Fiesta

Well Saturday was a glorious day. The Birthday of HM The Queen (more on Honours below), the Feast Day of St Anthony of Padua and my nephew Alexander's graduation. Alexander is the poet nephew graduating in English from Christ Church, as opposed to the rower nephew Julian featuring in the blog recently. So a very pleasant day in Oxford culminating in dinner with friends and family of five of Alex's year. They are all setting off for glittering careers and my nephew embarks on his PhD.

The Honours List included no less than two ACEVO Knights: The CEO of the National Children's Bureau, Paul Ennals, and the magnificent Prof Deian Hopkin, Vice Chancellor of London South Bank University. Also good to see my friend, Craig Deardon-Philips, getting his just rewards for a great contribution to our sector with an MBE. Jane Slowey, who has been very active in ACEVO is made a CBE. The great and good friend Margaret Faull, of the National Coal Mining Musuem, is made an OBE as is Gracia McGrath of ChanceUK and Helen Donoghue.

One of my more interesting appointments has been to sit on the Honours Committee for all the awards in our sector, police and fire and local government. I am always impressed at the sheer quality of the contribution of the people we review. I am a great supporter of Honours. It is a superb way of marking the contribution of people who make a difference at community and national level. If you want to make a nomination go to the website here.

If you are an ACEVO member and have not yet filled in your pay survey YOU HAVE THIS WEEK to do it! Our Pay Survey is the main guide in our sector to CEO salaries so we try and ensure it is as comprehensive as possible.