the ISA (nothing to do with savings accounts!)

Posted by David on March 29, 2010 · 1 Comment 

So, a couple of blog posts ago I did a blog entitled Bloggers Block and wasn’t really sure what I was going to write as I wasn’t sure I had anything to write but the subsequent post was one that seemed to be appreciated as the act of writing seemed to unblock the dam.

So, in the spirit of that post I once again don’t know exactly what I am going to write but feel I need to write something, so this post MAY turn out like the Blogger Block one on the other hand it may not even see the light of day.

Anyhow, very different to last time I have left the title blank for now as I couldn’t even come up with the inspiration for a title, I can go back and put that in after I know what this post is about.

So, what to say? hows about the weekend? Well as many of you will know, Steven was in respite over the weekend and good friends of ours took Natalie off our hands for the afternoon, so this could have lead to a nice peaceful afternoon for us except that I had signed up, in my foolishness, to an ISA Roadshow, for those who don’t know the ISA is the Independant Safeguarding Authority and it has to do with the protection of children and vulnerable adults, basically new rules are coming in that affect those who work in certain lines of work or in places where they have access to vulnerable people, this is to alongside the current CRB checks but for the first time ever make such checks and ISA registration a legal requirement.

The course I attended was run by CCPAS (the Churches Child Protection Advisory Service) who we use to carry out CRB checks and for advice on such issues.

Anyhow, the day was long and very draining, I arrived home pretty shattered, although it was well worth going and it answered a number of our questions and queries over the whole ISA scheme, it is clear that this scheme is, on the whole, a very good step in the right direction, in terms of making it a legal requirement for people to be registered to undertake such work as would bring them in contact with vulnerable adults and children, as well as making it a legal requirement for organisations using staff/volunteers in these kinds of roles to check the ISA registration, as well as to report to the ISA any issues or concerns they have relating to staff/volunteers.

I can’t help but think though that with all the beurocracy that will inevitably surround the ISA they will still be making stupid decisions, both ways, and we will see endless cases of things going wrong, but I might be wrong. On the face of it it looks good but in and off itself will, sadly, not prevent people being abused but it might make it more difficult for persistent abusers to get away with it and therefore cut down on the number of children and vulnerable adults being abused.

I know that there are many who are very anti the ISA and all it stands for, often based on very biased and irresponsible reporting on the part of the Telegraph! The guy running the session on Saturday said that the Telegraph, in-particular, have continually printed incorrect information on the ISA and when he or his staff have called the reporter to put the record straight they have listened to him and then just said something like, well we hear that but we wont be printing a correction because it is our editorial policy to oppose the ISA and therefore we need to maintain that line, I have to say it begs the question what the hierarchy at the Telegraph have got to hide if they are so opposed to the ISA that they will lie to try getting the public against it, why are they so afraid of the ISA?

Anyhow, there have been enough cases recently highlighted where abuse has gone on with multiple victims over many years that surely people see the benefits for such a scheme, especially for example the issues over the heads of churches covering up and ignoring abuse allegations made gains clergy, under these new rules the heads of churches will have a legal duty (as well as the moral duty they already had) to make sure these allegations are followed up on and not just ignored or swept under the carpet. That can’t be a bad thing, can it?

Yes more bureaucracy but this one looks like it might work, certainly the folk at CCPAS, who are very moderate in their views, are very happy with the legislation and are optimistic that it WILL make a difference, these are people who have been working within the relevant government departments to help flesh out the details of this legislation and to ensure that it is legislation that works and is sensible and proportionate, if they are optimistic for the ISA then I have to say I can share their optimism.

It is a sad fact of life that there are those who choose to abuse, for their own evil pleasure, children and vulnerable adults, if it were not the case then such legislation would not be required, Jessica and Holly would still be alive as would countless hundreds of other children, and adults, who have paid the ultimate price at the hands of their sick and evil abusers, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of people who have huge psychological issues because of the abuse they suffered at the hands of others.

It is also a sad fact that those sick individuals deliberatelly target jobs and volunteer opportunities that give them access to the vulnerable adults and children who they prey on, therefore no one will convince me that legislation and practice which makes it more difficult for such people to have access to the precious children an adults who we are all responsible for ensurign are kept safe, is anything but good.

