Dear members and friends,
Having breakfast on my terrace this morning a cockroach, over two inches long, scuttled between my bare feet – I smashed it with my book. The loathing and violence I felt for this insect was excessive – some ancient and primitive instinct. We have good days and bad days, don’t we – days of peace and harmony – followed by days of confusion and dread. As a drinker, I blamed hangovers for the churning moods – but living now without alcohol, the main variable seems to be quality of sleep – and the places dreams take me. For the last few nights – sweating on this strange bed – my dreams have visited horrific scenes – like Dante’s Inferno. It’s as if my unconscious is trying to show me things about myself – savage things – which I don’t really want to know.
Mhairi is also having a bad day. The terrace over from me is occupied by a young couple from Skye, with a wee girl of four, and a wee boy just starting to walk. Mhairi, a spirited lass, is not pleased with the new sprog – at having to share her parents – and has just launched into another impressive tantrum. Mum smiles over apologetically – I smile back with a thumbs-up. The wee one will learn soon enough that envy and rage are not allowed in the adult world – must be subdued – disowned – eventually denied – only to surface in dreams. Give it laldy, wee one, while you can
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I’m watching the privileged class enjoying its privileges. The fashionable ‘gang hut’ for Marbella’s super-rich is currently the Polo Club – owned by James Hewitt, a former friend of Princess Diana. Dinner here will cost you 100 euros each and the folk sitting around this morning remind me of the bonus spivs who trashed our banking system. It’s the certainty of this set about their entitlement which angers me – reminds me of Scott Fitzgerald’s great line about the ‘‘vast carelessness’’ of the rich, who take for granted that others will clean up their mess. How did we so lose our bearings that we allowed these crooks to unhitch banking from the real world? Will Hutton in the Observer says that the great scam continues – bonuses and all. https://senscot.net/?viewid=8631
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Local People Leading (LPL) was set up to campaign for a strong and independent community sector in Scotland. It welcomed Scottish Govt`s Community Empowerment Action Plan as a step towards greater community empowerment but also felt that it was neither radical or ambitious enough to bring about real change. LPL has now produced a response to the Govt`s Action Plan that identifies six key areas where further action is needed. See more http://www.senscot.net/view_news.php?viewid=8610
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With the closure of over 200 Post Offices around Scotland, it is heartening to hear a good news story on this front. A joint venture between Pollock Credit Union and the Post Office will see post office services and credit union services delivered from the one unit. As well as securing 14 local jobs, this also preserves two vital services for the local community – could this model lead the way in delivering financial services to local communities? See more, http://www.senscot.net/view_news.php?viewid=8626
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Did you know that the Co-operative Party is a separate political party which entered into an electoral pact with Labour in 1927? This weekend, the party gathers in Edinburgh for its AGM and with nearly 30 MPs (many well-positioned within the Labour Government), it remains a valuable source of policy ideas for the general election manifesto. Well developed proposals for Co-operative and Mutual ventures include: schools – housing – energy – finance – even Network Rail. It could well be a period of major expansion for the whole co-operative movement. https://senscot.net/?viewid=8632
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Senscot`s AGM on 24th September is now almost full. We’ve 5 places left. If you’d still like to come along, contact Victoria@senscot.net. Here’s the Agenda, http://www.senscot.net/view_event.php?viewid=8634
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NOTICES: We can’t flag all notices here, but submit jobs and events and we’ll post them on our site. See http://www.senscot.net/jobsevents.php. This week:
JOBS: The Scottish Government, Depression Alliance Scotland (DAS), Edinburgh Cyrenians, Castle Furniture Project, Scottish Drugs Recovery Consortium, YMCA George Williams College, The GRAB Trust
EVENTS: Mental Health at Work, 9 Sep; Scaling up the Sector, 17 Sep; Delivering Person Centred Services, 22 Sep; Basics of Being an Employer, 23 Sep; Central Scotland Forest Conference 2009, 30 Sep; Volunteer Recruitment Fair, 1 Oct
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NETWORKS NEWS: Colin writes: The 5th Social Enterprise Ceilidh at New Lanark takes place on 19th/20th November 2009 (Social Enterprise Day)! As with previous years, we will kick off with Question Time, followed by Masterclasses , Speed Trading and, of course, the Dragons` Den. Once again, RBS and Unity Enterprise are sponsoring the Den which again has a £5,000 prize for the winner. Last year’s winners Our Power and You Can Cook will be back to update us on their progress. Booking form now available, see http://www.senscot.net/networks1st/ceilidh09booking.php For more Networks News, see https://senscot.net/networks1st/showart.php?articleid=106
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Last week, Ready for Business was launched at the CEiS Mergers and Acquisition’s Conference in Glasgow. The initiative (a partnership between CEiS, Social Firms Scotland and Senscot) is designed to promote Community Benefit Clauses and to offer support to social enterprises in building consortia with a view to accessing procurement opportunities. Over the last week, over 30 organisations have registered. If you’d also like to sign up, see http://www.readyforbusiness.org
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In recent weeks, the bulletin has covered awards being made by both the Investment and Enterprise Funds. This week, Firstport contacts us with an update on the Social Entrepreneur Funds. To date, £295k has been allocated to 36 individuals. The range of awardees covers a new IT application, a carpet recycling scheme and a school bicycle repair enterprise. For more, see http://www.senscot.net/view_news.php?viewid=8629
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The Scottish Government’s Public Social Partnership (PSP) Project has been set up to select and support 10 partnerships between the public and third sectors, providing co-planning and delivery of services over an 18-month period. The best current example of this is the `Reaching Older Adults in Renfrewshire` (ROAR) initiative involving the local Council and five third sector organisations So far, there’s been plenty interest and the deadline for applications of 8th October is fast approaching. See details, http://www.senscot.net/view_news.php?viewid=8627
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This week’s bulletin promotes a new social enterprise that has turned potential disaster into a growing demand for their products, leading to significant expansion plans. The Wooden Spoon Co, a trading arm of Dundee International Women’s Centre (DIWC), was left with a mountain of food when the local food and flower festival was cancelled due to rain. In response, they took to the streets of Dundee handing out their food to local businesses. Such has been the demand since that plans for expansion are well underway. For more, http://www.senscot.net/view_prof.php?viewid=8630
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I have never read anything by the writer William Trevor but I intend to buy his latest novel ‘Love and Summer’ – I’ve been captivated by his interview in the Guardian. Here he speaks of faith. ‘‘In my view, the whole shebang – angels and all the rest of it – is wrong, but there is something there. In an almost sentimental way you can look at the flowers in your garden and say, how on earth did He do all this? The word ‘faith’ is used, but it is really a feeling. What they say in church every Sunday can’t be proved, but the feeling that people have can, because they have it’’. https://senscot.net/?viewid=8633
That’s all for this week. Good luck with your adventures
Best wishes,
Laurence
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