Hi everyone,

As part of the Personal Development arm of the KTP Project, I had to spend last week in a hotel in the countryside near Bath doing Management Training, with 21 other KTP Associates from all over the country. To be honest, I was slightly apprehensive. Not so much about the training, after all, I finished uni just 6 months ago and I am always eager to learn. Rather, it was the other 16 hours in the day. I was wondering about the other Associates. Would they be sociable? Would they be my age? Would they be interesting? Would they think I was interesting?

I left on Sunday (the day of rest?!) and got to Bath fairly early, checked into my room and at 6pm we met each other for the first time. It was great. Everyone was really nice, even the trainers. Most of the training was hands-on, doing presentations, role-plays, and strategy games, and even when it was lecturing and note-taking they were interesting and funny. The days flew by. At night, we either went to the country pub (the only other thing in the ‘village’ bar the hotel) or stayed in the hotel bar playing games. The last night, we went into Bath (all of us!) where this picture was taken (I am in the green).

All in all, my apprehension was unnecessary, I had a great time and learnt just as much from my fellow associates as I did from the trainers. And I have now seen a Peruvian breakdance. Roll on August for Round 2!

ANT

This is the time of year when the dawn chorus is most noticeable.  It starts at 4 a.m. and usually finishes around 4.30 a.m. when it starts to get light enough for the birds to find food and get on with the day. In May the migrant birds have arrived and the males of the species are calling to the females and, usually, by the end of May they have found their mates.  There is generally an order to the chorus: blackbird first, then robin, wren, tawny owl, warblers, song thrush and, lastly, blue tit.  There is also a dusk chorus but, as it is more windy at dusk, it is not so noticeable. Also probably everything isn’t as quiet at it is a 4 in the morning.

On Sunday 3^rd May I went to Madame Geisha for dinner with friends. We dined in the groovy upstairs restaurant area, next to the open kitchen. The food was good, with various twists on oriental fare on offer preceded by an absinthe Champagne cocktail.

Whilst we ate we were entertained by a troupe of startling looking people, from a somewhat ghoulish looking chap painted entirely blue with a scythe, to a lady in a puffy dress adorned with cup cakes. There was also a human spider person performing while hanging upside down from a rope suspended from the ceiling.

This was not quite the sort of metal club I usually frequent, but great larks were had by all none the less!

Simon

Richard and Linda, to celebrate their recent wedding which took place in Sweden, had a party last Saturday night, at a hotel in Hove, for friends, family, and some long lost friends they had not seen for ages. They gave a slide show of the wedding and a short video of the wedding service (wedding only took 10 minutes!!)