Of course CRB checks and ISA registration will only deal with known offenders, we still need to ensure that our practices and policies make it more difficult for abusers to get away with what they do and at the very least that the get caught and brought to book as early and quickly as possible, this requires all of us to remain vigilant and to look out for the welfare and care of those who are more vulnerable than we are.

The ISA and the regulations that have begun to come into place already and will be rolled out over the next few years, will and do have an impact on workers and volunteers as well as the organisations, who work with vulnerable adults and children throughout the country, sometimes change is a good thing, as you will have heard me say before, my view is that these changes are a good thing and we should do all we can to embrace them and ensure that they work, along with our other safeguarding policies, to prevent paedophiles and abusers from getting access to the vulnerable in or society.

If you do want/need advice on the ISA or any issue related to do with abuse, whether it be advice about a situation you are concerned with or that you are/have been the victim of abuse yourself I can think of no better startign place than CCPAS, just visit their web site and you will see various ways of contacting them, including a 24/7 helpline.

OK so this post has ended up being about the ISA! so now to go back and fill in the title.

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London (again!) and 3 encounters…..

Posted by David on November 28, 2009 · 1 Comment 

London, Again and 3 encounters that saved MADE the day.

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you will possibly already have heard that I had a very successful visit to London on Thursday, the conference went really well, it was entitled From Vision To Action and was held at and run by HTB the big draw back is that HTB are very much central London, SW3 being their post code, just down the road from Knightsbridge.

This matter was compounded by the fact that the conference started at 9.30am, and finished at 5.30pm, so basically journeying during rush hour was pretty much obligatory.

As if that wasn’t enough, I was travelling on my own and have a fear of large crowds, busy places, hectic city life is just not for me, and I hate the underground system with a vengeance, no really HATE it! Not so much afraid of being trapped or a fear of the tunnels and the dark just find it disorientating and confusing as well as too busy and its too easy to go the wrong way.

I have a few bad experiences of London and, particularly the underground, to support my case for avoiding it, not last of course the saga that was my last trip to London, to another conference, just a couple of weeks ago, where even in the company of a seasoned London Commuter, well he used to be, we still managed to get on the wrong train and end up going from London to Bedford via Tonbridge, Kent!

So I feel there is some justification for me being a little nervous, to put it mildly, about the upcoming journey to London, on my own. I seriously considered not going to the conference but decided, with a little encouragement from some friends, that I wasn’t going to allow this fear to rule my life and prevent me from benefiting from what looked to be an exciting and interesting conference, In had really wanted to go and was as torn over the decision about whether to go as I have ever been about anything.

In the end, I went, and enjoyed it, I will possibly write a bit more about the conference on a future blog but for now I want to explain the cryptic comments I posted on Facebook & Twitter where I mentioned that I had 3 encounters with ‘angels’ whether these were real angels or simply divine ‘coincidences’ coming together I am not sure but either way it was a remarkable series of events.

Anyhow, the day started early, I was up when the alarm went off at 6am, got to the train station just in time to leap on the 7.32 train to St Pancras & beyond (I woke up at some stage between Bedford & Luton) anyhow, one advantage of the trains starting their journey at Bedford is that it does more or less guarantee you a seat, and even a choice of seats, from my previous experience of sitting on a seat next to people who are slightly on the large side, I opted to sit in one of the seats sitting near the door that goes sideways on, they used to be luggage racks but those were removed to squeeze a few more seats on, anyhow, the seat was tight for space but at least it was all my own space and I had plenty leg room too, anyhow, a guy got on at Luton and chatted briefly across the aisle, which is unusual for a commuter train, anyhow he saw me get my Oyster Card out and made some comment about being a regular underground traveller, I said no I wasn’t and I wasn’t looking forward to it as I hate it (the purpose of getting the oyster card was simply because I wanted to make my underground journey as simple as possible and felt this was the simplest option)  he asked where I was headed, I think I just about got my head round the fact I wanted the Picadily line to South Kensington or Knightsbridge, having just checked it out on the instructions I had, he said that he was going on the Picadily line too, although in the opposite direction, so if I tagged along behind him he would show me the way and point me onto the right platform.(Angel No 1)

