A Merry Christmas - from the President!

Julie's on-line Christmas Card can be viewed properly by clicking on the headline above.

Julie's and Colin's Christmas Lights!

As you can see below, the Holden household has got into the spirit of Christmas!

Julie's Christmas Update!

The past two weeks have mostly been about the build up to Christmas, and the Institute and Associations all know how to build up to the festive time very well.

The 11th saw David Magor and myself go to the East Midlands' Association Christmas Lunch in Oakham in Rutland, The Chairman of Rutland Council also attended the lunch but had to leave early to attend a greeting of the troops at a nearby Army base where troops had just returned from a tour of Afghanistan. I expect no less of an excuse from anyone else that needs to leave an event early, so take note!!

The lunch was great fun culminating in a round of Happy Birthday to David and the presentation of a fabulous birthday cake from the Association. I have never before seen David lost for words, so that was a first indeed. David had no idea that anyone knew it was his birthday and was therefore most surprised. Sadly we had to leave all too soon to get home at a reasonable time and Gary Watson was entrusted with the cake to return to HQ for David, which I am pleased to say got back in one piece.

On 15th the benefit faculty board met by telephone conference. As Council members we also sit on the faculty boards by right. We can sit on two and this week saw meetings of both the Benefits Board and Local Taxation board. Unfortunately I had to give apologies to the LTR board the previous week as I attended the Surrey Treasurers meeting in Kingston the same day (Well, I have to work for Tandridge at least sometimes!)

The 16th saw me off to Edinburgh once again for the third leg of my great Scottish pre Christmas adventure. No snow this time, it was actually quite mild, but it was a very early start that got me to Gatwick for the 6.30 am flight. I met with Rob De Felice from Gandlake at the airport, although we were both somewhat bleary-eyed and had a second breakfast (but then the BA one was a bit too early anyway) when we arrived at the hotel in Edinburgh for the Gandlake Focus day. Tandridge is a Gandlake customer and as I am away for the next user group in England in January, it was an opportunity to take part in the day in Scotland. The focus group is about sharing ideas with the supplier and each other to share good practice and help develop enhancements for the future. It was a great day with sessions lead by David Magor and Bill Sproul (from Gandlake) helping to kick some ideas around. As always I found it useful and a good networking opportunity.

The evening saw the Scottish Christmas reception and this was held at the Scottish Parliament building. We were lucky to have a brief tour by Alison McInnes MSP, our host for the evening, and the debating chamber and other committee rooms really are very impressive. It was nice to see some old friends and colleagues and to say thank you to supporters of the Institute in Scotland, we were also able to present a small Gift to Maureen Collins from Glasgow City Council, winner of a Gandlake student bursary. John Gandley was able to present the gift as we were so pleased to have them present at the reception. We had a lovely dinner with them afterwards and then walked back to the hotel (with some slightly dodgy directions that made a five minute walk last ½ an hour)! But no harm came to anyone and we made it back safe and sound eventually!

Last Friday was the Institute Christmas party and it was indeed an honour to attend. I met with David and Gary to clear up a bit of business before the “festivities started” and then at 11.00 sharp we started Gary’s quiz, for a large part of the morning we worried that “the A team” (David, Rachel Toombs and myself) might actually win, but a last minute substitution when Gary had finished his quiz and my own offering was the final round, saw us slip back somewhat and the team of Evonne, Mark, George and Shola pipped us at the post. Well done to them!

We then popped off to the Blue Lion around the corner from Doughty Street and had a great afternoon which of course included a secret santa round. Although we couldn’t quite work out why Evonne had been bought a purple space hopper, at least her Santa had been thoughtful enough to provide some plasters for the inevitable!

For those of you who know me, know that I love the Christmas season and our house is always festooned with lights, I shall post some pictures to show you the full effect shortly. I wonder how many other Institute members do similar? Would love to see your offerings….

This week will see me at work for the three days before Christmas and then a four day break. The Institute Official E-Christmas Card went out today, the savings from not sending actual cards will be going to my chosen charity which is the St Peter and St James Hospice in Wivelsfield, East Sussex. I shall post more about the charity as the year unfolds.

