Page 22 of Fireworks at Pennycress Inn
‘He’s doing okay, though?’ Polly tucked her pen inside her notebook, keeping the loose pages with her notes on easily accessible.
‘He is.’ Vicki grinned. ‘It’s impossible not to develop a soft spot for him, isn’t it?’
‘He is rather cute.’ She could understand why Vicki chose to spend her free time rescuing and caring for wildlife. ‘It must be really rewarding volunteering to help at the wildlife sanctuary like you do.’
‘It is.’ Vicki stretched her arms out above her head and yawned. ‘It’s tiring too, though. I was there until gone midnight last night as we had a couple of emergencies brought in and then?—’
‘Thank you, folks.’ Sitting down heavily in his chair at the head of the table, Declan cheerfully cut across the chatter. ‘Okay, on today’s agenda is a general catch-up. I’d like to hear about your visit to the school yesterday, Art and Vicki, and your visit to Stratford-upon-Avon Reserve, Dennis. Then we’ll have a catch-up with Zac and Polly, if that’s okay? No pressure though, we know you’re new here and have been thrown into the deep end, so to speak.’
Polly nodded. For the first time since starting her job, she didn’t feel the pressure. She’d accepted she wasn’t going to get the promotion and, instead, she was ready for the challenge of ensuring her time at Meadowfield Reserve wouldn’t be for nothing. She was ready to talk about her ideas and, fingers crossed, get the go-ahead she needed from Declan in order to proceed with them.
As she listened to Art, Declan and Vicki recount their week’s work, she fiddled with her pen. It felt strange listening to Art speak about the school assemblies he’d been giving as outreach and education officer, to raise awareness of their conservation work. That should have been her.
‘…And I think every pupil and teacher alike now knows to check any bonfires for hedgehogs before lighting them,’ Art finished with a grin.
‘That’s fantastic, thank you. It sounds as though you’ve had a very productive week.’ Declan nodded to Art before fixing his eyes on Zac and Polly. ‘And now to our two new recruits, our fundraising and development officers, Zac and Polly. Who’d like to go first?’
Feeling herself put on the spot, Polly felt a flutter of nerves as she waved her hand in Zac’s direction. ‘I’m happy with you going first, Zac, if you like?’
Nodding, Zac cleared his throat and gave her a cursory nod. ‘Thank you. Right, I’ve spent the week focusing on developing sponsorship deals with some corporate companies.’
‘Ooh, corporate companies! I don’t think we’ve ever had any sponsorship deals before.’ Leaning forward, Declan laced his fingers together. ‘Tell me more.’
‘Of course.’ Zac clicked on his keyboard before continuing. ‘It’s early days and I’m building up trust between myself and the companies so far. At the moment, I’m working on formal proposals and will begin visiting them over the next few weeks, but if I secure even half of the sponsorships, we’ll reach our funding target for this year.’
As a chorus of oohs and ahhs filled the small room, Polly zoned out of the conversation, while Declan, Art, Vicki and Dennis fired questions at Zac and marvelled over his answers. The truth of the matter was that Zac already had the contacts. He’d come into the job with an advantage. She gripped hold of her pen and reminded herself that it didn’t matter. She was no longer here to compete; she was here to make her time at the reserve worthwhile. She was here to make a difference. Or to try to. Now everyone had been wowed by Zac’s development with the funding situation, her plans would look like nothing in comparison. The work she’d been focusing on would only lead to money coming in dribs and drabs, not anything close to how grand Zac’s proposals were. Still…
‘Polly?’
Declan’s voice cut into her thoughts and she snapped her head in his direction, immediately realising the room had gone quiet as people waited for her contribution. ‘Oh, umm… sorry. Er, Zac, your funding forecast sounds amazing.’
‘Thank you.’ Zac’s voice was clipped as he slowly closed his laptop.
‘And yourself? Are you in a position to give us an update on what you’ve been working on?’ Declan smiled warmly. ‘It doesn’t matter if you want to skip an update this week. We know you’re both new and wouldn’t really expect such progress within your first week.’
Mentally shaking herself, Polly tried her best to fill her voice with a confidence she suddenly found lacking. ‘No, I’m happy to give you an update. I’ve been working on a few ideas. Although I’m afraid they won’t be able to compete with Zac’s in terms of money raised, I’m still hopeful they can make a little impact to the reserve in the long run at least.’
‘Great.’ Declan rubbed his hands together. ‘I look forward to hearing all about them.’
‘Okay.’ Taking a deep breath, Polly pulled the loose pages from her notebook and gripped them in her hands. ‘It’s occurred to me that the reserve might not be reaching the number of visitors it potentially could. Does that sound fair?’
‘Quite fair, yes.’ Declan nodded as he stroked his beard thoughtfully. ‘I think it’s always been a bit of a problem with the reserve being a little out of the village.’
‘Yes, yes, I understand that, but we have a lot on our side in that respect: we have a regular and reliable bus service, a large free car park and its position isn’t too far from the village to entice dog walkers and people wanting to stretch their legs before reaching us.’
‘True.’ Declan held his hand out, allowing her to continue.
Laying her papers in front of her, she gripped the arms of her chair and pulled herself in an inch. ‘I think there’re improvements we can make to encourage more visitors. Both by raising awareness of all the reserve has to offer to the local community, as well as things we can do here at the reserve to make people’s visits as enjoyable and informative as possible so they’re more likely to not only return, but also to talk about their experience with their family, friends and neighbours, which will then grow our visitor numbers too.’
‘What sorts of things are you thinking of?’ Vicki looked towards the small pile of papers in front of Polly.
Was she going to do this? Could she get across her ideas without coming across as dismissive of past attempts at raising interest in the reserve? Polly bit down on her bottom lip. This was why she was here, a fresh set of eyes. That’s what was expected of her. It was quite literally her job. ‘Right, I’ve brought a few initial ideas to share to begin with. I must warn you, they’re just notes at this time. I’ll work on getting some more details down, though. If you all think they’re worth it, of course.’
‘Great, great. Let’s hear them.’ Declan nodded.
This was it. Polly took a deep breath and tried to focus on slowing the pace of her voice, one thing she’d always struggled with when giving assemblies at school. ‘Right, well, to begin with, I’ve focused on ideas to make the reserve more accessible to people once they get here. So, with that in mind, my first proposal would be to update the reserve map. I know we already have one, but it’s not in a very prominent position.’ Now that was an understatement. She’d had to fight her way through a ton of spindly branches which had encroached onto the map’s board. ‘I was thinking it should be by the car park, on the main path leading into the reserve. That way, people new to the reserve will be able to take a look and familiarise themselves.’
‘We’ve been meaning to update that map for a few years now. I’m pretty sure the new birdwatching hideaways aren’t even on there.’ Declan scribbled in his notebook.
