Christmas haven

I've been invited by Mick Granger to visit the Christmas shelter on Abercrombie Way. It's a hive of activity, with decorations being put up, furniture moved, and everything being got ready for the week ahead. Bedding has been laid out in the hall, and tables and chairs in the dining room.

Mick tells me how generously the shelter has been supported by firms including Sainsburys and Pitney Bowes. In addition, during my visit, two kindly residents drop in to offer items for the shelter's use, including men's clothing (always extremely welcome) and breakfast cereal. It's all welcome. The first guest of the season, Billy, arrives as well.

Volunteers are always welcome; if you'd like to find out more about how you can help the shelter between now and New Year, do email Mick. And have a very happy Christmas.

Merry Christmas

I've got no more engagements as Chairman now till January. It's time to write the final Christmas cards, buy the final presents, stock the fridge - and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year for 2008.

Harlow Stroke Support Group Christmas party

My PA Sue picks me up at a quarter to ten; I'm ready for the Stroke Group Christmas party, including the bag with my costume in it for my part in the show.

People are already arriving when we reach the GPCA building on Abercrombie Way, and soon we're busy. Sue shows an unexpected dab hand at applying make-up to male senior citizens, and I'm asked to take everyone's names - but they're arriving so thick and fast it's impossible.

There are glitter wigs, crepe paper hula skirts, party hats and antlers, pantomime dames with balloons stuffed down their fronts; in short, it's a total riot. When people are settled with tea and coffee, the show starts. I've been asked to read out a poem written specially for the occasion by one of the club members - and then there's a series of acts, including youngsters Curtis on guitar and Paige singing, who really impress everyone.

The grand finale of the show is a sing-along to Slade's Merry Christmas Everybody, with - of all things - me at the front dressed like Noddy Holder from Slade, in a blonde mullet wig, glittery top hat and tartan trousers.

Then it's time for lunch. The spread is much appreciated by everyone, and it's also an opportunity for Sue to sell any last-minute raffle tickets for the Chairman's Christmas Raffle in support of the stroke group.

The raffle is drawn after lunch, and - ably assisted by 'Christmas fairy' George in purple tinsel wig - we pick out and announce the winning tickets. Thanks to the generosity of the Harvey Centre Management, Barratt Homes, Kier Harlow, and other local firms, we've got some excellent prizes on offer, and some delighted winners.

After I've gone home, Sue emails me to tell me that the Christmas Draw has raised over £1,400 for the Stroke Support Group, which is fantastic news.

Chairman of Tendring's Reception

The Chairman of Tendring District Council, Peter de Vaux Balbirnie, has invited the mayors and chairs of Essex to a Christmas Reception at the Palace Theatre, Clacton. (Tendring is the district council that includes Clacton, Frinton, Walton-on-the-Naze etc).

After a drink in the Chairman's Parlour - the Theatre also serves as the council's civic building - we make our way to the theatre itself for a buffet, wine and an interlude of singing and dancing performed by the theatre youth group.

It's a very convivial event. We're seated at the top table with the mayors and chairs of Uttlesford, Epping Forest, Castle Point, Rochford and Basildon, with whom we enjoy some lively conversation. For most, though not all, of us, this is our last civic function before the new year. The chairman of the County Council is here too - it's a good thing he enjoys carol services, he tells us, as he has about fourteen to go to this month.

I'm off to Jersey tomorrow for a few days, to visit family. My Christmas cards are unwritten, my Christmas presents unbought let alone unwrapped. It's all going to be one mad rush when I get back.

Christmas service for deaf people

Just before half past ten, I join the serried ranks of 'mayors and chairs' in Chelmsford Cathedral for the annual carol service for deaf people, organised by the Chelmsford diocese in association with RAD.

The building is packed, lively and colourful. Children with hearing impairments from various schools across Essex have come prepared to do their bit - shepherds in tea-towel headgear, little angels with tinsel haloes, wise men with cardboard crowns.

The whole service is signed; sometimes with the rest of the congregation singing along, sometimes with only the piano to accompany the movement of the hands of the signing choirs. The bishop himself signs the blessing at the end, before we all troop over to a corner of the cathedral for coffee, sandwiches and cake.

It's the most unusual carol service I've been to, and everyone agrees it's great. I've noticed from the programme that the West of Essex seems to be the only part of the county without a regular signed service for deaf people, and one of the clergy from the diocese is at pains to reassure me that they're looking to set something up in Harlow before too long.