May I wish all of you a peaceful and blessed Christmas and all good things for the New Year. I shall do one further update before my holiday in January, so stay tuned and try not to over indulge too much over the holidays.

Some photographs from Scotland

Above : Julie at the Gandlake Scottish Focus Group meeting - IRRV Chief Executive David Magor addresses the group.

Above : Julie with Alison McInnes MSP and Scottish Association President Hillary Kelly.

Above : Julie with Scottish Association President Hillary Kelly.

Very tartan fortnight!

Well what a busy and very tartan two weeks it has been.

Last week I was in the office until Thursday lunchtime and then I was off to Gatwick to fly to Glasgow for the Scottish Traditional Chinese karaoke evening in Dumfries (yep, you did read that right!). We had a brilliant evening, the Chinese was second to none, but the karaoke…. Well, I can’t sing at all, but before the end of the evening Hillary Kelly had lead the challenge with “Sweet Caroline” and I had responded with “You don’t have to say you love me” and even duetted with past president Allan Traynor on my favourite ever song “The Summer of 69”. However we were all upstaged by Bob Mackay's performance of the donkey song, don’t ask me ask him.

The following morning we went off to the forum meeting which saw the Chairman (Allan Traynor) and Reporter (Mike Peterson) both of many years, stepping down from the posts. Allan has moved to the Midlands and Mike to a different role at City of Edinburgh Council. The Association recognised their past commitment and presented them with a gift of thanks. I also addressed the meeting and spoke of the work being carried out on the education strategy. After a few questions we had to leave in order to make our way home at a decent time. David was driving and we dropped Allan off on the way. We were able to get lots of work done as I had my laptop with me and although you may think that the President and the Chief Exec spend a lot of time together, it really is snatched time and this was a great chance to spend 4 hours working, discussing strategy and firing off emails. David dropped me at Didcot Parkway at 5.30 and I still didn’t get home until 8.30 but it was still an excellent use of the day. I got home to an empty house as hubby and youngest were out playing badminton, charming home coming, I had to make my own dinner!!!!

This week was Scottish Benefit Conference and Colin and I flew on Tuesday afternoon to Edinburgh and then on to a very cold and white Crieff, meeting up with Allan Traynor and his partner Dee at the airport. Allan is the most superior sat nav that I have encountered to date, getting us to Crieff in record time. The conference had an excellent mix of DWP officers, auditors, fraud experts and LA benefit practitioners. It was my privilege to open the conference and make a few observations as to the challenges facing benefits especially in the current economic climate.

I am on record saying that the Scottish Benefits Conference is my favourite of the Institute's annual events. This year did not disappoint at all and I maintain that it is the “kick off” to Christmas with great fun on the Wednesday night as we danced the night away to the disco. It was yet another late night and I was chairing all day on the Thursday so I had to be up and awake for the 9.30 start, no problem as I slept like a log and was up in plenty of time. It must be said that so were the delegates and I do pay them tribute as they never fail to amaze me with their dedication to this particular conference, and despite the bad weather warnings and more snow over night, almost everyone stayed to the end.

The snow did stay away in the morning and we were able to leave and get back to Edinburgh in good time.

Friday was my day off (I work a 9 day fortnight) but I still had a teleconference with David and Kevin Stewart, however proving my multi tasking abilities during the phone call I put the shopping away and did the polishing during the span of the phone call. Hoorah for cordless phones!

I have been off to the Christmas food and drink fare at Ardingly this weekend and am pleased to report that I have just about finished my Christmas shopping, all a bit manic, but with these clod and frosty mornings I certainly feel in the mood this year, how does the song go… “It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas….”

Until next time, take care …

Scottish Benefits Conference 2008

An update by Julie on her attendance at Scottish Benefits Conference will be covered in her next update, but meantime, here's a few photographs from this highly successful event!

Below : A couple of photographs from Crieff, where the Conference took place - luckily all speakers made it to the Conference - as did almost all delegates - very lucky in fact, given the weather conditions. Below : Julie with Rob De Felice of Conference Sponsors Gandlake.

Below : Julie with some of the DWP speakers.

Below : A lively exhibition area.