Happy St David’s Day! I have had a busy couple of weeks with some official dinners and even an association student meeting.
The weekend of 21st March saw my council undertake our annual billing process. We had a few hairy moments with the new leaflet that was not with the printers as early as we would have liked, but all is well that ends well and the billing went very smoothly and - for the first time ever - we were back up on the Monday morning after having closed at 5pm on the Friday night. Practically no loss of office time. I must thank my revenues and benefits team for their efforts over last weekend as this was a marvellous result.
Although we were billing, I had to drive up to Cheshire to attend the Lancashire and Cheshire Association Dinner Dance on the Saturday night. It was a great meal and the raffle raised a fair amount for President Claire Jenkins' local Charity. A big thank you to all who attended and also to those who sponsored the evening as it was an excellent event.
Monday evening - I drove up to Nottingham as I was speaking at the Students' Day in Notts on Tuesday morning for the East Midlands Association. It was a well attended day and it is really great to see the associations holding events on topical matters for the students and members in the area.
The weekend of 21st March saw my council undertake our annual billing process. We had a few hairy moments with the new leaflet that was not with the printers as early as we would have liked, but all is well that ends well and the billing went very smoothly and - for the first time ever - we were back up on the Monday morning after having closed at 5pm on the Friday night. Practically no loss of office time. I must thank my revenues and benefits team for their efforts over last weekend as this was a marvellous result.
Although we were billing, I had to drive up to Cheshire to attend the Lancashire and Cheshire Association Dinner Dance on the Saturday night. It was a great meal and the raffle raised a fair amount for President Claire Jenkins' local Charity. A big thank you to all who attended and also to those who sponsored the evening as it was an excellent event.
Monday evening - I drove up to Nottingham as I was speaking at the Students' Day in Notts on Tuesday morning for the East Midlands Association. It was a well attended day and it is really great to see the associations holding events on topical matters for the students and members in the area.
On the way back to the office on Tuesday I was listening to the Jeremy Vine show and there was a phone in concerning the Swansea City Council benefit fraud that was recently uncovered, involving a lady who was claiming HB and Incap for several years. She was only spotted after holiday snaps featuring the lady on a round the world cruise were posted on the internet. It was the Swansea Housing Benefit service that made the discovery, investigated and prosecuted. The majority of the callers were in full praise of the work of the council and it was heartening to hear.
It really has seemed like a very long week as after the drive back on Tuesday I have been in the office, however Friday was my 10th day and I took the opportunity to meet with Rachel Toombs from the Institute and look at hotels that may be suitable for the April Council round (we try to have this in the area of the President of the day as it is the “at home round”). Some of you may know that other than Gatwick there are not a great deal of hotels in the areas that could accommodate the size of council and the committee meetings that need to be held, so it was a bit of a small shortlist! Having said that I think we have been successful.
Just a short word concerning my chosen charity this year, which is St Peter and St James Hospice in East Sussex. This is a local hospice that provides so much good work in respite and terminal care of cancer sufferers and I know that so many people have relied on them for support and care of loved ones. The hospice is completely privately funded and relies on so much support from the community to provide the care that they give. At points during the year I will be undergoing some peculiar activities to raise some money for them and I do hope that some of you will be able to sponsor and support me as I endeavour to do so.
It really has seemed like a very long week as after the drive back on Tuesday I have been in the office, however Friday was my 10th day and I took the opportunity to meet with Rachel Toombs from the Institute and look at hotels that may be suitable for the April Council round (we try to have this in the area of the President of the day as it is the “at home round”). Some of you may know that other than Gatwick there are not a great deal of hotels in the areas that could accommodate the size of council and the committee meetings that need to be held, so it was a bit of a small shortlist! Having said that I think we have been successful.
Just a short word concerning my chosen charity this year, which is St Peter and St James Hospice in East Sussex. This is a local hospice that provides so much good work in respite and terminal care of cancer sufferers and I know that so many people have relied on them for support and care of loved ones. The hospice is completely privately funded and relies on so much support from the community to provide the care that they give. At points during the year I will be undergoing some peculiar activities to raise some money for them and I do hope that some of you will be able to sponsor and support me as I endeavour to do so.
I will be taking part in “the sleepwalk” (around Haywards Heath dressed in PJ’s at midnight!!!) in July for the hospice, but I hope to do something special as well during my year. You should find there is a link to the hospice on the IRRV homepage shortly where you can find out more about their work. Later in the year I hope to put an electronic link for sponsoring me too.
I am spending this evening putting the final touches to my exam paper for June and writing up this blog ... so just to prove that there is never really much chance of putting your feet up even on a Sunday night!
I am spending this evening putting the final touches to my exam paper for June and writing up this blog ... so just to prove that there is never really much chance of putting your feet up even on a Sunday night!
