Newport, Thursday 16th of January 2014, 11:15 pm: a very tired me is lifting her heavy backpack from the seat on the Arriva Trains Wales train from Wilmslow (whaat? where the hell is Wilmslow?) on to her back and leaves the train that has carried her so calmly and trustworthy, without any complications all the way from England to South Wales.

I am very exciting to be back in Wales, well at this moment in time I am tired more than anything else.
I am tired and angry. Angry because the man next to me on the train had spend the last 40 minutes of our journey to watch two different videos on his two phones simultaneously. Simultaneously!
So frankly, I was more than irritated. Especially because British protocol dictates that I may not speak out against this crime committed to my ears and my brain but rather sigh very loudly approximately every three minutes, which, let me tell you, did not help at all.
So, I was tired and angry but before this rude event and after I had some sleep, I was very excited.

Excited because coming back to Wales is a big step for me personally and because it meant that I was able to attend the first meeting of the new TEAM Panel.

After we had a great first year ( we'll miss you Frank, Brent, Josh, Jan and Tula) the new TEAM Panel consisting of Kelly, Rachel, John, Laura, Hannah, Ali, Liam, Maeve, Terry, Buddug and myself met on Saturday with Devinda and Anna to discuss what it means to be a TEAM Panel member, the fun of it and of course the responsibilities.

One of the biggest challenges that I faced in my first year as a Panel member was to find, not so much a sense of belonging to NTW as a company because I hope that all TEAM members feel that, but rather to find a way to be an advocate and a representative of NTW without directly being employed by the company. So it was really good to talk about the role of a Panel member again, to refresh my mind. The easiest and probably most effective way of us being seen and seeing others and their work is by being active on this online community, comment, ask, reply, share, as well as attending events, which are being organised or shown by other TEAM members or non-TEAM members for that matter (why aren't you a TEAM member yet?) . So, if you have any questions or thoughts or would like NTW to attend your show or event, please let us know, don't hesitate to email us at any time.

After we had established what it was that we were going to do for the next year, Phil George, the chair of the NTW board came to visit us to talk about where NTW all came from, what the board does and what is expected of us when we attend a board meeting.  Because TEAM is such an integral part of the company, it is important to NTW that we know what and who the company exists of, how it is run and what aspects are a part of it. But also and maybe more importantly they want to know who TEAM is and what we're up to. So believe me when I say that the work you do, it's being recognised and known through all the layers of NTW, from us the TEAM Panel to Phil and his fellow board members.
In the first year two Panel members at a time would go to a board meeting and talk about the things that happened with TEAM over the course of the past month. We have now changed this system around a little to something I'm sure you'll hear about some time soon.

After the wonderful Phil left us, we spent about an hour with John McGrath, who told us more about the production side of NTW. Specifically about the upcoming shows. He told us about the different choices that had to be made and asked for our opinion and thoughts. It's a great feeling to be involved in such a creative and integral part of NTW and to know that someone, who has been working in theatre for such a long time really wants to know what I and my fellow Panel members think. It's something I'm so grateful for and I respect so highly, for a company that is up and coming and getting national and international recognition to turn around and say :" Christina, I know you've only just graduated and you're not yet walking in your theatre shoes but what do you think?" They don't have to do that but they do because it's their ethos and it's who they are.

Okay sorry, wipe away the tears guys.

" So, what are the upcoming shows then?" you may ask. Okay, well the first one is all about... ha, only kidding. I couldn't forgive myself if I spoiled any surprises for you, so let me just say :" Oh boy, it's going to be good."

After John left we spent some time with Fergus Roche, who is working on a research project with his company Joylab together with No Fit State and NTW to improve the dialogue between the artist and his audience. I'm sure I said a few things that didn't help Fergus at all to get closer to finding an answer to his questions, so please join his group, have your say and make up for my wasting his time.

So, yes that is how 13+2 of us spent our Saturday in a nutshell. We learned a lot about the structure of NTW and committed to representing and advocating for NTW the best way we can.
I enjoyed every minute of it and I'm looking forward to all that lies waiting for us. As I said before if you have any questions or need or want anything let us know, we'll be around.
And yes, there was cake. Fun facts of the day: John prefers lemon cake over chocolate and Devinda chocolate over lemon (in case you ever have to bribe either one of them).

Thank you Anna and Devinda for taking me on board for another year. I'm very much looking forward to it.

Christina