I had an interesting experience on Saturday as I went to facilitate a strategy morning with my old friends at Gillingham YFC. This was the first time I had met with them all since I left at the end of August and as slightly unsure of how things would work felt kind of weird as I saw them all and started to chat with them, and I think they did as well.

It was a cool experience for a number of good reasons. It was good to see that this team were still the same people but that they had a new way of working and relating to each other. It was good to see that Malcolm has successfully made the transition from team member to team leader. It was great to experience the passion of these people to reach out in new ways to the young people of Gillingham.

I was thanked at the end of the morning and my natural, without thinking, response was ‘It’s a pleasure to help out GYFC’. As I drove away those words came back to me and I thought … yes that is the truth, that is what I meant to say … even if, honestly, a small part of me wished I had been able to take up the invite to join my brother-in-law in a hospitality box at Twickenham!

In the afternoon we all went to Bluewater, the cathdral of shopping, in the south east. Sarah and Beth went shopping, while Tom, Joe and myself went to watch Racing Stripes at the cinema. The children then grabbed something to eat at various food outlets while Saah an myself enjoyed a curry when they were asleep.

Quite a good Saturday really.