Recently my supervisor was invited to speak at the Tourism Management Institute Convention about State Aids, hosted in the New Forest.

After meeting several representatives from tourism bodies, we had some spare time before the presentation. Shamefully, neither of us had visited the New Forest before so thought we would explore the countryside surrounding the hotel venue. An enjoyable breath of fresh air – or so we thought.

I guess the walk started badly as my shoes were not designed with puddles of mud in mind. Worse was to come…

After some walking we encountered an unfenced field of cows to the side of the country lane we had innocently wandered down. My supervisor would argue, as he did at the time, they were ‘bulls’ not cows. What followed was a stare-out between my supervisor and the ‘bulls’ (think black and white western films). To say my supervisor hurriedly retreated when a ‘bull’ took an overly aggressive step forward is an understatement!

I was abandoned to their mercy. Though none of the cows subsequently moved, my supervisor assured me they were not to be trusted. Luckily we both survived and counselling has not been necessary. If anything it made our State Aid discussion much less traumatic, given the ordeal we had already overcome!

Over the last few months I have been helping to arrange the Michelmores Future Homes Forum which took place last week.

The event was organised at the request of Sir John Banham who is now the Chairman of the Future Homes Commission, a body recently set up by the Royal Institute of British Architects to conduct an inquiry into the design and delivery of theUK’s future homes.

The purpose of the Forum was to aid the Commission with its inquiry by bringing together leading developers, planners, architects, agents and bankers to discuss the issues hindering the supply of affordable housing.  I helped with the organisation as my current and second seat is in the Property department.

The event took place on a lovely Spring day – so nice in fact that guests were invited onto our roof-top terrace to enjoy tea and coffee before the roundtable discussion began!

Sir John Banham chaired the meeting itself which was very interesting – a fantastic insight into the views of leading individuals within the housing sector.

The Future Homes Commission is aiming to produce a report on the subject of its inquiry in the autumn of this year. Before the meeting at Michelmores, Sir John Banham explained that he would be happy to leave with just one idea for his part of the report; afterwards he said he had at least four – very satisfying to hear!

Keep an eye on the publications page of our website for our post-briefing materials if you would like to hear more about the meeting.