Sorry for the silence

It has been a while.  Thanks to two weeks holiday in September and then three pretty hectic weeks attending political party conferences I have not been in the office very much.  So, bear with me whilst I catch you all up.

First, on a personal note, my holiday was superb.  I am from the North East, as is my partner Karen, and going back up there (to a rented cottage near Alnwick) was a real tonic.  I was immensely proud of Karen as she started our week away by running the Great North Run, in bum shorts!  She started running simply to do the GNR, having got a ballot place and raised over £750.  She ran in a time of 2 hours 35 minutes which is pretty good for a first timer and on a very sunny day.  I was blown away by the crowds and, at the charity tent after, was chuffed to meet our team of runners as they came to say hello.  Everyone was brilliant but, if you don't mind, I will say I have a particular admiration for Ben Ashworth who did the GNR before going on to complete the sixth marathon of his target.  In fact Ben then went on to do another seventh marathon - and all while undergoing chemotherapy.  He is a hero.

Karen got a lot of attention running in bum shorts

After my two weeks off it was straight into party conference season, whereby I attended each of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat conferences.  The purpose is two-fold: to meet influential individuals within the parties, but also to connect with others in the charity world and in business who might be key partners in future.  We do not usually attend but, as these conferences are the pre general election ones, it is worth attending as you are talking about policies that could see the light of day within a year. In fact one of the best conversations I had was with the CEO of the Girl Guides, where we able to compare notes on our very different challenges.

The problem with being away is that you miss so much in the office.  That said I suspect the charity staff don't mind me not being there to have ideas! While I was away we had a very successful reception for some supporters at the residence of the London Lord Mayor, Mansion House (which I came back to attend), continued to work hard on getting sign-ups for Decembeard (join in the fun here) and staff discussed the results of a survey of their views about what works in the charity and where we could do better (vital if we are to always to perform at our best and achieve our goals).

Now I am back in the office.  The chilly air and leaves turning golden are a reminder that the year presses on.  So, it is time to focus on making the second half of the year as successful as the first. Plus we need to start thinking about the future, looking beyond 2015 to how we can be there for more people, get more people diagnosed earlier, campaign for better healthcare for bowel cancer patients and, yes, raise more funds to do all of this.  It is going to be a fun winter.

And, oh, yes.  Cycling.  Still getting out on the bike.  Just not as much as I would like thanks to being away and the nights getting darker.  And falling off!  I am afraid I failed to jump up a kerb properly and did a comedy fall over the handlebars fall, denting my helmet, probably cracking a rib and badly damaging my ego!  Bound to happen one day.  Here's to more time on the bike and next season will be about doing more rides.