REDP INVOLVEMENT EVENT: LEICESTER

Today is the eighth - and final - Involvement Event which the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership has been holding across the East Midlands, starting in Nottingham on 19 Jan and ending here at the Walkers Stadium, home of Leicester City Football Club. Come to that, we're in the home of the four organisations that are the core partners of REDP, charged with carrying forward the project and expanding its membership and influence. And having now reached the end of this series of events, I can truly say that I'm the only person to have attended all eight of them!

I'm chairing the morning session. Iris Lightfoote, from The Race Equality Centre (TREC) presents the opener for the day: A Beginner's Guide to REDP. As I sit down after introducing Iris, I turn to Dee Martin, from Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL), sitting on my left: "I forgot to say who I am again." "You forgot to say who any of us are!" she responds. So, when Iris finishes her bit and sits down, I set about putting that right. I get up and say that these are Involvement Events, which means we want those who come to them to get involved with REDP. Becoming "involved" with someone has a vareity connotations though, doesn't it? Of becoming attracted to them, perhaps even falling in love. To fall in love with someone requires a little mystery, doesn't it? Maybe I want everyone here to fall in love with REDP a little too much, since I've gone too far in promoting an air of mystery - by neglecting to introduce everyone seated here at the table. I get a decent laugh and remedy my earlier ommission.

Laura Horton (REDP Project Manager) coordinates the workshops around the tables, conducted in our now distinctive "World Cafe" style. All the core partners join in, each at separate tables. We get some new and original ideas for models of how REDP could look as it grows into its fuller incarantion: a jigsaw and (my favourite) a chocolate fountain!

We have fifteen or so people (mostly from the voluntary sector) with us in the morning; the same number (from the public sector) join us at lunchtime and stay for the afternoon session. Fittingly, for the final such event, there's a sit-down lunch, easily the nicest that's been provided. Well, I'm speaking hypothetically here. I have a few fiddly things to do at lunchtime, which means that I don't get anywhere near the food and end up going without. *sniff*

After lunch, Dennis Bradley (from the Leicester LGBT Centre) takes over the chair. First thing he does, particularly for the benefit of those who've arrived just for the afternoon session, is to introduce everyone. Next up, I present the statistical "Profile of Leicester", prepared by REDP's Researcher, Carolyn Pascoe, who is unable to be here herself. I obviously did such a good job of doing this at Northampton that I'm the people's choice for doing it here today. However, this time there's a bigger room, noisy air conditioning and no microphone. Some people have trouble hearing me at the back. Twice I am asked to speak up. The second time I'm asked to do so, I say that if it isn't working at this volume, then I'm going to have to give my presentation through the medium of interpretive dance (and give a little *swoosh* of the arms, just to show what they'd be in for). When the session is over, and I catch sight of a few of evaluation sheets, the only negative is "The volume of some of the speakers". No comment on the dancing then ...

For the third time at these Involvement Events, we've got the support of Vidar Hjarding as guest speaker in the afternoon. Vidar, who is blind, is Diversity Manager for ITV News Group. His gentlemanly manner and exemplary courtesy bring this successful day to a positive conclusion.