One of those weeks

Well I've got to the middle of it in one piece. A long day on Monday with a Parent Feedback Day at the Civic Centre, following which I have hastily put together a bid for funding. Getting frustrated that frontline work is getting pushed to one side in order to help the local authority meet their obligations.

Other highlights so far: a third meeting with someone to tell them the same thing all over again - they finally got it; an on-off meeting that was finally on - at 8pm I'm not at my best; a trip to Tesco after the 8pm meeting; a seven year-old who really thinks he should be in Cubs now and not boring old Beavers; booking tickets for Hannah Montana with my five-year-old and her overflowing anticipation; getting soaked and frozen in the rain on Tuesday - I do love those silver sandals; a minuscule ham and tomato sandwich in the pub at the top of Church Street, a picnic lunch with my DH by the river today watching the black swan; and, someone telling me that PiT was a part of their family (aww).

Tony Hadley is very tall

I met him on Tuesday, at the House of Commons. The award he presented me with was in a silver frame. If only it had been GOLD!*

Friday, PiT caught up with each other after the break and did a lot of planning - some exciting developments ahead. Lunch in the sunshine in the patio garden at St Denys, making a relaxing lead-up to the weekend.

BTW it took three days to get through the answer machine messages from not being in over Easter.


*copyright SFH

Thames Valley Adventure Playground

Today was one of those days that PiT was created for. Twenty young people and fifteen of their carers went to the fabulous Thames Valley Adventure Playground in Taplow in Berkshire to run, jump, climb and, yes, paint in the spring sunshine.

They have a fabulous new extension going out over the water that vastly increases the indoor space, improving the experience for users no end.

So I chatted with parents, watched over my children and felt at peace with the world, not least because my eldest boy was perfectly content to be there. A rare occurance indeed.

Thanks to the parishioners of Our Lady of Grace and St Edward's and other residents of Chiswick for their efforts at the 2008 summer fair which made today's trip possible. Everybody who went wants to go again.

Of course the long-term ambition must be to find a way of duplicating this closer to home, but I'll leave those thoughts for another day.

An award! We got an award!

Call me a jaded, tired, cynical over-worked mum, but as a group we have been so concerned with 'frontline' services that we hadn't been 'in touch' [I'll stop doing that soon, I promise] with our MP. We put that right at the end of last year and she, Ann Keen, immediately brought us along to a meeting with Brentford FC Community Sports Trust and Sports Minister Andy Burnham.

Today I hear she also nominated us for an award from think-tank organisation Kids Count and we have won a 'Highly Commended' for our work here at Parents in Touch (or the PiTs as it's known in our house). Off to the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday to mingle.

Hello!

Karen Adams from Parents in Touch here. Hopefully adding this blog to the website so that we can keep 'in touch'. Simple idea. Let's hope it doesn't go the way of the other blogs I've started.