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Civil Society UK 2011
The Civil Society is currently buzzing the Houses of Parliament and as we have some foundations for this we will lay them out here. In the meantime we'll publish details of a recent event we attended.

what is civil society

Monday 28th February 2010 and the week started well with an invite to talk at Wokingham Borough Voluntary Sector Forum Funding Fair and AGM.

A few weeks ago Social Media Directors ran a workshop for INDI South East and one of the attendees enjoyed it so much they asked if we’d run the workshop at Wokingham Town Hall.

John Ferguson, Chair of Wokingham Borough Voluntary Sector Forum welcomed a 100 strong audience and introduced Roberta Blackman-Woods MP and Shadow Minister for Civil Society to present “What is Civil Society?”

Roberta made for an excellent opening, it was a shame that John Redwood MP wasn’t there to offer his two penneth on where the government is now, Wokingham being his patch.

Roberta is obviously of good intent but the constant niggling reference to the conservative cuts was typical political foil which is essentially pointless and irritating. I naturally took the opportunity to share my view and she took it well, especially when I pointed out that the NHS cuts had been set by the labour party before the election.

The second speaker Michael May, Founder and CEO of Blue Sky Development and Regeneration engaged the audience with his work with ex criminals. Detailing how their efforts in providing men and women with a little self worth actually decreases the reoffending rate massively and saves local council a fortune. Brilliant and I’ll be having a cup of char with this interesting fellow sooner rather than later.

He was sadly followed by John Slater, Senior Policy Officer for RAISE Regional Action and Involvement South East. Reading their website,

“Our remit is to work in partnership with policy-makers, stakeholders and funders to increase the potential of the VCS to improve the quality of life within, and opportunities for, the communities they serve.”

Not sure he'd read the above before he started. He had capital BS throughout his death by PowerPoint presentation, was wearing a black tie and said how great the Big Society would be if only he had thought of it first. Poor chap, nobody had given him a starting point for the Big Society, so rather than do anything productive he figured he’d just moan, be ironic and take his salary because he’s worth it and entitled to every penny.

Others in the room were actually being made redundant and one heard my telepathic screams and put a flea in his ear. Mel Cox BA (Hons) PGCE (FE) - M.IfL MA Development Worker (Equalities) Voluntary Action Wokingham Borough started by making John feel warm and cuddly, saying how he admired his ironic use of BS throughout his presentation and then as his chin raised, he planted the upper cut and brought him down to earth with "But shouldn't you be living up to your strap line RAISE – Informing, Involving, Influencing?"

If you are looking for a development worker in the voluntary sector then give Mel a bell on 07917 862915.

I have no time for lazy, needy, grasping civil servants who don’t understand economics and simply search for administrative holes to hide in. Don’t they realise that myxomatosis is in the warren and only the fittest and fastest will survive.

“What is Civil Society?”

Here is my instinctive definition for what it is worth:

A civil society is one where everyone pulls their weight, stops bloody moaning and are productive for the benefit of all in the community. Those that try and get things done get fed.


My community stance brought a few extra folk to my gig which was rather nice.

"Thank you Wokingham, we love you!" ;)

Jon Davey
01753 852904

P.S. Branding is about getting your logo recognised by others. Can you spot our SMD logo in the shot? First to email with yeah, I see it, it's ... will win this week's star prize ...


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