Donna Hall

Public service leadership consultant, culture change, reform, community engagement, #RadicalPlaceLeadership Chair @Poss_Abilities

[Donna Hall @ProfDonnaHall]

Chuffed to be on this list of LGIU's top 25 thinkers in local government with others I admire hugely for their ability to drive change for & with citizens. Together we can pull the plug out of the tepid bath of managed public service decline ⁦@LGiU⁩ https://t.co/AyhF11BoZg

[Wendy Lansdown @wendylansdown]

My first one in yonks!

It was good to dust off the blog pen again.

With thanks to Chris Swarbrick for the wonderful artwork

https://t.co/DqcKQis4O2

@PaulTrustWorks @bannon_ashling
@ProfDonnaHall @John_A_Wade

[Donna Hall @ProfDonnaHall]

@HilaryCottam @themjcouk ❤️

[Paula McGowan OBE @PaulaMc007]

#Oliverscampaign
My heart swells with pride

[Donna Hall @ProfDonnaHall]

What a fantastic opportunity to work with Hilary & her amazing team!

[Hilary Cottam @HilaryCottam]

If you are in the UK Civil Service- a DD or aspiring DD - this is an opportunity to work with me, England’s Upland Communities and ⁦@DefraGovUK⁩ on system transformation - please share widely a fantastic opportunity for a brilliant candidate https://t.co/DGabpNidCP

[Jonathan Pie @JonathanPieNews]

The look of man who, for the first time in his coddled 66 years of life, just had the briefest of glimpses of the real world.
Plenty more where that came from I sincerely hope.

[Donna Hall @ProfDonnaHall]

@HotelsHomeless Most of us & our forefathers were all once complete strangers

[Donna Hall @ProfDonnaHall]

@CatherineMMunro Love these Catherine! How can I buy some?

[Donna Hall @ProfDonnaHall]

@DGParkinson 🥰

[Donna Hall @ProfDonnaHall]

@MI5GCJ Happy new year Geoff xx

[Stuart Klinke @StuartKlinke]

Winter in Teesdale

[Donna Hall @ProfDonnaHall]

@JohnstonJudith Omg 😦 Judith! We had some hair raising trips didn’t we!?! 🫣

[Donna Hall @ProfDonnaHall]

Like Narnia here today ❄️

[Donna Hall @ProfDonnaHall]

@IanMWelsh @WallStreetApes 💯

[Donna Hall @ProfDonnaHall]

@evefrancisholt Sending love 💕 Eve xxx

[Donna Hall @ProfDonnaHall]

@criminographer Sending love ❤️ Emily

[lemn sissay OBE FRSL @lemnsissay]

This is post number 25 for National Care Leavers Month. Each day I post something from my archive relative to the subject.

A nation is like a family and family is like a nation. It is as simple and complex as that. I know my people and I am known to my people and I say this as one who was lost.

I first came to Ethiopia in 1995. The BBC documentary Internal flight came on that Journey. A boy born in Lancashire, stolen from his mother, brought up in Wigan who migrated to Manchester found his way to Ethiopia.

But it was much more than just one journey. I was not going back to my roots. I was searching for my family. There is a difference. I had to tell my story so that the conditions of my disappearance could be fully understood.

Slowly slowly through documentaries and interviews made here in Ethiopia by curious Ethiopians, and legends of broadcasting such as Meaza Birru on Sheger radio, my story was translated and heard and became known throughout the country.

The Ethiopian baby stolen from his mother, fostered to English Christians then thrown away into institutions at 12 then left by the institutions at 18 with no one and no explanation had to fight his way back into his story and wear it regardless of whether he wanted to.

I fought a system determined to forget and erase me. And I found evidence and I returned to Ethiopia with that evidence at 29, an acclaimed poet. I didn't know what my name meant. In my mother's tongue. it means 'Why'. How could I not be a poet with a name like Why.

The story continues. There is so much joy now. A nation is like a family and family is like a nation. It is as simple and complex as that.

Photo taken by John O'Rourke on Entoto at sunrise.

[lemn sissay OBE FRSL @lemnsissay]

Then came November
Winter's slow kiss
Night draws in to her
Frost claws summer's lips

Photo by Vladmir Srajber

[ADASS @1adass]

Closing day 1 at #ncasc25, ADASS President Jess McGregor and ADCS President Rachael Wardell OBE join Professor Donna Hall to discuss place-based leadership, community cohesion and the vital role of the workforce in connecting with communities.

[Donna Hall @ProfDonnaHall]

@LynneBowers2 Thank you 🙏 Lynne! Great conversation x

[lemn sissay OBE FRSL @lemnsissay]

This is my 23rd post for National Care Leavers Month. Each day I post something from my archive relative to the subject. But today is different. Can you help me find someone. Please.

In 1972 a Scottish couple fostered a baby and saved her. She is now looking for the couple to thank them. It means a lot to her.

The birth mother recalls meeting them at The Red Cross Office in Edinburgh in 1972. She does not have any details about the foster mother BUT recalls that the foster father was a surgeon (possibly a neurosurgeon) AND that couple had a brown skinned adopted son, which would have been unusual at the time.

Please help me find them on behalf of my friend. Please share this post. Especially if you are in Scotland.

Image by Geralt