What a week!
Following the excitement of Monday's meeting with Princess Anne, Gloucestershire Federation Trustees met on Tuesday to elect a new Federation Chairman - I now have added responsibility. I was delighted to have the support of so many, however, and am looking forward to working with a new team who are ready and raring to go.
Yesterday was also fun. I spent the day in Westminster, where I joined Jennifer, NFWI's Director of Education and Jackie, the Vice Chairman of the NFWI Education Committee in a Parliament lobby concerned about the funding of Adult Education. Jackie and I met in the cafe at Tate Britain and walked along to St Stephens entrance in glorious Spring sunshine. The Houses of Parliament looked wonderful with the spring flowers coming out and everyone in good spirits. It was Budget day too, so there were plenty of people about and the House was buzzing.
We were meeting in Committee Room 14 which involved a long walk through parliament, allowing plenty of chances to see familiar faces along the way. The room was packed with interested people - I spotted a couple of college principals from Gloucestershire amongst them. The discussion was interesting and although the comings and goings of people made it difficult to follow at first, once we got ourselves settled into good places (I sat on a windowsill overlooking the river and St Thomas' Hospital) we heard some excellent speakers. Tony Benn said exactly the same as he'd said on Radio 4 yesterday (but since he's 80 next week, I forgive him) and Barbara Gill did a great job on behalf of NFWI. Several speakers who spoke after her referred to points she made, ensuring that the NFWI viewpoint was firmly established in the notes of those present.
I left Westminster and caught the train to Birmingham - one of the new Virgin Pendolinos, which was interesting and made the journey very comfortable. Now why doesn't First Great Western offer hot food as a matter of course on our service, I wonder? Timing everything to perfection - I would like to claim responsibility for that, but it was sheer luck - I walked into the Symphony Hall just as Mark placed the G&T on the table ready for me. Good planning or what?
I'll leave him to comment on the concert, which was a great end to a very interesting and fun-packed day!
(Originally published by Gill)
Yesterday was also fun. I spent the day in Westminster, where I joined Jennifer, NFWI's Director of Education and Jackie, the Vice Chairman of the NFWI Education Committee in a Parliament lobby concerned about the funding of Adult Education. Jackie and I met in the cafe at Tate Britain and walked along to St Stephens entrance in glorious Spring sunshine. The Houses of Parliament looked wonderful with the spring flowers coming out and everyone in good spirits. It was Budget day too, so there were plenty of people about and the House was buzzing.
We were meeting in Committee Room 14 which involved a long walk through parliament, allowing plenty of chances to see familiar faces along the way. The room was packed with interested people - I spotted a couple of college principals from Gloucestershire amongst them. The discussion was interesting and although the comings and goings of people made it difficult to follow at first, once we got ourselves settled into good places (I sat on a windowsill overlooking the river and St Thomas' Hospital) we heard some excellent speakers. Tony Benn said exactly the same as he'd said on Radio 4 yesterday (but since he's 80 next week, I forgive him) and Barbara Gill did a great job on behalf of NFWI. Several speakers who spoke after her referred to points she made, ensuring that the NFWI viewpoint was firmly established in the notes of those present.
I left Westminster and caught the train to Birmingham - one of the new Virgin Pendolinos, which was interesting and made the journey very comfortable. Now why doesn't First Great Western offer hot food as a matter of course on our service, I wonder? Timing everything to perfection - I would like to claim responsibility for that, but it was sheer luck - I walked into the Symphony Hall just as Mark placed the G&T on the table ready for me. Good planning or what?
I'll leave him to comment on the concert, which was a great end to a very interesting and fun-packed day!
(Originally published by Gill)
posted by Mark at
1:21 pm
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