A matter of Trust

We are holed up at a quite stunning National Trust cottage in Pembrokeshire. I think the NT is one of our greatest social enterprises, preserving the National heritage and allowing ordinary folk like us access to some of the UKs most magical places. Next time I see Dame Fiona Reynolds I'll ask her to join the growing wave of social enterprise spokespeople. Its such a jewel.

The stunning view from our cottage

Its a jolly atmosphere today as Stella, the much loved hampster who had gone missing from home yesterday turned up this morning. Phew! Poor old Sarah, our au pair. She and I were in constant text conversation as she turned the house upside down, experiencing flashbacks of when her childhood chipmunk made a permanent bid for freedom. I told her Stella doesn't like the cold and the fat old thing could be tempted out with biscuits, as so it proved.

The calm and isolation of this stunning spot is only broken by the chaos of board games. Who knew that playing Monopoly was a blood sport? Well it is when played by adolescent males. In my day we didn't have rules like dancing for money, paying someone to name a side of the board after you, or placing one of the property deeds down the front of your pyjamas to put anyone else off from buying it. No I definitely think I would remembered that one.

Chris and I meet outside to take in the wonderful view and console ourselves that its just a phase. Still, the children aren't the only ones who can innovate with the rules: my contribution on that front is that the winner has to do the washing up. Being a parent can have its compensations.

Surviving the 'era of the cut'

Today I chaired the London meeting of ACEVO's nationwide pre-election consultations, entitled 'The Big Ask'. It was an interesting and well attended event. Lots of passionate and highly articulate points made. One that struck me was from a CEO working in health who had tendered for contracts against statutory providers for whom many of the procurement costs were lost in the machine. It was not, therefore a level playing field. We heard time and again from third sector organisations who offer services with extraordinary success rates, such as working with ex-offenders and achieving re-offending rates of 13% as opposed to the National statistic, which is at around 55%. These services present as extraordinary savings in terms of reducing prison populations and human misery, but as one woman put it, "if the prison authority has to make cuts, the first thing that goes are the auxiliary services."

I had a lovely meeting today with an old friend, Debbie Pippard, at the Big Lottery. We talked about their funding priorities, their enthusiasm for social enterprise and responsibility to only fund services that should not be funded by statutory authorities. It made me think about how you would define what statutory authorities should fund, and particularly how that might change in the 'era of the cut'. Debbie also asked me to draw folks attention to their Awards for All offer. Seems like a good one to go for at the moment.

Yesterday I saw my action learning group for a meeting to decide if we should continue. For those that don't know action learning is a formal, facilitated group of peers that meet regularly and take it in turns to pose professional dilemmas. Instead of offering advice, the group ask questions allowing the subject to work towards their own strategy. Ours has met quarterly for nearly ten years, and are an epic group of gals. In that time we have changed innumerable jobs, had children, got divorced, lost loved ones and remained true to ourselves and mistresses of the universe. We did of course, decide to plough on. As the Americans say, ‘if it ain't broke, don't fix it’.

The family and I are off to Pembrokeshire for a few days for log fires and muddy walks. Can't wait. We have left our lovely au pair to manage the menagerie. In fact this week we adopted another rabbit, Nibbles, whose family have downsized to a flat and can no longer keep him. He seems a super chap and as long as he steers clear of Jemima our clucky, pecking alpha chicken he'll be ok. Still, yet another animal - I can't help but wonder if it’s a step in the right direction. I think I must love agro.