First Day

Twenty minutes into my new role as Chief Executive of the Plunkett Foundation and I think I might have made a mistake. Sweat is pouring off me, my head is reeling and my legs want to give way. Thankfully, this is due to me deciding that my first act should be to join our running team in a five mile race round Blenheim Palace.


It took considerably less time for me to be sure that Plunkett is the place to be. This is an organisation whose time has come. The solution that it offers for rural communities to take ownership of the services they need most could have been made for the time we live in. With seven community owned village shops opening in just five weeks, there is a real sense of the tide turning. It is our role to make sure that as many rural commuities as possible know about what can be done, believe that they can do it themselves and are then supported to make those dreams real.

The Plunkett team put in a fine performance in the race with two of us running a faster time than Conservative leader David Cameron. I'm sure that our performance over the coming weeks and months will be equally impressive.

The Plunkett Plodders at the start of the Ox5 run