Great Work in the North East

In November, I attended the CIH North East Conference in Newcastle, which was a superb event. On the Wednesday night, the Regional Committee organised a "future professionals" dinner, which was very well attended and I had the privilege of presenting the North East student awards. The enthusiasm of everyone present was infectious and for me, showed what fantastic people we have working in our sector.

The conference was excellent and the high point for me was listening to Kyran Bracken, the Rugby World Cup winner, talk about leadership. The photo shows me talking to Kyran after his presentation, when I reminded him of the time that he had helped me coach our Under 7's. I was able to show him the picture below, which showed him when he still had some hair and I was also able to say that I was playing in the same team as three of the lads the following day, but they are now all 19 and look a bit different.

During the conference, there was a very successful dinner and the raffle that was held raised over £1,100 for my charity, the Crisis "Changing Lives" appeal. Gavin Brown, the Chair of the North East Regional Committee is clearly determined to win the award that I will be presenting in Harrogate for the Regional Committee that raises the most money for my charity. He was telling me all about the Golf Day and the Charity Ball that they will be organising in the New Year and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Gavin and all of his colleagues in the North East for all of their hard work.

While I was up in the North East, I took the opportunity to visit the Crisis office in Newcastle and I was really impressed by everything that they are doing to help homeless people and people in vulnerable housing circumstances get back into work through training and employment opportunities - so all of the money that is raised will be put to a very good use, particularly in the current economic climate.