Friday Smile

Just to put a smile on your faces...

Coughs and Sneezes

The Joys - I have struggled bravely with 'flu all week - and as I have no huge desire for a cuttlefish I am guessing it is not the avian variety, so I am being a brave soldier and battling on. I know that you all feel my pain..........

Anyway, what we have been doing this week...

Well the Conference is filling up at quite a pace, and we have new and old members as well as people who are not members at all but are coming along to see what we do.

We will also have a host of trade stands and publicity stands from quite a wide spectrum of organisations. In due course the website will carry a list of all those that will be attending.

We have also had interest in us from a couple of GP surgeries, which would be a great new addition to our ranks as they will be able to bring a new and different perspective on the needs and issues facing people involved in Social Care. As we all move towards joined up work with Health and Social Care under the one banner, this will prove invaluable for all of us.

We are still having a few teething problems with the website, but most of it is functioning properly now. I recently received the stats for the usage of the website and they have been fascinating (or as fascinating as statistics can be). I will post the key numbers on the website and here in the course of next week.

The new office has been reorganised (again) and there is now more space (we haven't swung a cat to test it yet but there might be enough room now) so should any of you wish to visit us to talk about any needs or plans or even to pop by for a coffee, just let us know and we would be delighted to see you.

Finally, one of the women that works for the Disability Team at Devon County Council has had her wolfhound puppy qualify for Crufts so I will be going there tomorrow to cheer her on. In this picture this is her with one of her pups parents (I think).

So on that note I will leave you with a picture of one of my 'little' wolfhound girls to look at - isn't she lovely.....?

The Fastest Week Ever!

Well another week has come and gone by with a worrying whooshing sound as it seemed to be 17 minutes long!

This week we have found out that we will be able to tap into a new source of funding which will enable us to bring course costs down considerably. There will be lots of specific details that have to be completed in order to achieve this, but as it is going to help all DCT members to make their training budgets go so much further I am sure it will not be too onerous a task. You can ask Lucy or myself about this - but the details will be on the main website and it will be obvious how much of a saving there will be when the next round of course details are posted.

Speaking of this, we will be putting together the Autumn programme over the next 4 weeks or so, so if any of you have specific training requests - now is the time to start making them!

This week also saw the introduction of the new E-Induction package. This looks like it will be a handy new tool for all organisations and will help ease the whole process. Once it is fully up and running we will post the link and instructions for its use on the main website.

Well I have to go and meet up with Carol Barkwell to plan more details of the Conference, so I will take my leave and update you all next week.

I almost made it to the end of this without mentioning my unbridled joy about the fantastic win Ireland had last Saturday - but it wouldn't be so unbridled if I hadn't mentioned it!

Have a nice weekend, one and all, and as they say at home, 'Slán agus beannacht Dé libh'

See you all soon

E