The passing of Ali and Andy

Storm Ali lived up to expectations. At 8am the odd spot of rain. By 8:30 torrential squalls and throughout the day high winds and downpours.

Team meeting. Paperwork . Then off along the M8 with a couple of colleagues to attend the funeral of Andy McInnes. I’d never met Andy but from the memories conveyed at the ceremony he would have been fun to know. A lover of party and travel. And of his wife and family.

Janet, his wife, is one of our 22 volunteer leaders across the country. She is the Area Convener for North Lanarkshire who has been very supportive towards some of our team when they’ve had issues. And has played a key part in moving forward the system locally.

It was clear from the comments today that Andy also supported Janet strongly in her volunteering. We were there to offer support to Janet. But it was also a reminder that behind all our volunteers are other members of families who help free up their time to volunteer.

The double rainbow at the end of the day as I headed home to repair parts of the greenhouse (fortunately minimal and easily sorted damage) was a good end to the day.