So I duly followed him, through the crowds, to the underground, passing through the gates with relative ease and simplicity, we arrived down on the Picadily line and he indicate I wanted to go Left and he went right, so I arrived on the correct platform but it was heaving bodies, like more people than I thought was possible, it is a real miracle that no one ended up on the tracks, the trains were coming in pretty fast, about 1 Minute intervals, I decided pretty quickly that I was NOT going to get involved in the crush of people trying to cram onto the trains, each train that stopped seemed jam packed and yet, even though only a few people got off many more got on, they looked to me rather like human sardine cans on wheels, how on earth they physically fit everyone in there is beyond me, I am sure it must be against health & safety regulations, overcrowding etc, but I guess nothing much will happen until (and please God don’t let it happen) a disaster happens as a direct result of  the overcrowding.

Deciding not to get involved in the hustle of the crowds, I stood back from it all against the rear wall to keep out of the way, several (probably 7-8) trains came and went, at some stage a lady came and stood next to me, by this time I was getting a little more than freaked at the crowds, not sure when they would stop pouring down the escalator onto the platform, would I end up stuck here for a few hours> anyhow, as I said this lady came and stood next to me and waited as a couple of trains passed, I turned to her and made some comment about her not fancying the crowds, she said no she was going to wait till it was quieter as she wasn’t in a rush and asked where I was headed, so I told her it was HTB, she said oh that’s just down the road from where I work, you want to get off the same station I am getting off, I will show you the way (angel No 2) turns out she works at Harrods, so we got on a train together and off at Knightsbridge, she took me to the top of the stairs and outside, it turns out that tube station comes out right next door to Harrods, so walking past Harrods she glanced at her watch and said, I have plenty of time I will walk you to HTB, on the way she told me that finding my way back was nice and easy as all I had to do was look for the mass of green fairy lights that cover the Harrods building and it would be easy to find in the dark, the tube station being right next to Harrods of course, anyhow, she took me to the drive of HTB and left me to go the short walk up the drive on my own.

I arrived with very little stress, other than a few minutes where I almost freaked on the underground, well actually if I were honest, I did freak but there was little I could do about it, so many people coming down to the platform there really wasn’t an easy way out so all I could do was take a few deep breaths and put up with it.

Not having had to find my way round and not getting the chance to get lost or disorientated was great, the conference was well worth the effort, but more of that at some other stage.

I had agreed with Joy that I could avoid the evening rush hour by hanging around in London and getting tea before heading home, being all too aware that this would lead to the potential of me getting lost I had noted on the walk to HTB that there were a number of eateries between the 2 locations, so I decided to go for one of those, however, on my walk back towards the station I realised that the restaurants were all very very expensive and I could not afford even a starter at any of them, so I decided to take a walk round Harrods, to fill in some time, I bought a couple of bits there as gifts, for Joy & the kids etc, and got served by my ‘angel’ who asked how the conference had gone, I asked her if there was anywhere to eat that was reasonably priced, she said No so I thought I would eat back at St Pancras, the tube would be less crowded now, the lady behind me in the Que  said that she was headed for St Pancras as well and could show me where to eat reasonably priced there, so I was escorted back down the underground, through to St Pancras, she then took me round the maze of the station via a lady giving out money off vouchers for the Better Burger Co, she seemed to know that these vouchers would be available, then through to the better burger co for a meal, we got takeaway as she advised me that our train would be leaving shortly, not sure how she knew as she didn’t seem to check any of the timetables/boards, anyhow, it turns out she was headed to St Albans so needed the same train as me, she showed me the way to the train and on we get, just in time for the doors to shut and the train headed homeward, with myself and Angel No 3 enjoying burger and chips.

I got home a few minutes after 8.30 after a relatively hassle free return journey and it wasn’t even raining for my cycle ride back either.

So, I ask again, as I asked in my twitter/facebook post on Thursday evening, do you believe in angels?

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the indecision and the conference!