Full Council

Having a birthday on 13 December means that it often coincides with the final meeting of the Full Council for the calendar year.

The pre-meeting takes place at half-past six, where the Chairman, group leaders, and relevant officers run through the procedural arrangements for the evening. This is something I suggested a couple of years ago; before the pre-meeting was introduced, a lot of council meetings fell into anarchy over procedural wrangles. Now, everyone is clear about who's going to be doing what when. It doesn't - and nor should it - interfere with the right of members and groups on all sides to lob political grenades into Full Council meetings by means of amendments or questions, but it does make the meetings run far more smoothly.

After the pre-meeting I pop downstairs to the mezzanine floor to check with Diane, who runs the Youth Council, about the presentation of certificates I'm doing to the youth councillors. There's a lot of activity in the Gibberd Gallery - it's a private viewing of an exhibition of prints by Ana Maria Pacheco, and the de Merc Choir are singing Harlow 1947, a piece composed by local resident Adrian Jolliffe and featuring the early years of Harlow.

The Full Council meeting starts at eight o'clock as usual. The presentation to the youth councillors goes smoothly, and we gather for a group photograph afterwards. I introduce Sunil as our new strategic director, and he's appointed by the meeting as the council's 'Section 151' officer, who has particular financial responsibilities. Then it's into the rest of the agenda - announcements from the Chairman, changes to the composition of council committees resulting from the recent by-elections, questions from the public, references from committees, questions from councillors, and into the home straight.

The meeting closes at a little after a quarter past ten - and after the meeting has finished, we stay behind for a few minutes to make a farewell presentation to Cllr Kevin Brooks, who will be emigrating next month.

I'd hoped for a slightly shorter meeting on my birthday, as I tell members, but I invite them to the Chairman's suite to have a piece of my birthday cake. I'm also selling raffle tickets for my Chairman's Charity - Harlow Stroke Support Group - and take £51 in sales this evening, all in a good cause.

There's very little of my birthday left by the time I get home at about twenty to midnight.

£1 a ticket

Waking up is hard to do on a cold Thursday morning, especially after an evening out in London with my daughter (to see Joseph & His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat in the West End), and especially with my germs still making me feel heavy-eyed and congested. Still, a heap of birthday presents, including six CDs - more music for my burgeoning collection - is a great way to start any day.

My cab arrives before ten o'clock to get me to the Harvey Centre, where I'm helping the Stroke Support Group sell tickets for our Christmas raffle. I'm there till twelve, and the team is gratified by how many people stop and buy one or more tickets. There's less than a week now to buy yours - they're available from Reception in the Civic Centre, as well as a number of stores in The High. There are loads of terrific prizes.

Jean explains what she wants me to do for the Stroke Group Christmas party on Friday of next week. At first I thought the virus had affected my hearing, but she said it again and it sounded exactly the same.

Sniff

All engagements off today, as my virus really does take hold with a vengeance. I've worked my way through whole packs of tissues, and keep making drinks every hour for my sore throat, and trying to keep warm. The backs of my eyes are hurting.

Harlow is a Fairtrade Town

At four o'clock at the Civic Centre, I join Harlow's Fairtrade Town Group to celebrate the fact that Harlow has been awarded Fairtrade Town status. The award is a reflection of the years of hard work put into this by the group, and particularly Cllr Rob Eschle, one of its most vociferous supporters.

Rob and I both give interviews to Ten-17 radio, and both make the same point that it's becoming easier and easier to buy more and more Fairtrade goods in local supermarkets, cafés and shops.

We have a group photo taken with the official certificate. The next big decision will be where to hang the certificate so that it's on permanent display to Harlow residents visiting the Civic Centre.

Harlow on ice

It's not every day one gets to open an ice rink. Today is the day, however, and at half past one (having rushed over from a council meeting about concessionary bus travel) I'm outside the Nat West near the market, being photographed with a local family - dad and two small girls - on the temporary ice rink that's been installed for the week.

It's part of Harlow's sixtieth birthday celebrations, and also a cunning ploy to encourage everyone up to the north end of the town centre in the run-up to Christmas. Skate hire is only 50p for a 45 minute session - opening times are on the temporary hut next to the rink.

