separate the mains water system from the borehole system as the waters can not mix.

Guide Pantomime

Hi All!

Today I went to see Guide Pantomime in Frimley - what a great show it was! When you bear in mind that this is children led by amateurs with moderate resources even if they all have bags of enthusiasm. It just shows what we can all achieve if we try. The pantomime was the route to raising funds for "Railway Children" under the Change the World banner. I don't know how much money was raised but I think they ought to all be proud of themselves.

Babies!

Last year there were a lot of funerals - of close relatives. However, I am pleased to announce that three babies have made their way into the world this week. Firstly Holly Louise Harvey weighing in at a monstrous 9lb 9oz - that must have made Hazel's eyes water! Holly was followed a couple of days later by Ava Ruby who is Cindy's first grandchild. Today my stepmother announced the arrival of her 13th grandchild - between them my father and her have 20 grandchildren (7 children but as you can see our side is less fecund!).
I have also noticed that there are a significant number of bumps in my office - is there something in the air? Should we be planning increased numbers in Rainbow units in 2014-16? Is this something we should include in our planning?
Talking about planning; I asked Guiders at County Day about their three wishs and there were quite a range. Some we can help with or think about but admin, removing the retirement age and getting Sophie Wessex to visit might be outside our ability to influence!

Needed - a programmer

Since we moved Herons Wey and Weyside bookings into the County Office it has been clear that we need a more automated booking system. This would probably be Access and would have an enquiry form that generated email confirmations, completed bookings on a calendar and generated invoices etc. This would be a saving in time for Julie and would increase the professional look of our booking system. It would sit happily alongside the new brochure Bec and Janet are developing. It could be linked into a website on Herons Wey. However, what we lack is someone with the skills to build something. I don't think it would be complicated - maybe a nice project for someone doing IT GCSE or A'level even. Any offers?

County Day in the snow and with some last minute changes

Today we held County Day - for those who don't know, this is our biggest event each year when more than 300 Leaders come together for a day of training and workshops. It also our chance to present County awards.

With the snowy weather this week, it has been touch and go about holding it or cancelling. However, if we cancelled we would have to start again from scratch and the sheer scale of the planning and other arrangements made this less than appealing. So we decided to go ahead. The day started very cold and icy but warmed up through the morning. Most participants made it although there were tales of icy roads, traffic jams and road closures. Unfortunately the trainers, who travel from further afield, had more of a struggle. However, our marvellous committee juggled numbers; joining groups together as well as accepting the offers of three brave ladies to facilitate sessions at a minute's notice - Thanks Catriona, Cindy and Julie. Most of the afternoon workshops went ahead as the leaders came from Surrey West and travelled later in the day.

Leaders seemed to realise just what we were struggling with and greeted it with good humour. So thank you everyone who came for the wonderful "Blitz Spirit" and particularly to Jill, Sheila and Lesley who managed to organise things when it looked like we had chaos on our hands.

In my carboot I packed a stove, sleeping bag...

...and it wasn't for camp. With the bad weather, a trip to Southampton to visit a client could have turned out to be cold, wet and possibly stuck in a queue behind a jack-knifed lorry. So I packed a rucksack with blanket, sleeping bag and pillow; a book; a Trangia, fuel, water and soup. Oh - and a spade. As it happened, the motorway was fine and the emergency preparations were unused. But I was prepared! Now, after two days of snow, making childcare arrangements, mopping up snowy footprints from the hall floor and wrapping up really warmly (actually I don't mind that bit) I would like to return to normal. So I would like all the schools open tomorrow please!

Try to do a good turn every day

It was always part of the Promise Ceremony to ask the girl to "keep your Promise and try to do a good turn every day". Enid said to me yesterday that she thought the world be a much better place if everyone remembered that and acted on it. If I do you a good turn perhaps you will do a good turn for some one else. Good turns make us feel good as both givers and receivers. Feeling good makes us more positive...it is a virtuous circle. The old ideas are often the best aren't they?

Emails and politeness

I am on a one woman mission!

The trouble with emails is that they are short! To the point! Direct! Curt! and (dare I say it) sometimes downright discourteous.

We have all done it - shot from the hip in response to something we have seen or heard that we want to upbraid or challenge someone about. MY ADVICE - write your email and DO NOT in any circumstances send it. After an hour, read it again and then see how it comes across. Did you mean it to sound like that? Do you need to soften it? Would a "Dear X" at the top and a "Thanks" at the bottom help? Then question whether you are actually emailing the right person - messengers are not there for shooting.

If you are satisfied on all those points - go for it.

Actually the same advice goes for letters, phone messages and direct conversation - hard messages can be softened and made more palatable if delivered in a measured and reasonable way.

We all do it, don't we? Some more than others. Well, let's do less of it from now on and then life would be so much more pleasant. It's what we tell our Brownies.

It is not what you say....

...... it's the way that you say it!
Some people really lack self-awareness, don't they? We all know someone who opens their mouth and offends everyone by how they say the least objectionable thing. How do you get through to them that they are being hurtful even though we appreciate their thoughts and contribution? They don't appear to be the least bit aware of the crestfallen people around them. It is funny really because it is so easy to say things in a pleasant way and to thank people afterwards. Saying "would it be worth trying.." or "it might be even better if ...." is so much better than saying "I don't like... so change it."
The basic principle, whether we are dealing with girls, adults, work colleagues, neighbours... is that they should feel that interacting with you is a positive experience - otherwise we won't bother doing it anymore. That's not too much to ask, is it?

