Times of meetings, that is! I realise that suiting up to 72 people is not an easy task by any means and meetings will inevitably get rearranged, but it is nonetheless disconcerting. I currently have FOUR documents which include the same calendar period. The trick is to make sure you know which one is the latest, assuming of course that will be the most uptodate! Anyway so far so good as I’ve attended on the right day and at the right time. Will my luck last I wonder?
Apart from coping with this what else have I been doing? Well, on Monday I attended a social get together with other Labour women councillors – one of the most interesting things about the make-up of the new administration isn’t across political party boundaries but how many councillors are now women, virtually 2/5. I’m pleased that locally our party has realised how helpful & reassuring it can be to meet up in this kind of relaxed atmosphere.
On Tuesday I managed the impossible by getting to two meetings which were on at the same time! OK, I admit I wasn’t at both of them throughout, but I did manage all of one – a community PACT meeting - and the latter half of Labour Group. PACT meetings are open to everyone living in the local area to which the police, amongst others, attend in order to find out about issues which residents are concerned about. And obviously this is also helpful to us as councillors.
Full council meeting was on Thursday, and not too drawn out. I think we are all still settling in, with nothing too contentious - yet! But for me the highlight of the week was going up to Seaview School on
Friday. As well as being made very welcome and shown round, I was lucky
enough to listen in as Welsh rugby star Shane Williams answered
questions that pupils put to him. Yes, I did have the ulterior motive
of meeting him, but believe me those pupils were very good indeed, and I
was most impressed with the quality of questions they asked. As a
governor I think this bodes well for my future association with the
school.
And you may have noticed that there’s a gradual transition now from predominantly induction/training sessions to 'real' meetings as it were. In any case meetings out in the community don’t really have any training – it’s a case of learning as you go and for me that means taking time to get ‘into’ the subject matter before voicing opinions and/or offering other forms of participation. In time I should know what I'm talking about!
Les
Apart from coping with this what else have I been doing? Well, on Monday I attended a social get together with other Labour women councillors – one of the most interesting things about the make-up of the new administration isn’t across political party boundaries but how many councillors are now women, virtually 2/5. I’m pleased that locally our party has realised how helpful & reassuring it can be to meet up in this kind of relaxed atmosphere.
On Tuesday I managed the impossible by getting to two meetings which were on at the same time! OK, I admit I wasn’t at both of them throughout, but I did manage all of one – a community PACT meeting - and the latter half of Labour Group. PACT meetings are open to everyone living in the local area to which the police, amongst others, attend in order to find out about issues which residents are concerned about. And obviously this is also helpful to us as councillors.
Full council meeting was on Thursday, and not too drawn out. I think we are all still settling in, with nothing too contentious - yet! But for me the highlight of the week was going up to Seaview School on
Friday. As well as being made very welcome and shown round, I was lucky
enough to listen in as Welsh rugby star Shane Williams answered
questions that pupils put to him. Yes, I did have the ulterior motive
of meeting him, but believe me those pupils were very good indeed, and I
was most impressed with the quality of questions they asked. As a
governor I think this bodes well for my future association with the
school.And you may have noticed that there’s a gradual transition now from predominantly induction/training sessions to 'real' meetings as it were. In any case meetings out in the community don’t really have any training – it’s a case of learning as you go and for me that means taking time to get ‘into’ the subject matter before voicing opinions and/or offering other forms of participation. In time I should know what I'm talking about!
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