ABCD

Not my homework for the day, but a very interesting concept which I intend to explore further.  Asset Based Community Development is a way of identifying the strengths of a community and then using them to develop the community.  It was just one of the many topics which came up in conversation at tonight's annual "Town and Gown" dinner - a chance to cement further the relationships between the Borough Council and the University.  As always when the borough hosts the dinner Tees Cuisine produced an excellent meal, the silver was beautifully polished and the Town Hall really came into its own.  A photo can't capture the wide ranging conversation of course, but does show off a bit of the silver.
One topic of course was the cuts to spending and the impact on both the borough and the university.  Both were fairly upbeat about meeting the challenge and not letting the cuts ruin everything, difficult though that will be.
There was some discussion of the Tees Valley Music Service, inevitably given the amount of press coverage generated in the last few days.  This is one of those precious services which do so much for so many children and young people that it's hard to imagine life without it.  Unfortunately the government hasn't yet announced whether we'll get any funding towards it and if so how much so the resultant uncertainty is causing real problems.  I'll wirte about it all at some point, but enough to say that it had great support round the dinner table tonight.  If fine words paid the bills the music service wouldn't have any problems at all!

Christmas is coming

This afternoon I was invited as chair of the Fairtrade Borough Partnership to attend the carol service at Queens Campus of Durham University and then to be part of the lantern procession over to the Town Hall for further carols and refreshments. The first issue to be resolved was transport - using a bus to get to Stockton for 4 would be OK but getting home again after 7? Not so easy, so on a rainy evening the car won.
I hadn't realised that the chaplain is a priest I've known since he was a young curate but not seen for some years so it was good to be able to catch up with him. The university had invited some residents from the nursing homes nearby as well as other Thornaby residents. So there was a good mix of people there and my lack of singing ability was nicely hidden by the orchestra and choir leading the singing.
The service started with the sharing of the Peace Light, a light brought by a long and not particularly easy route from Bethlehem as a reminder to us to bring peace to the people we meet and to pray for peace in Bethlehem and beyond.
A moving and thought provoking talk from the Dean of Stockton set Christmas and the carols firmly in context. What's the difference between an angel and a fairy? One brings a message of hope and one takes your wishes, one brings joy and the other brings fun. Hope and joy last through all manner of hardships but fun and wishful thinking don't. Happy Christmas one and all!
After the carol service we joined the college for dining, and then prepared for the procession. I'm afraid that our table were the rebels and encouraged by the Mayor we changed the route of the procession to walk over the Infinity Bridge. Despite the predictions of some we didn't get lost and we did enjoy fabulous views of the lights along the river.
At the end of the Ecclesiastes bridge we were met by the Mayor and mayoress with a handful of councillors and council officers. Tees Valley Youth Choir were waiting for us at the Town Hall and sang carols beautifully. If angels have voices they were being imitated tonight.
There was a cake to be cut, jointly by the Mayor and the Vice-Chancellor, and then drinks (including non-alcoholic mulled "wine") and food for all.
A truly festive occasion, full of all the good things in life - friendship, music, conversation, and working together.

Town and Gown

On Friday evening I was at the annual Town and Gown dinner. This is a small scale dinner, an opportunity for political group leaders on Stockton Council, senior council officers and senior membes of Queen's Campus of Durham University to meet in a relaxed atmosphere and discuss issues of mutual interest. The event began 3 years ago when Cllr Suzanne Fletcher was mayor and has already led to better and closer working together. This year it was again the turn of the mayor and council to host it and the Town Hall was the venue. I must admit that the long conference tables of the committee rooms are more suited to a dinner than to a committee meeting! The table was beautifully laid out and the food was excellent, provided by the civic catering section, Tees Cuisine. There was much useful sharing of ideas about student accommodation, events we might share together, ways of working more closely in the future and the benefits which might come to the town if the university's proposals for a new style of medical teaching facility come to fruition.