The latest from Regis Consultants
Short reads & updates
“Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter”
Izaak Walton
Slow me Down Lord
Millie, our little Pom-chi has done a thoroughly good job of training us. She tells us clearly what time we have to get up in the morning; 7.30. She tells me when it’s time to take to the streets towards the end of the evening. Just twenty minutes left of Vera, but no, it’s time to walk the streets. Then
Autumn
My last blog was all about how trees talk to each other, cooperating, sharing nutrients, even warning of danger. Mother trees in particular play a significant part in the life of the forest, reaching out and caring for its younger neighbours. Just now I came across this short reflection by John Birch which I share with you. ‘Where we live,
Making Friends on the Street
When Millie takes me on our daily expeditions we never quite know who we’re going to meet. On my own I’d be a sad old man to be avoided but accompanying a dog gives you an opening into people’s lives. I might stop and chat with Frank who likes to sit outside of an evening enjoying a last cigarette. Frank
Trees Clapping Hands
Even at my great age, or perhaps because of it I’m still on a pretty steep learning curve, learning things I never imagined could be so. Some years ago Prince Charles revealed that he regularly talks to the trees under his care, Much derided at the time, he was looked on indulgently as an eccentric looney. 30 years later scientists
Praise What Comes
A poem by Jeanne Lohmann, a Quaker poet. I think she wrote this just a few years before her death at 95. Some beautiful lines; I hope they will resonate with you as they do with me. (What is my task in the world?). Surprising as unplanned kisses, all you haven’t deserved of days and solitude, your body’s immoderate good
In Your Own Time, Millie
“In your own time Millie.” This is now a stock phrase when we go on our daily walks. I was holding a gate open for her. She carefully sniffed the gateposts, then retreated, deciding she needed to poo. Getting the right spot takes a while, and then I have to bag it up. Eventually, we made it through the gate.
The future of fundraising
A subject every charity needs to be giving some thought to right now. The latest treasury forecast is that household giving may drop by up to 25% next year. You can read more about that HERE. Charity treasurers I am talking to are saying that giving is down. One church treasurer said that giving is down by a quarter and they’ll have to make
GDPR
It’s a while since I thought about this subject, but a couple of issues have surfaced in the current state of play. First, with some millions of us now working from home, a culture shift which is clearly here to stay in some form or other, you need to give some thought to the security of computer equipment used by
The Journey Begins
This year has been full of unexpected events, and it started for me with a pretty big one! After 25yrs of running my charity finance and advice business, I have taken a back seat. That was March, what a different world it was back then. The future of the companies I founded is in good hands and has gone from
Simplicity Through Subtraction
My job in these fast-changing times is to come up with solutions to the many and varied problems our clients face. Most weeks, someone desperate for help writes in with a long and detailed description of the crisis currently being faced. In my insecurity my first response is usually to panic; ‘how on earth can I help with such complex
The opportunities ahead
I like to keep an eye on what Mary Portas is sharing these days; a beacon of optimism amidst the encircling media gloom. Goodbye, she says to boring chains of shops and hotels. Hello, spaces and places of creativity that feed the soul rather than sell us more stuff. This is important – the rekindling of creativity. Over the past few months,
What’s a Christian?
Now we’re allowed out to play we’ve been spending time catching up with offspring and their offspring in various parts of the country. Recently up in Essex with family we were introduced to a young lady, the girlfriend of one of our grandchildren. She wore shorts over fishnet tights and had a ring through her nose. Her hair was a
To Love Someone Long-term…
“To love someone long-term is to attend a thousand funerals of the people they used to be. The people they’re too exhausted to be any longer. The people they don’t recognize inside themselves anymore. The people they grew out of, the people they never ended up growing into. We so badly want the people we love to get their spark
What Went You Forth to Find?
In my efforts to simplify my life I’m getting rid of some hundreds of books. I can only do this reasonably successfully when Anita works alongside me, for reasons you can probably imagine. We’d filled a Gousto box, (long story for another day), and I was about to start filling a second box when I came across a small dusty
“Come Dear Heart, Lean on me, Let us Walk This Path Together.”
“Poor naked wretches, whereso’er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you From seasons such as these? ” (King Lear Act 3 Scene 4.) When these words were first spoken, The nation was being rocked by bubonic plague with London losing probably a fifth of its population. In
Pausing my Life
The thought of pressing pause came to me following a discussion last week with someone we were working with. Some glitches had arisen; we wanted to find a way through; it was decided to pause, take stock and re-group.. The verb to pause is lovely, full of meaning and gentleness. It’s not harsh and confrontational like stop or cancel; it
Jesus is Laid in the Tomb; in Him All Love is Found
Here at the centre everything is still Before the stir and movement of our grief Which bears its pain with rhythm, ritual, Beautiful useless gestures of relief. So they anoint the skin that cannot feel Soothing his ruined flesh with tender care, Kissing the wounds they know they cannot heal, With incense scenting only empty air. He blesses every love