Our second annual report

January 2009

Dear Friends

In late June 2008 we had our second business matters informal "AGM" in the Royal Society of Edinburgh.  It took the form of a wine and canapés reception.

You can read the Trustees' Report from our Chairman by clicking here .

On that occasion we had the pleasure and privilege of hearing from three speakers:

• Colin Stewart, MD of Citi Scotland, who is our Chairman; he looked ahead to the opportunities and challenges facing Scotland's economy and in particular the financial services sector - click here for the 9 minute podcast (right click and select "save target as" to download) 
• David Strang, Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police; he looked at the challenges of policing and serving the whole of the population in his region - click here for the 10 minute podcast (right click and select "save target as" to download)
• Jonathan Aitken, former cabinet minister and now spearheading the work of The Trinity Forum in the UK; he spoke to us about a faith v atheism debate he is helping to put on during the Edinburgh International Festival in the Usher Hall.

This short letter is a distillation of the fourth contribution that evening, from myself, Iain Archibald - "the CEO's report". Click here for the 11 minute podcast (right click and select "save target as" to download)

Some of the highlights over the financial year 07-08 for me were:

• running the Fostering Health in the Workplace series
• meeting Chief Inspector Amanda McGrath, seconded to our Chamber of Commerce
• starting the Fostering Security in the Workplace series
• helping rebrand our sister charity Business Alpha Edinburgh
• producing a Business Alpha promo DVD with fine voices from the business community
• having Eric Smith join our business matters team and add his expertise to our service
• taking part in very enjoyable staff meetings with him, Janice Todd and Wilma Craig
• hearing a clarsach playing during our start-of-year network lunchtime in the Roxburghe Hotel
• beginning to make contacts outside the city centre

Our methodology remains the same:

• community-building events
• lunchtime talks of CPD standard
• offering a listening ear and sign-posting people to good help
• enabling people to explore their spiritual side and make connections between spirituality and work

We could not begin to do this without the wonderful support we have received from many men and women of goodwill in so many quarters - from groups of people across the offices who resonate with our desire to be neighbourly, to individual donors of time and / or talent and / or finance.  Many have made and are making their unique contribution to humanising the marketplace in which we all work - from the Company that gave our staff some IT training, to the sons and daughters of supporters who served us at our wine and canapés reception in the Royal Society of Edinburgh; from the most high-profile speakers who have equipped us with their insights, to the unsung but equally important committed helpers who work in the background, like the Independent Examiner of our Accounts based over in Glasgow.

We thank everyone who has made common cause with us to further humanise the workplace in our city and look forward in this new financial year to serving even more neighbours in the world of work.

 

Yours appreciatively

Iain Archibald

Consultant to business matters

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