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!

My Thoughts on January

Hello all,

I have only one word to describe January and that word is ‘parcels’.

Parcels have been arriving and departing at the Robinson Howell office pretty much every day – in fact there was a point where I was worried that they were going to put me in a parcel, and I have been avoiding Lyndsey every time she gets the parcel tape out just in case she is tempted when no one else is looking.

I believe the parcels contain things to do with Spot On, Lancashire’s Rural Touring Network. Lyndsey and Sue did a lot of jumping for joy when a big van arrived with the Spot On brochures, and since then they’ve been working hard to send them out to lots of people across Lancashire.

Apparently there is also a PDF of the brochure that they’re sending out... Not exactly sure what a PDF is? Productive Dog Fund?... If it is I’d like the money to be spent on bones please!

I’m quite excited about getting to see some of the events that are advertised in the brochure, the first show is on the 14th February and it’s about building a rocket! There are some really great bands, loads of fantastic drama, a circus act, and some people are coming over from Canada to do some comedy. I’ve noticed two shows about Pigs, but I’m a bit disappointed because I haven’t seen anything specifically about dogs, maybe next season.

If you’d like to have a look too just visit the Spot On website. Speaking of the website, apparently that is being re-designed at the moment so I’m looking forward to playing with that when it’s all finished.

Rob is still busy working with Paul Hartley on the Plugged In project, they’re trying to map all the arty activity that happens in Bowland and Oswaldtwistle . Sounds a bit strange to me, but Lyndsey and Rob have been having fun drawing circles on maps in the office, and it keeps them occupied I suppose.

Rob’s been out quite a bit watching dancers in Wigan; he says it’s a project for Ludus, another excuse to get out of walking me I think. He has been asking lots of school children what they want to be when they leave school; so far a lot of them want to be vets, I’m pleased about that.

Rob came back last week and had a whole conversation about which super power he’d have if he could choose one – I have yet to see him running around the office pretending to fly or using his super human strength, but I’ll keep you informed. I think if I had to have a super dog power it would be turning invisible so I could get away with sleeping on the sofa and stealing things out of the cupboard. What would your super power be? Drop me an email or a Facebook message and let me know.

They had a team day last week at Clitheroe Castle, spent all day talking about the future and planning loads of projects on post it notes... didn't take me though... it's a dogs life!

Charlie’s thoughts on December

The best thing about December was that I got presents and I got to go away for a week’s holiday at the end. This blog is not however about such things. It is supposed to be about how hard I work at Robinson Howell Partnership Ltd. Because of that Christmas malarkey though, it was a shorter month at work than usual. What did we do?

Sue and Lyndsey have been running around like puppies sorting out the next tour for Spot On. It’s quite exhausting watching them. Sue says it’s like doing a giant jigsaw with someone changing the picture on the box all the time. Not sure about this though – dogs are not good at jigsaws. Things seem to be in place and will apparently be on the website very soon.

Lyndsey’s been talking to my mate Stephen at Source Creative a lot about how they can make the Spot On website even better than it is now. That sheep is still on the front page but I think his days are numbered!

Rob’s been making friends with a thing called a Creative Partnerships Database – whatever that is. Well I say making friends.... I’m glad he doesn’t talk to me like that.

Rob and Lyndsey have started an evaluation project with Ludus. It’s in Wigan... maybe they’ll bring me back some pies.

We’ve had snow – lots of it and it looks like we’re going to get more. I like snow. It’s fun and I like chasing snowballs. It’s a good job that we do our computing in that cloud thing as poor Lyndsey couldn’t get in just before Christmas. Her bus still hadn’t come after she’d stood in the cold for an hour and a half. We’ve re-named it the Wuss Bus.

We had a competition before Christmas. People had to answer a question with a chance of winning a highly prized, beautifully crafted effigy of me made of fur. I think it’s called a puppet but I’m not at all sure about where you’re supposed to put your hand. Ooh Err! It was won by an extremely lucky person who works at the Arts Council called Claire Eddleston-Rose. I hope she looks after it. There was also a competition to win some tickets to see a Spot On event which was won by someone called Una who works for Brouhaha in Liverpool.

Like I said I went away for a week’s holiday at the end of the month. I went to Devon. There wasn’t much snow down there but it was a bit chilly. I’ve put in a picture of me and my mate Jess who’s a rather cute black Labrador. Black Labradors are the second best thing to brown ones. We did lots of running around together and took our people out for lots of walks in the countryside.

I’ve been thinking more about this dog union thing - a union for dogs who work in creative places. I’ve come up with a name - British Association of Rather Creative Canines (BARCC ) – now I just need a manifesto and perhaps some members. Let me know if you’d like to join, I’ll post the information on my Facebook page.

Speaking of Facebook Lyndsey has been asking me to come up with acronyms for the Robinson Howell Partnership page. So far we’ve had ‘Reindeer Hauling Presents’, ‘Really Hate Parsnips’ and (following the staff Christmas party) ‘Returned Home Plastered’. If you have any other suggestions you could post them on our Twitter page.

New Years resolution – eat more bones, form a canine union and take my work colleagues out for more walks.