My charity ‘songs of innocence and experience’

I want to tell you about a tiny, ancient cemetery in central London. Please keep reading, though. This place is important to me, and I'm going to tell you why. If you're ever near City Road, look out for a strangely peaceful, curious little burial ground called Bunhill Fields, just a few steps from the madding crowd. It's one of the many reasons I love London. Back in the mid-90s, I was in my first 'proper' charity job, as a tyro fundraiser for a children's charity based nearby. I was all bright-eyed enthusiasm. I had no email address. But it was tough at times, and I'd often grab a moment's peace in Bunhill Fields eating my Safeway sandwiches of a lunchtime. As a recent English Literature graduate, I pretentiously thought it was pretty cool that I was sitting right near William Blake's tombstone. I'd studied and enjoyed his Songs of Innocence and Experience only a couple of years earlier. Fast forward nearly 20 years and four jobs later, and I'm now a 'hard-bitten' charity consultant, with a bit less hair. And today I found myself visiting a client in the same area, so popped in to take this photo. In the background, you can just make out the bench that the 20-something me used to sit on. But why am I telling you this? Why is this in my charity blog? Well, Bunhill Fields made me think about my own songs of innocence and experience. Don't let experience wear you down We learn from our experiences; of course we do. But those