So it’s a new year and as is tradition I’m among the many people to have resolved to do something differently this year.  These range from the sublime to the ridiculous (win the Euromillions and the Lotto at least once) as is also custom but as well as in my personal life I’ve made some professional new year’s resolutions. 

Top of the list is to take more lunch breaks.  While this is not only a good idea from a nutritional aspect , taking a break and stepping back from the detail of our daily worklife can be one of the most useful things we can do to get a sense of perspective on what’s most important and what maybe can wait.  This is something which is crucial in such pressurised and challenging times for the voluntary sector working in criminal justice. 

Over the past few months I’ve been visiting and meeting members to get to know the sector and the individual organisations as much as is feasible.  And on one of these visits I made the second resolution – witnessed by a member – to keep up regular contact with our member organisations through meetings and visits throughout my tenure as Chief Executive Officer of Clinks – not just as part of my initial induction.  This is one I felt confident in making because in visiting and meeting your organisations I have learned so much more than I could have hoped in a relatively short space of time. 

In order to keep the two resolutions my proposal is to combine them and to introduce a new feature – Anne’s light lunch, borrowing a phrase from one of the most popular of Clinks activities I’ve come across “on my rounds”.

The concept is simple – ideally twice a month I’d like to have lunch with a member organisation – on a Friday.  That might be in person or it might be by the power of phone or video if that’s easier for people to manage.  It doesn’t have to be lunch – I love a cuppa too- the idea is that we take some time to talk and think about what your organisation is aiming to do and how Clinks factors in its plans as a support. 

If you’d like to get involved simply pop me an email – anne.fox@clinks.org