Anglia TV are supposed to be in attendance, but they've rung and said they're on another job. I meander back along Broad Walk towards the Civic Centre, and find myself waylaid by New Look's collection of shoes. I'm in the middle of trying on a pair when the mobile phone rings - and it's Sue, my PA, to say that Anglia will be at the rink at quarter to three.

It's actually more like quarter past three when Anglia arrive; I'm beginning to freeze as solidly as the rink, and all this standing around isn't doing my burgeoning cold any good. I give a brief interview to Anglia about the rink - goodness only knows what bits they'll use or how I'll sound.

Anyway, if you're in the town centre between now and the end of the week, why not pop along to the rink and have a go?

Hark! the herald-angels sing

The Christmas service of the women's section of the Royal British Legion takes place at St Andrew's Church at The Stow. I arrive just in time to slip into a row of seats at the back of the church before the entry of the Standards.

It's a traditional service of lessons and carols, with the MP reading the first lesson, and the minister, Rev Jim Gill, reading the last. The secretary, Elsie, reads a couple of seasonal poems that have everyone chuckling wryly. Then after a concluding carol and the retiring of the Standards, we move into the church hall for a cup of tea and a chat.

Light Up A LIfe

The Civic Centre isn't normally open at four o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, but Les and Sandra from the council have very kindly made themselves available so that we can host the Light Up A Life ceremony organised by St Clare Hospice.

The ceremony takes place at the foot of the steps to the Gibberd Gallery, around the Christmas tree and - fittingly for an event for remembering loved ones - the Family Group statue.

I welcome everyone to the event; then Melanie from St Clare talks about the work of the hospice, and lay reader Angela leaders the ceremony, with a couple of carols, a reading and a couple of short prayers during which the lights on the tree are lit. I use the moment to remember my parents, who died in 2003 and 2006 respectively - just as everyone present remembers someone close to them.

Rain stops play

Among the aisles at Sainsbury's this morning, I receive a call from Justin at Pets' Corner, to say that in view of the rain, the afternoon's Nativity Play has been postponed for a week, to Saturday 15 December. A shame for me, as I won't be around then to open the event and present certificates - I'm popping home to Jersey for a few days to see relatives before Christmas - but better than getting water in the electrical equipment.

O Come All Ye Faithful

Nick and I have been invited to the Epping Forest District Carol Service, at Loughton Methodist Church. It's a light, airy modern building on Loughton High Road, and the service is well attended. We sit with Mayors and Chairs from the county council and surrounding districts and boroughs, and at seven o'clock the service starts.

After an introduction and welcome from Epping Forest chairman Cllr Caroline Pond, the minister leads the proceedings. The church's own singers play a leading part in the service, but the choir of eighteen children from Alderton Junior School in Loughton are clearly the stars of the show, with a couple of modern Christmas songs accompanied on the piano.

Caroline wants to use the service to let people know about Operation Christmas Child, and we're shown a very moving film about the project. Children all over the world receive a Christmas shoe box, packed with small gifts by a giver here in the UK - often the only present the children have ever received. The look of delight on their faces is truly wonderful. Last year thousands of churches, schools, groups and individuals from the UK took part in Operation Christmas Child and helped to send 1.24 million boxes to children in twelve countries.

After the service, we pile out into the entrance hall of the church for hot sausage rolls, mince pies, cake and fruit juice, and a chance to chat.

Employ-Ability

The first mince pie of the season - at the Employ-Ability AGM at the Latton Bush Centre. Employ-Ability helps people with disabilities or mental health problems find work, and supports them through the process of job-seeking, interview and induction.

The presentation of the annual report and accounts is brought to life by a couple of real-life stories - of a young woman making a real success of employment with a neighbouring local authority; and of a young man whose placement didn't work out so well. Not every story has a happy ending - but two thirds of Employ-Ability's clients are found work, and two thirds of those are still in post further down the line.

Raffle!

Christmas raffle tickets are now on sale for a prize draw in aid of my chosen charity, Harlow Stroke Support Group.

The prizes include one year's free parking at the Harvey Centre, a 15 inch flat screen TV, a £30 M&S voucher, and a meal for two at the Toby Carvery. Thank you very much to the Harvey Centre management, Barratt Homes, Marks & Spencer, Toby, Kier Harlow and all the other generous donors of our prizes.

