Recruitment

I was in Glasgow this morning in the heavy rain for a media opportunity to promote the launch of this year's recruitment campaign for new panel members. If anyone in Scotland is interested in finding out more please visit www.childrenspanelscotland.org

I had the pleasure of meeting up with Barry Black, a 22 year old who is about to become a postgraduate student at Glasgow University (hence the location in the somewhat breezy and cool cloisters!). Barry has been a panel member for just over a year in Aberdeen where he has been studying.

As someone who went through the system when very young he is keen to contribute to the lives of others and looks forward to continuing his panel activities over the coming years.

We are looking for some 500 volunteers this year, especially men as we need to boost our male numbers a bit to meet the legal need to have a gender balance on each hearing. Each of our 21 areas recruiting this year has different needs and women applicants are always needed too. The website can give you information on local requirements.

Before the photographers arrived I got the chance to capture Barry in his future surroundings.

No TV today but some recordings we made for STV2 last week were shown on their news bulletin today, along with an interview with another panel member James Smith and our new 19 year old Board member - Beth-Anne Logan - who herself went through the system into her mid-teens.

This evening involved a quick visit to my blind aunt who was celebrating her 92nd birthday today. Her birthday lunch will have to wait until the weekend!