Posted by David on November 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

OK so you will know by now that I braved the delights of London last week to go on a conference, something which was a pretty big deal for me, I don’t do London and definitely don’t do the underground!

I felt relatively at ease doing the conference last week as I had company, my opposite number from the CofE church down the road from us, who had actually made me aware of the conference, travelled with me, and we still managed to get on the wrong train.

Well, at the conference I bought a recommended book, From Vision to Action by Tricia Neill (She is in a senior management position at HTB Holy Trinity Brompton) anyhow, having read the book I was really impressed with what she had to say, it all makes a lot of sense and I was really encouraged in reading it, not least because it was so easy to read.

Essentially Tricia sets out to expound the idea that we, the church, should bring business levels of standards into all that we do in the church, i.e. we should not settle for second best but seek excellence in all that we do she comes from a background of working in senior positions with some fairly bi household names so she knows what she is talking about, she manages to walk the thin line between implementing business standards and keeping our focus spiritual, which is refreshing to say the least, I thoroughly recommend the book to anyone who has any responsibility in a local church.

It dawned on me at the end of last week that I had received an e-mail from htb about a conference being held there entitled ‘Vision to Action’ being run by the same lady who wrote the book.

Anyhow, when I originally received the e-mail, some weeks back, I forwarded it to David G & Myles (Pastors) to see if it was of interest, David G responded by saying that he would love to go but as he was in Kenya at the time the conference was due to be on he thought it was a bit far to come back for it, he did suggest that he thought it would be good for myself and Myles to go, based partly on it being a HTB conference and they always do conferences well, but also because he thought it was worth going to, especially having watched the promo video they had done, I must confess that my initial response was somewhat muted, for a number of reasons, now however, havign read the book I was suddenly more interested, having checked with Myles, he cant go because he has something else on that day, so if I go I go on my own.

I had pretty much made my mind up that I would go then I decided to check where HTB was, I had assumed, thought, mistakenly believed, that it was North London somewhere, not sure why I thought that! well it turns out to be in SW7, pretty close to regents park and that sort of area, erm, No I don’t think so! Me, on my own, on a train & on the underground, all the way to Central London, well through central London actually, Not a chance!

I did make the mistake of mentioning this to Meryl, who shares the office with me, she felt that I could do it and suggested that I ought to try, erm, no I dont think so, there is no way I am going to do it.

Anyhow, this morning during my counselling session I mention that I had been thinking I would love to go to the conference but felt it was just totally impractical, my counsellor spent a lot of time with me working through the options and making it sound so reasonable and so feasible, after all its only a busy commuter filled, packed to the brim, hot sweaty train to St Pancras followed by either a similar packed tube train, well probably more packed, through London, and a few minutes walk or an extortionate taxi ride through the London rush hour, of course its a piece of cake, no problems with it at all. erm no I don’t think so!

Anyhow, she got me moved from, No way to, well I could consider it, it MIGHT work but I am really NOT keen!

this afternoon I had an e-mail pop into my Inbox from the delightful Meryl, again encouraging me to go, she had spent the time working out the routes, she came up with pretty much the same 2 route options I had, the underground option I mention earlier and another option involving changing at London Bridge and catching a second train, thus avoiding the underground! trouble is, that train will still be filled with cattle, er I mean commuters, with a herd mentality.

Anyhow, now I have 2 women on my case about it, so reluctantly I discuss it again with Joy, she is happy with me going even though it means another long day for her, with me not being around to help with the kids,  SO I took a deep breath and, without giving too much thought to the consequences, book myself onto the conference.

Did I happen to mention that the conference is actually only next Thursday? no? I didn’t think I did, well it is. I think I definitely need my head testing for even entertaining it as an idea let alone booking myself onto it.

OK so maybe not the biggest deal to some of you guys who do that every day but I do have a real fear? if that’s the right word? of London, I get so uptight and worked up but I am determined that I WILL go to this conference, I WILL achieve this, and I WILL enjoy the conference, even if I am not so keen on the bits either end of it.

SO, if you want to go to the conference do get in touch because I am still keen to find a travelling partner if I can.

