New Term, New Challenges

I think in many ways we can be sure that summer is over. Outside it feels very autumnal. The mornings are cold, not quite frosty but there is a definite nip in the air, and the nights are drawing in. It won’t be long before there are Christmas adverts on the TV!

I have to say that the end of the summer holidays has come as quite a shock work-wise! My little boy is full of independence and trotting off to school almost by himself (I am no longer allowed anywhere near the classroom) so I find that my day is much more orientated towards work with the school run now reduced to a very minor interruption. Chatting to other mums at the school gate seems to be a thing of the past already. And, on the other hand, I seem to have so many new projects on the go that I really appreciate the new focus.

New projects are fun. I love the early stages where you are generating lots of ideas and there is a real buzz to a project. And, right now, almost everything I am working on is new which is so exciting. It is also pretty daunting to have everything in early stages – I spend most mornings looking at very long to-do lists with very few things ticked off! So, the thrill of the new is countered slightly by the realism of what needs to be achieved. This is where I find that lists help so much – breaking things down and agreeing short term deadlines really works for me and my clients. Nevertheless, my diary is very full and I am working most evenings to keep everything on track. Communication is key too and my email is certainly very busy at the moment.

To give a flavour of the balls I am juggling right now, this week I have:

• Completed a first draft of a new project proposal which will support local communities and people with mental health needs to access nature
• Spent a day talking with partners Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, Northumberland Wildlife Trust and Forest Research about how to engage audiences and monitor attitudinal change as part of a new national-scale project to conserve the red squirrel
• Spent a day working with the Tyne Rivers Trust to explore new project ideas and develop a funding strategy to resource these
• Started work on an Evaluation Framework for a new participative evaluation contract for Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s DerwentWISE project

To say that I am excited about these new projects is an understatement. Really, they are all such great initiatives and I am pretty proud to say that I will have a part in them. Of course, they each deserve a blog post of their own and so I will be sharing more from them over the next few weeks.