The year is under way

1 There are two new SSAFA cases. The first, the opening one of the year, will be an application from a familiar client, a widower, one who misses his wife, for a respite holiday at a residential home which is run by the RAF Benevolent Fund. The man has two holidays there every year. His applications are expected. The staff know him. His applications and holidays are part of the annual cycle of events.

2 The second is from a woman whose forename is Princess and whose mother is 83, widow of a Serviceman. The latter is in want of a new freezer and refrigerator, the former, who cares for the latter, is in want of a cooker. Bread-and-butter stuff. I hope so.

3 A long conversation with Dennis Yeomans, West Sussex CU. He and his board are dealing with the FSA's observations on their application. Otherwise, I felt experienced and, speaking for the EGCU, accomplished. The achievement of our first year of operation, apart from survival, was to switch from a paper-based to a computer-based system. Yeomans had heard of Conaccess, but he didn't say that they would be computer-based. (I'll find out when we talk again.) Secondly, we have come to a recognition of the burden of deposits and the need for donations. WSCU may not yet have come to that recognition.

4 We can learn from each other. I sense that his connections with WSCC are good. Secondly, there is scope for a meeting of credit unions, for a sharing of experiences.

5 We talked about Provident. A task for us: find one person who uses or who has used Provident.