Tickets are £1 each and can be purchased from the Civic Centre or from various shops and organisations based in Wych Elm and the town centre who have kindly agreed to sell them for us. For full details of where tickets are available phone the Stroke Group on 01279 308313.

The draw will take place at the Harlow Stroke Support Group Christmas Party, which is being held on Friday 21 December 2007 at the GPCA's Abercrombie Centre on Abercrombie Way.

The President's Sporting Club 21st sporting lunch

While Harlow has been celebrating its 60th birthday, the President's Sporting Club is celebrating its 21st children's sporting lunch.

Over 600 disabled children and their helpers from special schools are gathered at the Sportcentre for this annual event, organised by the indefatigable Mike Jackson and his wife Helen. It's an incredible sight - not just so many children and carers seated at tables groaning with food and drink, but balloons, clowns, large animal characters and everything else a child could want. There's popcorn, and a candy floss machine; the army is here to lend a hand with the logistics; and Paradise Wildlife Park is here too, with some of its smaller animals and an owl for the children to meet and stroke.

Celebrities including dedicated club president Frank Bruno are here to present awards to children who have been nominated for their sporting achievements at school. Many of them have overcome tremendous obstacles to take part in swimming, football, gymnastics or other sports - and are proud and delighted to meet, and be photographed with, their celebrity heroes. I find myself talking with Eamonn Martin, 1993 London marathon winner, who tells me he's been involved with the sporting lunch since the early 1990s.

After the award presentations, there's a cabaret show, with the entertainer juggling, and his assistant escaping from a padlocked box, and appearing to float in thin air. The show ends with the entertainer spinning fifteen plates simultaneously, including three balanced on sticks held in his mouth. The children are entranced, and it's a brilliant climax to their great day out.

A Rainer day

Rainer West Essex is holding an information morning today, to tell local organisations a little about what it does. I arrive at Shield House at The Pinnacles at a quarter to ten, and sit down with a cup of coffee and copy of the Rainer information pack.

At ten o'clock we start, with a presentation by the different members of Rainer staff about the various projects the organisation undertakes. I knew about the Advocacy project, but not about some of the other services provided by Rainer, which range from training for employment to providing a trained volunteer 'appropriate adult' to turn up on an on-call basis whenever a young person is taken to a police station, and parents or other appropriate adults aren't available to support them. Some services which are provided by Rainer elsewhere in Essex aren't yet available in Harlow; let's hope that changes, as they're clearly doing some excellent work.

117 emails

Our flight sets off a little early from Prague, so we're back in Harlow by lunchtime. I've not been able to charge up my PDA while we've been away, so when I switch on my computer I find 117 emails waiting for me. It's good to be back ...

A day out in Prague

Today is Sunday, and we have an opportunity for some sightseeing. Marčela and Susan meet us at ten o'clock, and we drive into the centre of Prague and up to the castle. On the way, Marčela tells us that she finally left last night's ball at four o'clock in the morning.

We walk through the castle courtyards, admiring the variety of architectural styles built up over the centuries. There's a mass in progress at St Vitus' cathedral in the castle grounds, so we can't go in. Round the corner, a local Czech artist has created an open-air 'betlem' nativity scene from straw - Joseph, Mary, the baby Jesus, cattle, wise men, everything. We walk down the steps from the castle to the street below, stopping to admire the view over the old city and the Vltava river which flows through Prague.

Marčela points out below the Charles Bridge the high point, way above the shop doorways, to which the city was flooded five years ago in 2002. Since then, flood barriers have been installed. We walk the length of the Charles Bridge, lined with artists and street performers, and find the spot where you have to put your hands and feet just so in order to make a wish.

Lunch - onion soup and goulash for me - is at a typical Prague restaurant, whose walls are lined with cartoons featuring a popular beer-drinking Czech cartoon character. Of course the words are in Czech, but some - mostly the very impolite ones - need no translation!

There's a bustling Christmas market in the old square, and we have an hour to tour all the different stalls, full of Christmas decorations and Christmas gifts. We manage to resist more of the hot mead and mulled wine, but can't leave without trying a trdelnik - sweet dough wrapped on large metal rods, barbecued over coals, slid off the rods so that they're about the size and shape of a wide bangle, and rolled in sugar.

On the way home, we're dropped for last minute shopping at Prague 15's shopping mall, about five years old now, with a large Interspar supermarket, and lots of smaller shops; and we take the tram back to our room.

