Taken from this week's edition of Country Life (March 24, 2021)

YAWN!

It has taken all my wherewithal to limp through to this weekend, negotiating:

• Going back to school (physically);
• Driving more and realising just how much other drivers get on my nerves (!);
• Booking the car into the garage for ‘diagnostics’ for the alarming ‘ABS’ red-light warning and having to pay £54 for the privilege of being told it is a faulty sensor;
• Instruction on administering daily insulin injections (deep joy);
• At least three return visits to the pharmacy to collect the increasingly large pile of medication that has been prescribed recently;
• Visiting the dentist and having to admit that fitting a crown on a damaged front tooth is really the best thing – despite the eye-watering cost;
• Attending two evening Zoom sessions for ‘New Clerk to the Governors’ training;
• Various Clerk linked tasks and/or remote meetings for the three schools I am linked to.

With regard to the Clerk stuff, at times I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew.  It’s not that it is difficult per se but the various bodies [committees, staff, Boards] can be quite demanding – or rather, probably oblivious to the very limited contractual hours of the role and the realities of how long certain tasks can take to do.  It was reassuring that, during the Clerk Training, all of the other delegates agreed on this point and raised concern about keeping on top of the statutory governance and legislative aspects of the job.  This is the area that worries me as I do not have time – within my contracted hours – to focus on these things.  After my recent experience of ‘consultancy’ (ha!) and redundancy I am loath to commit myself too much – I certainly don’t get paid enough and recognise that I can be discarded very easily.

But it does go against my natural inclination too.

On the plus side, I have managed to up-date the Open Gardens website and FB page and given out instructions for the confirmed VIRTUAL event for 2021.  I would be very appreciative if you could check these out and ‘like’ and ‘share’ (as applicable).  It would look good if these could reach a wider audience other than just the stalwart Winchcombe-ites!  Check out:

Winchcombe Open Gardens (opengardens-winchcombe.com)
Winchcombe Open Gardens | Facebook

Thanks!​