GROW07 took place on April 19, 2007 at the RAF Museum in Hendon. It was attended by 200 participants from approx 100 local VCOs as well as partners from Barnet Council, the PCT, the police and Barnet’s educational institutions. Barnet’s Mayor, Cllr Greenspan was the guest at the GROW07 reception at the end of the day.

BVSC launched GROW07 to ensure Barnet’s voluntary and community organisations are ready for the changes the commissioning of public services will bring.

GROW07 not only offered practical resources and information, it was also an opportunity for participate to re-evaluate their work and celebrate achievements. GROW07 offered a series of presentations on the state of the sector, the challenges it faces, and what the changes in the commissioning and delivery of public services mean to the sector. This was followed in the afternoon by substantial workshops in partnership working, fundraising and income generation. Participants left the event with a substantial pack of resources, publications and toolkits. The new Rolling Base mobile youth facility was introduced, and Flash Musicals rounded off the day with some of their award-winning Bollywood routines.

We were deliberately ambitious with GROW07 and it paid off. GROW07 was one of the biggest voluntary sector events in Barnet to date. It was fantastic to see so many local voluntary and community organisations, community activists and volunteers coming together, developing project ideas over lunch, and confronting the issues facing the sector and Barnet’s communities in the workshops sessions.

Tim Smit, Chief Executive of the Eden Project, as our GROW07 Keynote Speaker. He came up from Central London on a break between meetings to show us what inspiration and tenacity can achieve and why all the strategising, monitoring and number crunching is worth it in the end.