Friday 25 May 2007

First class service all round

I was recently in Manchester for a Black Health Agency Board meeting. I took the opportunity to visit our services in Manchester. The speed of Virgin trains leaves me feeling decidedly sick for the first half an hour after arriving so to right myself, I walked in the rain to the Centre which is 15 minutes from the station. When I arrived, I couldn’t help but wonder if this is what Chief Executives are supposed to look like. Vanity fears aside, I met some staff who I have not met before, and others who I recognise, but still struggle desperately to remember the names of. Their determination to make the centre a welcoming and comfortable place for young people and to keep on getting better and better at what they do is simply remarkable. (And the new building is lovely too!)

I also visited Stockton to meet some of the team who have just established our new services there. They are already starting to fly – they are getting out and about in the schools and youth settings as part of their outreach. 17 young people attended one of the clinic sessions in the last couple of weeks, and whilst some of the other sessions are slower to start, I am sure it won’t take long before those who are visiting the service tell others, who tell others, who…

Then when I got on the train and looked at my seat reservation, I realised I was in first class – two single tickets, including one first class ticket had been cheaper than a return… Probably a very good job I won’t be getting used to it - the size of the seats make it harder to use a laptop comfortably anyway.

2 comments:

Tessy Britton said...
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Tessy Britton said...

You write the nicest blogs Simon. Always so appreciative of everyone! Relieved, but not surprised to hear how uncomfortable First Class is for the 21C traveller. :-)