Have just noticed this thread. Many thanks for your kind wishes, especially Civvy, whose sparkling wit and repartee always gives me a smile.
With regard to the grammer of the Princess, Civvy may wish to note that, notwithstanding the handicap of a convent school English education, her grammer is impeccable, the use of the plural vindicated by the numerous written testimonials that wil be considered by the judges, including those from colleagues in fire and rescue, professional bodies, end users, the legal profession and the fire industry.
We had hoped to obtain a testimonial from a civilian inspecting officer of Civvy's expertise and experience, as it would have been good to have the backing of those with 5 minutes experience as well as the good and the great in our profession. However, time precluded this as we unfortunately started with those at the top of the tree whose opinions mattered to us and then worked down.......
With regard to free advice, I am sure that you need none Civvy, but, on a point of record, last time we did a reconciliation, free advice in the form of input to standards bodies, etc was costing the practice around £10,000 per annum, after which we stopped calculating it, as it is now even higher. Unhappily, we do not have the luxury of doing such work while drawing a a local authority salary.
Kurnal, You and the Princess are hereby invited to the Grosvenor House hotel bash at which the awards will be announced. However, tickets are £250 a head, and I am not sure a massive pension funded by my good self and other worthy tax payers, plus what you eke out in fees will run to this. But if it does, I would be very pleased to spend an evening in your company, so let me know if you do want tickets.