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Consider it pure joy……

Posted by David on November 10, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

Yesterday (Monday) I went to a conference in London, no big deal you say? well some of you will realise that there were several factors that made this a big deal for me.

firstly, the last conference I went to was not a happy experience for me, I basically found it too much to cope with, being around people etc, no space and lots of other factors, when I was at a very low level myself, the result of going to that conference was to put me back off sick, having just got back a few weeks earlier, only this time I was off sick for several months rather than the few weeks I had been off before.

As if that wasn’t enough, I have a huge phobia of London, the underground, the railway, the streets, the business the traffic, nothing about London inspires or encourages me to want to visit, I steer clear as much as possible, the last time I went to London was with our daughter, for an appointment at Great Ormond Street, it was pretty early so we went down very early and got breakfast in their restaurant, but afterwards we decided to take her to see one or two of the sights, well we managed to get a little disorientated on the way back to the car which didn’t help but then the journey back home was a nightmare, traffic everywhere, the journey down was good and took a little under an hour and a half, the return journey, middle of the afternoon so not rush hour, took about 3 1/2 hours.

OK that wasn’t too bad but the previous visit to London was me on my own, by train/underground, for a specialists appointment, resulting in me getting thoroughly lost and disorientated, to the extent that I asked a Police Woman how to get to the station, I said Kings Cross, she checked my ticket to establish which Kings Cross I needed, as there is more than 1! and she then decided, rather than give me directions, she would walk me there and make sure I got on the right train before she left me, I must have looked in a bad way!

So with that as a backdrop you can understand why going to the conference was a big deal for me, anyhow, this was a 1 day conference for Administrators, we are all supposed to be efficient enough to manage to pick everything up in 1 day! I decided I was pretty safe going as I was going with the Parish Manager (my equivalent post) at Christ Church (his name is John) down the road from us, I get on really well with him and it was pretty safe going with him as he used to commute to London every day, although he also has a phobia of the underground but as this trip, by train, would not require the underground at all we were pretty safe.

John  did all the timetable checking and booking of tickets, we had to catch a  train from Bedford (7.48) to London Bridge, then a train from London Bridge to Waterloo East (1 stop) followed by a short walk across the covered walk through to Waterloo station to catch one to Raynes Park, I still don’t have a clue where Raynes Park actually is! The church where the conference was held was a couple of minutes walk away from the station.

The first 2 trains were like sardine tins but the last one was pretty empty, as I said we got a train at 7.48, had absolutely no delays and hardly had to wait for connections yet still only just arrived in time for the 10.15 start.

However we arrived, and in one piece, the conference was a resounding success and I thoroughly enjoyed it, I managed to cope with chatting to people and sat through the different sessions, it was in all a very good day, and the conference kept pretty much spot on time, finishing only 10 minutes later than the scheduled 4.45 end time, which was pretty impressive considering how much was packed in and how many people had contributed to the day.

I have come away with lots to process and think about and a fair amount of reading material.

Anyhow, at the end of the conference we headed straight off, got to the station and immediately leapt on the train to Waterloo, no delays again got off at Waterloo, picked our way through the crowds to the Waterloo East Station and noted, next train for London Bridge, was from Platform C, down the stairs to the platform, there stood the train so we leapt into it, just as the doors closed and the announcer on the train said well I didn’t catch any of the words except that the first stop was Tunbridge! WHOOOPPSS! we got on the wrong train, it was at the right platform but was the train before the one we wanted!

I pressed the exit button but too late the door didn’t open as the train started to move. gosh, how far was that? well it was a 40 minute journey, followed by a 2 minute dash over the bridge to the other side jump on another train to head back to where we came from, stopping just long enough to double check this train would take us to where we wanted to go to.

The things that saved me feeling really stupid were, firstly, I had got on the train with someone who had some experience of London Trains so it wasn’t just me that was being stupid, secondly both the ticket inspectors who spoke to us, one on the way out and one on the return, just said something like, ‘your not the first and you wont be the last’ apparently we were not even the only ones on that train to have done exactly the same thing, we escaped any excess journey charges.

So, as a result I didn’t get home till just after 9pm.

Fortunately Joy had no real problems with the kids, they seemed to cope pretty well with me not being around and were in bed and fast asleep by the time I got home.

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