Thursday 26 February 2009

Seven marathons/seven days/seven continents/bonkers!

Anyone who has braved the Atlantic and rowed from one side to the other is hardly going to be fazed by running seven marathons in a row on seven different continents. And of course, that man is.......Oliver Dudley.

But don't listen to me. Visit his plans on Facebook (you'll know how to get there) and offer your support. He's not doing it for napac this time but for another fantastic charity called Kids Company.

If I'm not working (some of us have to Oli!) I'll keep him comapny on the final leg which is in London and by my reckoning that will be about 21/22 March - yes - this March! (Mind, I'll be on my bike!)
But I'll let you investigate this lunacy yourself. One thing I do know is that if anyone can achieve such a feat it's our Oli. And what's more he'll finish with a smile on his face. I witnessed that when he landed in Barbados just over a year ago having rowed, non stop from Spain!!

Well I really do have to get on with some work now. I'm thinking of writing to that chap who presided over the billion pound losses at RBS. Apparently they've retired him off at 50 on a pension of £650K per year. He must be gutted. I'll see if he wants to come and do a bit of volunteering at napac............. but don't worry we won't let him in charge of the petty cash!

On a sombre note. All of us here at napac send our condolences to the Cameron family. The death of their son is a blow no parent should have to suffer. It's times like this that I thank God that I am a Christian because I know that little Ivan is now safely in the arms of Jesus.

Keep going everyone! Support Oli........... but don't forget napac!
Pete

Thursday 19 February 2009

Duffy.

Duffy for NAPAC.
Apparently she won a load of awards at the BRITS last night. Good for her. Well done Duffy. Quite a few pop stars write songs that would seem to indicate that they know about abuse. I wish some of them would give napac a bit of support. Our freephone line is being deluged with calls and until we get the resources to expand we are restricted in how many people we can help. One thing that does my head in is when I read about some charities which not only pay massive salaries but even manage to make huge golden handshakes. I could hardly believe that Age Concern recently handed a former employee £800,000. Yes..........I repeat £800,000. That sort of money would run napac for the best part of 8 years. No wonder some people are wary of 'giving to charity'. Next time the local Age Concern rep knocks on my door I will have words. But I would clarify that much work done at local level by all sorts of charities, including Age Concern, is done voluntarily and with the very best of motives. But it also smacks of one of the many things wrong in this country. Those at the top taking the rest of us for a ride. Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive of NCVO (Nat. Council for Voluntary Organisations) was on BBC news yesterday morning and he pointed out how it is generally the poor who give most to charity. He's right of course. In the same way the poor pay more tax, pay more for everything they also give more to charity. NOT that I am knocking the better off people who support NAPAC !!! (they know who they are) ...we just need a lot more like you. Of course if every person in this country who suffered childhood abuse was to donate a pound to NAPAC, that would be the end of our financial worries.
As I sit here blogging I am conscious that my colleagues (sitting just accross from me) are beavering away at our second Big Lottery application. They are working their guts out while I'm sitting here having fun. So ....time to get back to work. We recently advertised for some new supervisors for our Support Line volunteer team and we were stunned at the level and the quality of the interest shown. We've just had to spend a lot of time sorting through the many applications we received to decide on candidates to interview. Not a task any of us enjoyed because it showed that there are a lot of people out there looking for work. Well, we've selected who we feel are some excellent candidates and I will let you know how they get on.
In the meantime..........don't forget to order your CDs (mentioned in earlier blogs) and if you live anywhere near The Standard Venue in Blackhorse Road, E17 then get along there on Thursday 2nd April (late evening) to watch Secret Mission perform live. You won't regret it! See you there?
Pete

Wednesday 11 February 2009

NAPAC Un-muted

I mentioned a CD a couple of blogs back that you really should get hold of. It's called NAPAC Un-muted and it is very special - especially as it makes money for NAPAC. We have a stack of them in the office so get your pen out, write a cheque for £12 to 'NAPAC' and pop in post to me here at the office. The CD will reach you by return and you will be very happy with it. And we will be very happy with your £12. That's a lot of money to us as we are a very lean, keen and efficient organisation, unlike the banks!

For more details of the CD visit www.napac.org.uk and scroll down.

On an equally light note it has come to my attention that I keep popping up on Paul O'Grady's 'Outtake TV'. I haven't actually seen it myself but I remember the occasion well. I was interviewed by BBC News 24 and at the end the interviewer (who was in a different studio and hence couldn't actually see me) said "Thanks Mr Blunkett". Blunkett was the then Home Secretary. I said something to the effect that I would accept the promotion and this apparently has tickled someone at Outtake TV to keep playing it..............or maybe we have a NAPAC supporter on the inside? We certainly didn't have a supporter on the inside when I did Wogan's Perfect Recall a few weeks back. They managed to cut all my mentions of NAPAC out of the programme...............which of course was the reason I was there......to get NAPAC mentioned. Never mind, you can't win them all. But I'll keep trying!
Keep going. Support NAPAC. Buy them CDs!!!
Pete

Thursday 5 February 2009

Out of Blog out of mind

I should have warned you that as addictive as my personality is to DOING things it is equally addictive to NOT doing things and I nearly forgot to blog this week. And this is my last day at work for a few days as I'm taking a little break.............so here's a very brief account of the last few days. Well the immediate last few days have been dominated by the weather. As you know it only takes a bit of snow (particularly here in the Soft South of England) for the country to grind to halt..........and NAPAC was no different. That's not entirely true. Helen managed to battle through the elements as did some of our wonderful volunteers but yours truly was content to be snowed in for a couple of days although the resultant housework I was instructed to undertake was far more irritating than battling the snow storms. But we all learn from our mistakes. I have now invested in a set of huskies and a slay............bring it on.
To more serious matters. Last week I visited Manchester Prison, Manchester Drug Service and Radio Key 103. All very different experiences but each, very productive. The lads I visited in the prison reminded me of why we are here.......to help one another. I won't go into their stuff , suffice to say they all suffered childhood abuse and ended up in the slammer as a direct result of their cruel upbringing. Let me emphasise - NAPAC does not visit child abusers.........just their victims. And the folk at the Drug Service and KEY 103 reminded me that there are a lot of good folk out there who want to help. Same with the prison officers in Manchester. They are a great bunch of people doing a difficult job with minimal resources but one by one they tell you that they know many of the people inside simply should not be there. Don't get me wrong. We're not soft on crime here at NAPAC but as one of our Trustees commented not so long ago........some people should be locked up for much longer BUT many more should not be there at all. Everyone, from Home Secretaries upwards seem to agree that prison, as a means of effective rehabilitation, just doesn't work and I will be writing to the current Home Secretary (and friend to NAPAC) Jacqui Smith to arrange a meeting. There is much work to be done in our prisons and given how much they cost us to run it's madness not to go there.

This is going to be a very brief blog because I'm about to dash for a train, but something else I did when I went to KEY 103 Radio was to hand over a few CDs by Secret Mission. The reporter there snapped them up and I think they will get some airtime quite soon. If you haven't got your Secret Mission album yet I suggest you visit their website without hesitation and buy one. The website is awesome.........as is the band. AND some of the profits from sales come to NAPAC. But apart from this it's perfectly true that it is guaranteed "you have never seen or heard anything like this band" We love 'em. Go to http://www.secretmissionband.com ...............now!

Stay warm. Keep the faith!
Support NAPAC.
Pete
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