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North America/UK
Countryside Exchange Programme
“How about a week in Caerlaverock?”
This was the question asked of me in July 2004 by CEI Associates, the Countryside Exchange Programme organisers. I had signed-up for the North America/UK Countryside Exchange two years earlier and had actually forgotten about it in the interim... then came the phone call.
So where in North America was Caerlaverock – USA or Canada? Neither – but in bonnie Scotland on the Solway Firth! I had been selected for one of the UK-based teams. This is the account of the personal experiences I gained during this unique international programme which brings together countryside professionals from both sides of the Atlantic.
The preliminaries
The Caerlaverock exchange was scheduled for early October 2004 and a comprehensive
briefing pack arrived in September, stuffed with information about the project,
the sponsor (Scottish Natural Heritage in this case), the stakeholders and also
with profiles on the other members of the team. The first opportunity to check-out
the reality was at the “orientation and briefing” session held in
Cheshire. There was a good mix of nationalities from both UK and continental
Europe as well as from the USA and Canada. A day of greetings; meetings and
briefings was followed by the three teams heading-off to their respective study
areas with their host escorts, the Caerlaverock team heading north to our base
in Dumfries.
Brain-storm & brain-dump
The next few days followed a packed programme of familiarisation visits and
meetings with the various stakeholders including representatives of the local
Caerlaverock community. Each evening the team came together after dinner for
what we called a “brain-storm and brain-dump”. Thoughts and observations
from the day’s sessions were talked over and then literally “dumped”
straight into a lap-top.
After three days of such visits the team identified numerous other players who we needed to see. Then there were others we felt we needed to talk to again – so the team would often split into smaller groups to pursue specific angles. Round table meetings were also set-up so we could quiz stakeholders in front of each other and each could hear the others viewpoint.
Cutting to the chase
As a group of professionals who hadn’t known each other prior to the exchange,
it was remarkable how quickly the team gelled and were able to get straight
to the critical points. Phrases like “thinking outside the box”
and “coming without baggage” seemed to mean the same on both sides
of the Atlantic, though “gobsmacked” needed explaining to the Yanks
and “affecting the view-shed” required some translation for the
Brits.
By day four we started to turn our attention to the public meeting the team was expected to hold to present preliminary findings on the project to the local community. This was scheduled for the evening of day five, with the final report due from the team on day six.
Division of labour was the order of the day at this point-
We decided that the entire team would each deliver part of the presentation and we even threw-in a role play exercise as well.“We really needed a kick up the backside – and you gave it”
The public meeting
On the evening of day five we moved-off to the village hall where the meeting
was to be held. “Would anyone turn-up?” In fact the hall was packed.
It was encouraging to see so many people including a lot of young faces as well.
Some of our team had visited the local school and we had also been featured
on radio and in the local newspaper so this had probably helped.
The team proceeded to make their presentation and this was followed with an “Open Forum”. The questions came thick and fast – some supportive, some less positive and a lively debate followed. At the end of the session the team headed off to the pub with several of the locals where further discussions were held. One comment summed it up for me:
The end result
Day six was spent working on the final report, pulling all our thoughts together
to respond to the original questions and then delivering our recommendations.
Day seven saw the report finally delivered to our hosts and the team heading
home.
My overall impression?
I feel that rarely in one’s professional life do you get the chance to
–
I found I achieved a huge level of professional satisfaction from doing this exchange – and I had a lot of fun. We have subsequently heard that the team’s recommendations have been taken on-board by our hosts and some elements have already been implemented to the benefit of the Caerlaverock community.
Roger Cole
CMA Marketing Group
Further information about the North America/UK Countryside Exchange
E mail cei@cei-associates.org