In the evening, we're collected from our hotel just before six o'clock for the final event of our trip - a dinner at a restaurant a little way outside Prague 15 district, called, unpronounceably, U Srbu. I comment once again to Marčela that the Czech language seems to have only a passing relationship with the concept of the vowel.

The Mayor is hosting the dinner, and welcomes us once again to his district. I reply - in English translated by Marčela - thanking him for our Prague friends' hospitality, and for the opportunity to see so much of what goes on in Prague 15. There are thirteen of us round the table, including the Mayor and his wife, Prague 15's deputies and their partners, and their Chief Executive. Over dinner, Marčela and I have another opportunity to discuss new ways in which the relationship between Harlow and Prague 15 could move forward, to involve more residents and create opportunities for mutual understanding and learning, particularly for children and young people.

We exchange gifts with our hosts, wish each other a merry Christmas, and head back to our hotel for a good night's sleep before the journey back to Harlow tomorrow.

Tour of Prague 15

Our first full day in Prague begins with a visit to Rainbow Services - not Harlow's well-known organisation of the same name, but the Rainbow centre in Prague 15 district. It's an amazing facility, consisting of workshops offering a variety of opportunities for people with learning difficulties.

There's a ceramics workshop, with painted tiles and fridge magnets and - very suitably for this time of year - little pottery nativity scenes, called 'betlems' (for Bethlehem). There's a textiles room, with woven items, printed scarves and t-shirts, and jewellery; and a room for making items from paper and card. There's a laundry, a garden items centre, and of course a kitchen and café. We're introduced to the centre manager, and given a tour of the workshops, with the chance to buy some of the items made on the premises as souvenirs and Christmas gifts; followed by coffee and home-made cakes in the centre café, where we hear from the manager how the centre is funded and staffed.

It's time to make a move, and we head off to see the sporting and leisure facilities that are used by our Harlow young people when they go over to Prague on their exchange visits. There are tennis courts and football pitches, all overlooking glorious woodland, with small wooden huts providing basic accommodation. There's a newly-opened restaurant, where we are treated to lunch.

In the afternoon, the local ecological centre is holding an afternoon event to celebrate Christmas. It's based in some old former farm buildings in the old part of Prague 15, old Hostivař, which is to the rest of Prague 15 a little like Old Harlow is to our new town. We're welcomed to the open-air event with a small glass of traditional hot mead, or honey wine, and a small paper cone of roasted chestnuts. We take a look round the outdoor and indoor stalls, selling beeswax candles and honey, elaborately iced biscuits, lavender pillows, dolls, cushion covers, and all varieties of traditional Czech craftware. We also have a chance to sit in the cafeteria and enjoy a glass of mulled wine and a piece of traditional cake, a little like German stollen.

At four o'clock there's an air of expectancy built up. An area of the courtyard has been roped off, a crowd has gathered round, and the outer gates to the yard have been shut. From the stage, a lady in traditional Czech costume gives an introduction in Czech, which Marčela kindly translates for us. The gates are opened, and the Christmas pageant begins, with St Martin (who, you may remember, according to legend cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar) riding in on his white horse. He's followed by other figures in the pageant, including St Lucy, St Barbara, St Ambrose - and the devil himself, who rushes round brandishing his fork and hissing at the little children. All these characters have a role to play in the traditional lead-up to a Czech Christmas - and it's a wonderful event. I can't help feeling it would be great for children at schools in Harlow and Hostivař to meet and teach each other about their Christmas customs.

It's been a busy day, so we're grateful for a brief break at our hotel, before getting changed and heading out once again, for the Prague 15 ball. We're greeted by the Mayor and his wife, with whom we exchange gifts, and settle down at Table 9 with Susan, Marčela and George. There's a band on stage to provide the music, and a couple performing a variety of Latin American dancing, before everyone then gets up to dance. Normally at this time in England we'd be settling down as a family to watch Strictly Come Dancing, a show that has just come to the Czech republic's TV screens - but tonight it's real live dancing. The Mayor asks me to dance, and I manage not to step on his feet too often, while Nick dances with Helen, one of the Prague 15 deputies who toured the Rainbow centre with us this morning.

Not too long after 11 o'clock we decide to head back to our hotel - we need to save some energy for tomorrow, after all. We've seen and learned a lot today, and there are clearly all sorts of future possibilities for links between Harlow and our friends in Prague.