Charlie’s Blog for March

Thank heavens for that! March seemed to take forever to get finished; I’ve been waiting for the official word on British Summer Time you see, hoping that it might finally signal the end of my moulting... it hasn’t happened yet.

So I’m still hairy, I’m still tired (totally confused by all this moving clocks forward – forwards to where?) and most importantly I’m still grumpy. But not so grumpy as to refuse to write my blog again, so here is my blog of thoughts on March.

The word of the month for March is ‘moving’. It’s nonstop here at Robinson Howell. They’ve published another edition of mailout, seen six Spot On performances in nine rural venues, been to Birmingham, Wigan, Manchester, Buckinghamshire, Lancaster, and Altringham... oh the list seems endless!

So what have they actually been doing in these places? Well, I had a quick word with the team and they said they have all been working, but I’m not so sure. I mean, Lyndsey and Rob said that they’d been ‘Plugged In’ to Whalley Abbey, apparently it was a mini conference with young people from two schools and arts providers in Lancashire. They called it a ‘Conversation’, (sounds like sitting around and talking to me). They came back with lots of flip chart paper all covered in notes and Lyndsey said she was tired from typing all day.... a likely story!

Lyndsey and Rob had already been out the week before with the dancers from Ludus again. All the way to Wigan to see four schools and ask the children and teachers about the project, they apparently did some dancing too! Doesn’t sound much like work to me!

Rob went to Birmingham for a Creative Partnerships conference. He went with ten young people from Peel Park Primary School in Accrington, as well as Cara (she’s the school coordinator). I like Cara, she has dogs too. And then he went to a SOC meeting... a whole meeting about socks! How exciting, I like socks. He insists it was a School of Creativity meeting, but I don’t believe him.

Sue started March in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire on a training course about leadership – that might be something about walking dogs on leads but I’m not sure. She’s been out on loads of busy adventures this month, the Arts Council asked her to go all the way to Altringham to represent rural arts at a market research event, and she’s been to lots of meetings about arts and culture. She started a new project for Manchester City Council, something about paths and journeys to employment – again, she’s just teasing me with words associated with walking. A few weeks ago she was on Radio Lancashire promoting some Spot On shows, I listened in and I was very proud.

Sue also had a meeting with the ANOB - what’s an anob? Something to do with how nice it is in Bowland and around Dunsop Bridge, I’ve been there and it is really nice– really good walks and lots of ducks. Anyway Sue came back with a story of another office dog who works in a really nice office that’s got its own wood burning stove and a place for walking boots – wow. There’s lots of them and they're available to rent. This dog is called Josh and he works for the Anob. I really think that me and Josh need to meet up. We could have a ‘conversation’ or something just as pretentious. (It’s the AONB: The Forest of Bowland, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - Sue)

Speaking about Spot On, Lyndsey, Sue and Rob have all been out on adventures to see the performances across rural Lancashire. Lyndsey has been writing up her (not always successful) travels in her blog and she still seems to be having a good time. She learnt how to spin a plate at one event, and she learnt loads of stuff about Nell Gwyn (whoever she is) in another one. I just wish some of the venues were dog friendly so I could come and see what all the fuss is about. Sigh... I suppose someone has to look after the office while they’re all out having fun.

The last day of March and they’ve all left me again, this time for a creative facilitation day in Oswaldtwistle. They do give these things fancy names – just a way of disguising the fact that they’re all out enjoying the last day of March without their office dog. I suppose all this working now means that it must be holiday time soon. It’s definitely time for my holiday, and maybe even a doggy chocolate Easter egg? I’ve been really good... even wrote my blog on time this month and everything!