chairman’s
Comment
“Remember that not only do you have a load of red t-shirts beside you, you have the whole organisation urging you forward” Chairman’s Comment I like to think that I put a bit of effort into considering the tone of every Navvies comment, but this one feels especially pressured to get it right. Not just because it’s several hours past the deadline Martin gave me, but also because we are all feeling the pressure of this damn pandemic – it’s important to get the tone right. Not too cheery and optimistic, not too pessimistic. Most of all it’s important people feel that the right decisions are being made at the right time. This is of course tricky because that right time rarely lines up with a Navvies press date! But hopefully you will read the article about Covid and summer Canal Camps on pages 8-11 and believe we are asking the questions that will help us make those right decisions when the time comes for us to decide (probably around Easter), and that we have a plan B if conditions change again later in the year. We are, however, only one half of the decision. The decision to work with us has always been with you, the volunteer, and so as we head towards the new normal, if I have one message for you all in this comment it is this: One of the wonders of WRG is that people can just turn up and enjoy doing simple, satisfying tasks with very few questions asked. It allows you to (almost) be a different person. In many cases we work alongside someone with no idea of their personal life, their work life, their fears or concerns. Please respect people’s individual decisions and actions as we all find out what we feel comfortable with. For the moment, however, remote working and Zoom meetings are the norm all day, every day for me. While they do all tend to merge together (and I find myself increasingly drifting off and trying to remember what it was like to be outside and sharing real, spontaneous, un-delayed laughter), I was present in a meeting yesterday that did stand out as
Plaque on the Stratford Canal at Lapworth. Is the spirit of ‘Hutch’ still alive on IWA’s Trustee Board? See Mike’s Comment. See also p20 for a look back at later years on the Stratford
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