A recipe for Social Care Curry Club
Serves
Over 150 people in 4 countries (quantities can be increased)
Suitable for
Vegetarians, not-vegetarians, people working in social care, people not working in social care with an interest in social care.
Ingredients
- A splash of an Assistant Director from Dudley Council with a good idea
- A healthy dollop of a social media savvy, unstoppable woman
- A large glob of online connections with an interest in social care, and curry
- Boundaryless opportunities to co-create
- A handful good indian restaurants
- A pinch of a Minister of State (optional)
You will also need the following free stuff
- 1 blog site
- 1 twitter account
- 1 Eventbrite site
Overview
This began as a recipe for a handful of outings of people interested in social care, and curry. It turned in to a recipe for connecting over 150 people across 4 countries (including Canada). You can turn any recipe for something small and simple in to something much bigger by simply lengthening the preparation time and making it easy for people to co-create it with you.
Method
- Take the Assistant Director‘s good idea, and add it to the social media savvy, unstoppable woman. Saute until the twitter account and first post on the free blog site are done.
- Ask people following on twitter and the blog what day suits them best and let things bubble up on the Eventbrite site to determine how many people you’ll need to book in to the
test kitchenchosen restaurant on a suitable date. - Gently mix people on the evening, enjoy curry and have good conversation about social care type things. Grate over some tweets, photos and a blog. (If you’re a fan of baking with booze, you can add a pint or two in a pub afterwards.)
- Swirl in opportunities for people to become local hosts, add suggestions about locations across the country (England), season with a social care curry in Scotland and one in Wales.
- Warm(ly respond) to any interest from politicians, such as the Minister of State for Care and Support.
- Keep everything sizzling using social media.
- Taste the mix on 5 September, and quarterly thereafter.
N.B. You know how Canadians (and Americans) call courgettes, zucchini? Well they don’t use the term ‘social care’, so they have adapted this recipe to ‘Connecting over Curry’.
Preparation time
Just a few weeks.
Eating time
Dependent on restaurant, and enthusiasm for an after dinner visit to a pub. [Warning: when testing this recipe I was out until 1am!]
Don’t miss out!
Register here to join us on 5 September in Birmingham, 5 confirmed attendees from Dudley organisations (other parts of the country are available)
Photo: Matt Bowsher, Assistant Director, Dudley MBC.
Photo credit: George Julian
This post was inspired by a Social Care Curry Club tweet (below) from George Julian
Digital Dudley 
Amusin……. If it has anything at all to do with local or national government all those ingredients would just bring about local conflict resulting in a spoilt dish, might need a large portion of humble pie to follow:)
Hiya
You might be surprised. I’m involved in quite a few things which bring together people from local government, in their own time, with food (often cake) and it really serves to highlight the fact that these are good people, doing their best, constrained by systems and structures which can prevent helpful, responsive work. And in the 12 years that I have been bringing together officers from all sorts of public sector organisations in all sorts of different activities and events I can’t recall conflict. Differences of opinion and perspectives yes, but always respectful and most of the time an openness to learning.
Thanks for sharing this post on your site, and for making me hungry!
Love this Lorna. The best thing it’s ‘fun’, informal and friendly, yet it’s underlying currents get you thinking and hopefully joining in next time 🙂
Thanks Eileen
Everyone is welcome to join in, though it’s proving so popular we had to close registration for Birmingham – we would have taken over the whole restaurant!
Obviously news is spreading. Have you done one locally in our borough yet? 🙂
Hi Eileen
There was talk of a Lye Social Care Curry in the pub last night. I’m hassling Paul Jaunzems to host it!
Sounds like a great idea and good boost for a local restaurant too, so supporting local businesses 🙂