The "Youth Aware" meeting was a strange affair. We usually go to these events and find a committee with a good idea which needed funding. This one had the idea and the funding but needed some more people on the committee to share the load. These days to qualify for funding you must have a shed load of policies and procedures in place. Really every committee should have at least 4 lawyers on it to make sense of government legislation. Is this necessary to protect the funds or to make work for even more quango's? Your comments are welcome.

Over the weekend we were again out and about in Brandwood. A lot of people are turning up to help out and there is a danger we will get ahead of ourselves but we know Neville is in full control and doing an excellent job. We were also out in Longbridge delivering Bulky Rubbish leaflets, another service this council provides.

On Monday Keith attended the Cabinet meeting to support a report calling for a change in the way Children's Services are delivered. This is part of the Business Transformation process and should help to overcome some of the anomalies caused by using different computer systems for different procedures and will help improve outcomes all down the line .

The evening saw us at the Conservative Group meeting where we discussed the next days events.

On Tuesday morning Keith joined Cllrs Adrian Delaney (Weoley) and Barbara Wood (Kings Norton) at a meeting of Northfield Community Safety Partnership. Some good news about the reduction in crime in the Constituency, it looks as though the work done by Sue and Keith on the Great Park has been a great success. We can only hope new plans will help even more.

At Council we must have had one of the poorest showings by an opposition for many years. Mike made a "State of the City" speech with which Sir Albert Bore simply agreed to and "Cuddly" Ian Ward made a half hearted attempt to defend the Post Office, and his own Government, over the proposal to close another 2,500 post offices. Only 28 of his colleagues backed him whilst a few managed to be conveniently absent for the vote.



On Wednesday Sue and Keith attended the Memorial Service to Ken Hardeman. A grand setting and a beautiful service was attended by a host of people from Birmingham and beyond. A sad and untimely loss to us all.

Thursday morning Keith met up with our Estate Assistant on The Roundabout to sort out some problems reported by residents. A quick visit lasted over an hour as residents kept stopping us for a chat, a moan and even some thanks. It is amazing how often we help out with a complaint, often brought to us by several people, and afterwards no one says a word. Still we are used to that. That afternoon saw a very high turnout for the opening of the Northfield Town Centre Shop. This is a one stop centre to access all the services, not only the Council but police, fire employment, Commusave and several others.

The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress arrived to loud applause. He is pictured here and there is also a pic of a group of Chinese students who are studying Government at Bournville College. A very friendly group who are anxious to learn about democratic government.