In Your Shoes - Lynne Short

Monday

First and foremost I jumped on the bus into town, it’s always great to chat and find out what is going on.

Next I dropped into the Steeple which holds a Connection Café to see if I could support the newly arrived asylum seekers and thank those already doing great work helping them.

After that it was into my office at City Square to work on emails and I also made a pitch to one of the journalists on a story about the Under One Roof session coming to the city next week.

I work 7 hours per week for Joe Fitzpatrick MSP so Monday afternoon I did 4 hours at the office on Dock Street doing casework.

That evening I attended the Dundee United Supporters Foundation AGM at The Quay. I was able to get a lift home from a colleague after the meeting so that was handy.

Tuesday

I met with the parliament outreach team from Social Security Scotland as later in the week I was to give a speech about The Scottish Child Payment and I wanted to make sure I had my homework done. This was done as a team meeting, it was useful and I was grateful for their time.

I then went into Joe’s office again to do my other 3 hours of casework.

After that it was onto the no 17 bus, and a wee wonder onto Albert Street for a Haircut at Berties, my regular barbers as I was needing a trim.

That took me nicely to a meeting at the Stobswell Connect Shop with Dr Kathrine Cuccuru to discuss the very successful “Christmas Paper Recycle Bin” that we organised for the holidays and how we could approach the project going forward.

Shelter were there too as they have a time in the diary for people to drop in. I had a good chat as the Private Rented Sector falls under the Neighbourhood Regeneration, Housing and Estate Management Portfolio that I am Depute Convener of.

From there I travelled back to my Office in the City Square as I had an hour or so to kill before the City Centre and Harbour Community Council meeting which was held in the Shore Terrace offices under the Caird Hall.

It had been a long day, so I jumped into a taxi to get home.

Wednesday

Teams meeting first thing again but this time it was a briefing session from Tayside Contracts. I am associated with a number of boards as a member, trustee or non-executive director. Tayside Contracts has been in existence since the break-up of Tayside Region in 1996 and functions with a board made up of P&K, Angus and Dundee to oversee the delivery of services. It is a unique model across Scotland and is a well known brand across all Local Authorities.

One of my neighbours had been chatting to me before Christmas about her issues with her bath. As she was a council tenant I was able to contact Occupational Therapy and the Housing Department and she was able to get adjustments to support her. She invited me in to see her bathroom, as she now has a brand new suite including a shower over the bath, flooring, wet wall and it was all decorated.

I am working on a project in my role as Dundee City Council Spokesperson for Culture, Sport and History with a number of sporting clubs across the city. The aim is the create Dundee Sporting Collective and I took the chance to visit two of the organisations involved, Dundee North End and Kanzen Karate to have a catch up and get some photos to shout about some of the great work that they do. Craig Chalmers the Photographer took the photos for us so we went to Fortes for a wee spot of lunch.

Later in the afternoon I had another meeting online this time as a member of the Unicorn Project Board to discuss where the major funding application status was and to discuss the long term proposals for the ship.

Each Wednesday at 5pm we as a political group meet to discuss policy and committees that are upcoming and of course at this time of year there are lots of discussions around the coming years budget. Normally this would be in City Square but due to the weather it was felt better to be online.

Thursday

This morning I took part in and Educational Appeal, again this was online and after a little bit of gremlins and hiccups we were good to go. During the summer months there are many more of these as it is every parent or caregivers right to appeal if a placing request has been refused. It then goes to a panel of 3 to make a decision on whether exceptional circumstances could lead to the appeal being held.

From there I had a couple of hours in the office at City Square. The Lord Provost popped by for a chat so it was nice to catch up with him after the Christmas Break and discuss areas where my spokesperson role and his civic role can benefit the city.

Later in the afternoon I had a one to one with John Alexander the group leader. We had a general catch up and discussed what I was working on and how things are going.

Then it was over to the Train Station as I had an overnight in Glasgow as the next day I had APSE’s Full Association Meeting as well at the Scottish Association Meeting and a policy symposium.

I am Dundee City Council’s nominated member on APSE and I am also the Scottish Chair of the organisation. APSE stands for the Association of Public Service Excellence and it focuses on the delivery of front line services rather than politics like COSLA.

Friday

Today kicked off with a meeting that chaired of the Scottish arm of APSE which then led into the full association which saw colleagues from across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There were a number of speakers including the Chief Executive and an academic who had done a paper on officer/elected member relationships. I gave a speech about The Scottish Child payment, something that is unique to Scotland.

From Glasgow it was onto the Edinburgh train as I was meeting Sheena Wellington at the Royal Scots Club, as her plus one as she was delivering The Immortal Memory that night at their Burns Supper. It was a fantastic evening and in my role as Culture Spokesperson I was delighted to be sitting next to the CEO of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

Saturday

This morning, another opportunity to be outside my comfort zone as again I accompanied Sheena Wellington but this time to The Scottish Storyteller Centre on the Royal Mile where she was taking a Burns Singing Workshop. It was actually less painful that I had thought and Coming thru the Rye was on the song sheet so it took me back to my school days.

That afternoon it was the bus back to Dundee via Halbeith and Kinross and then a taxi up the road and an early night.

Sunday

After a busy week there was only one thing for it; messages, recycling, washing dishes & clothes and then relax!!