On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 09:53:08 -0000, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:


"David wrote in message ...
"..........."If they can't organise a small event like this why should we
believe they can run a business?"


It could be that amongst the staff to go was their "Events organiser" but
Oh
Dear they did give the impression that they wouldn't even find the brewery
let alone organise the proverbial pi** up in it.

Sounds like a lot of the NHS, lots of penpushing administrators behind desks
and no Managers walking about checking, organising, being seen, etc.,

My impression is that there are one or two very efficient people
there, and a larger number of extremely well-meaning people who just
aren't forceful enough, or good enough at management, or willing to
delegate or something.

They are short staffed, no doubt about it, but there were plenty of
volunteers at the meeting at which this event was first discussed. If
a dozen or so of those had been contacted (we had all left contact
details) and briefed beforehand, the event could have gone a lot more
smoothly. As it is people were turning up at 5:30 or 6pm and *then*
being told that they needed people to (e.g.) turn the greenhouse
lights off at the appointed time - a very simple task, admittedly, but
also something that would have been trivial to arrange beforehand.

There also seem to be a lot of celebrity supporters who are not being
involved as much as they should be. Charles Stirton was (I think) the
one who arranged those postcards they were handing out (to mail to
Rhodri Morgan to show support for the gardens) but more could be made
of the support of David Bellamy, Monty Don and so on. It is all very
well having a file full of letters of support, but you really need to
get that message out to the public.

So they need a really good press officer, events organiser and so on,
but dn't have the cash to do so. A catch 22, but one that the Assembly
could sort out if they were willing to actually support this national
institution rather than protecting their own behinds.
--
Please remove "brain." before emailing me.
"Thtrap it to the bench and put a good thick bolt of lightning through
it, that'th our motto. That'th how you /tetht/ thomething!"
- Igor