Brendan C.

I walked down the still icy roads into town this morning to meet a surveyor to discuss the external maintenance works we are planning for the town council's offices. It is a listed building so we must be careful to follow the guidelines whilst also ensuring we follow the council's own environmentally sensitive objectives as we are a green council.

Then I went to meet Brendan C. who had agreed to show me around The Door Youth Project, the charitable trust which he is the chief executive of. The Door is renowned for the work they do with young people in the Stroud area, offering a wide range of facilities and help based around the drop-in centre that is open to all.

The town council has been providing funding for the trust for many years and having heard that Brendan would like to meet a council representative, I offered to spend some time there. I was very impressed and had my eyes opened about the range of help they provide, particularly offering specific training opportunities in woodwork, music and film making. In the carpentry workshop, I met two trainees and was amazed at the quality of the furniture being made by them and others, under the guidance of their tutor, which was not only designed well, but beautifully crafted. They not only offer a safe place to spend time with their peers, but also support with any issues that may arise in their lives.

After being shown around the whole building, Brendan and I sat together to talk about the overall project, their role in the wider community and how we can help them to keep going and even develop further. We managed a few minutes for more personal chat and within minutes I was offering to provide some frisbee tuition later in the year, so that we can go up to a local park for some fun and exercise. Brendan seemed pleased with this. I'm glad to be able to show people my enthusiasm for frisbee and demonstrate some new throws, catches and games, as well as the variety of flying discs that are available.

When we returned to his office I asked Brendan if I could take a photo of him and explained about and showed him blipfoto. I managed to grab a few shots in a couple of minutes and I just wished I had more time to fine tune the images. I like the challenge of capturing whatever you can in available light, which probably stems from my time involved with making documentaries. I have a lot to learn still.