Herons Wey and Water and the Centenary

So - the quiet of Christmas is at last at an end.
Having spent a little time at Weyside this weekend helping with the cleaning (Thanks to Muriel, Val and everyone else who came to help) I am back at Herons Wey today, in the pouring rain, to talk about the borehole. When it is so wet you can forget just how dry Herons Wey can be but it is gravel there and free draining although, fortunately, water is not far below the surface. It would be great to have the water supply improved before the camping season but the wheels seem to grind very very slowly....
On the water theme I need to look at how far Imber Court is from the river - could we arrive by boat? That would be different at least. I have already invited my guest - we can invite a guest provided they have at some point made a Guide Promise. Well, my mother was a Guide just after the war, although she may not thank me for telling you the dates. So I have asked her if she would like to come.

Widening the talent pool - or sharing the load

There is a saying that if you want something done you should ask a busy woman and that seems to be true - those that do something, do everything. Maybe they just can't say "No" or maybe there is someone equally capable in their shadow who doesn't really know how to get themselves noticed.

So today I wrote a long "Situations Vacant" list covering everything from those developing County strategy (long term plans) to fundraisers to Advisers to people to do one-off projects and so on. I know it is ambitious but I think we can fill these roles - maybe not if we just tell Leaders but definitely if we tell our friends, families, parents of the girls, Trefoil Guild.......so let's go for it. It is very hard to resist if someone asks you directly. Optimistically I hope my email will be bursting over the next few weeks with offers of help. Just a small wish, I feel, but one that you can make come true if you really believe.

(Widening the talent pool is business speak for making sure we know about and make best use of everyone's talents. )

Optimistic views about the recession and Guiding

Working for an organisation (Hay Group) which is generally thought to be at risk from companies cutting discretionary spending (they won't buy consultancy while funds are tight), my thoughts have been focussed on what impact the recession will have. My conclusion, perhaps surprisingly, is that Guiding will do quite well from it. Here's why:

1. It is a low cost activity so we are unlikely to lose members on the basis of cost - indeed we may even gain some because other clubs etc have become to costly.
2. We can offer practical (but not financial) support to those needing to build, develop and revive their skills in certain areas. That should help with those needing to find new jobs.
3. Our finances do not depend on donations, legacies etc so should be fairly stable although our Treasurer will be suggesting that we could do even more with the money we have.
4. If we have any building work done (not impossible) then we should get it at an economic cost.
5. The support of the Guiding family will be even more important.

The outlook may look gloomy on a jobs front but let's hope Guiding provides a ray of hope in a cruel world.

Happy New Year

Dear Guiders, Advisers, and all other supporters.

Happy New Year!

2009 promises to be a fantastic year for Guiding with the start of the Centenary celebrations in September launching 13 months of festivities for everyone. Not only will events be taking place internationally and nationally, but also across Surrey West, in your local Divisions, Districts and units. I am sure everyone will have a fantastic time and we should give an almighty pat on the back to all of those who are working so hard to make it all go well. There is so much to do in planning and making everything work well that we sometimes forget that people just like you and me are behind it all.

On a different note, though, 2009 may be a difficult year for some people with the current economic upheavals. Some of you, your family or friends may find yourselves without a job. Some of us have been through this before and know that it is very hard to cope in these circumstances although for some it is an opportunity to move on and do something different –I did a Masters degree which I wouldn’t have had time to do before.

As members of the Guiding family, there are some positive things we can all do when our friends and relatives are in need of support:
Provide a sympathetic ear for anyone who just needs to talk. We can all do this and it is of great value for such a little effort.
Offer the opportunity to keep skills going, to refresh old skills or even develop new ones. We need so many talents that I am sure we can find somewhere in Surrey West that can benefit. In my MBA dissertation on bridging career gaps, it was clear that people demonstrating that they had kept their skills alive were seen positively by future employers – so Surrey West may be able to give practical support.

2009 will be a year of change – in your lives and in ours. I want Surrey West to be the best Guiding County, Herons Wey to be the best campsite it can be and the Centenary celebrations to be the most memorable of anything you have done in Guiding. I hope you want to be part of it and will help me achieve it.

In the meantime, here are a few suggestions about how you could be involved:

Making Surrey West the best Guiding County
§ Let us know what you think we should focus on – and how;
§ Volunteer to join our Guiding Development Group. Currently we need people to represent Advisers, Learning and Development, and Commissioners. You need not be involved at the moment with any of these but will represent their views on the Group that will put together our plans for the next 3 – 5 years;
§ Look at the Situations Vacant on the Weekly News and website and see if you can find people who would suit the roles to be filled.

Making Herons Wey the best campsite
§ Do you have ideas for improving the site? Let us know what they are;
§ Do you have skills we could use in developing the site and/or the business of running it? At the moment we need someone to pull together a computer programme to help automate bookings – is that you?
§ We have to improve the facilities, especially the water supply but this costs money (which we need to raise) and manage the project. Could you help?

The best Centenary Celebrations
§ We are already well ahead with planning but we need to move from outline plans to details and that will need many volunteers in a range of fields. Could you help?

I have one big request for you all; look at your skills and ask yourself if Surrey West could use them. I am sure we could although it might not be obvious immediately.

This will lead to two magnificent results:
Everyone feeling involved in how Surrey West is run, and
Making the best use of everyone’s talents.

Happy 2009.

Georgina