"Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Riding Thru the Strath"

The Illyria Open Air Theatre Group is staging a production of "Robin Hood" on Sunday 2nd September at 6.00pm. Proceeds will go to our sister organisation, The Prince's Trust-Scotland.

The show is being held in Brahan Estate with a barbecue provided by Storehouse of Foulis. Here's the blurb:

Evil Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham tax the people into desperate poverty, but one man decides to fight back – Robin Hood! Illyria’s own troupe of irrepressibly merry men present the most enduring of English legends and his adventures in a riotous and exciting new open-air show.

As someone originally from Nottingham (the UK's drive-by shooting capital), I have a soft spot for old RH and his Merrie Men, so I hope the thesps show due respect. Anyway, for more info contact Bill Anderson, PT-S Area Manager. (That's another one you owe me, Bill)

Managers' Meeting and a Bit More

Last week, we all trotted off to Linlithgow for our quarterly managers' meeting hosted by the ever-hospitable Malcolm Evans, PSYBT's West Lothian Manager.

After the usual information exchanges and updates, we were treated to a sample of the corporate team-building and communication exercises from PSYBT client, Max Marshall, of Giggle Point who (I kid you not) had us juggling scarves, crouching under a parachute and trying to locate an object with our eyes shut. Now, your writer has, in the past, been accused of some scepticism about team-building and such-like and it is well-known that I lack the co-ordination needed to move inanimate objects in a meaningful way but IT WORKED. We had a hoot and learned some pretty valuable lessons. I still can't juggle, though. (I have no photo's from the session and, if I had, I wouldn't post them. Dignity is all I have left) .


After this excitement, and to confirm everyone's impression of the beer-and-skittles life of a PSYBT Manager, we toddled off down the canal by boat (what else?) to our Chief Exec's (Mark Strudwick) house for a barbecue. And a good time was had by all. Thanks to Mark and Jan for their hospitality (and the Pimms).

It was also a time of farewells. One of our seconded IT Team, Martin MacPhie has gone back to his proper job and so has Paul Bowtle who was seconded by the Royal Bank of Scotland to bring some semblance of reason to our human resources procedures. Then, to cap it all, Charles Doeg-Smith, Fife regional manager and one of PSYBT's old-stagers (12 years, for goodness' sake) announced that he was off to do good works with the social inclusion programme in his area. There will be more of Charles' departure in future posts, I'm sure.

Oh, and Simon Fraser's back in Grampian; just for a short time (which is good for my liver) but it was good to catch up.

Orkney

Two weeks since the last post! I'd better do some catching up.

A couple of weeks ago I went back to a slightly damp Orkney. Things are really moving up there with an amazing increase in enquiries and applications. It's a pleasure to see how this sub-Region has developed under its enthusiastic volunteers. We're recruiting some more and we are very pleased to welcome Gavin Cullen on board who will be bringing his considerable experience to the aftercare team.
Orkney now has sufficient clients under its belt to play a full part in PSYBT activities. These will kick off with an Orkney entry into the PSYBT/Royal Bank of Scotland Awards. Watch this space for the winners and date of the local Awards final.

Pretty Picture: The Ring of Brodgar

Whilst in Kirkwall, I met up with clients Andrew Cowan and Robert Miller from LP3 who will transfer your old vinyl to CD. "Graduates" of Orkney's Young Enterprise programme, the partners will reproduce your album taking the utmost care of your treasured and irreplaceable James Last or Bucks Fizz albums by using local stores as a drop-off and pickup points. Already, they have made such an impact locally that they are researching how to expand their venture.