Well as I hurtle towards
the last full month on my secondment, I am reminded about the reasons behind
wanting to take up the opportunity in the first place. When I began I was
fairly rudderless and smile when thinking about all the wrong turns I made in
the first few months.
Having direction,
guidance, support call it what you will is so very important and I hope that I
have been able to do this for a few people along the way. That said I have met
an awful lot of inspirational people who will continue making a difference when
I am back talking about loans, deposits and international trade. It will be
important to see how I can take my experiences back to my job and look to build
a more partnership related approach to activities with our communities.
Junk Play
The title of this blog
really encapsulates this one. Following a discussion with one of the school
liaison team, Viv Gibbons I was asked if we could get any “junk” items to help
with a play scheme at Grimes
Dyke Primary
School.
After lots of offers, we
visited the school with a number of items including old phones. Ok, not that
special you may think, but let me tell you an 8 year olds imagination knows no
bounds. Within 2 minutes they were not phones but space controllers and robot
devices! The power of free thought and nobody telling them that they could not
do it was extremely rewarding. The children also demonstrated what you can do
with netting, ropes and barrels which were really inventive.
Thank you to Karl Footitt at Grimes Dyke School and Natalie at Lloyds.
Bikefest
In the film Fight Club,
the first rule was that you don’t talk about it. Well with Bikefest the first
rule is that you do and you try and spread the word to as many people as
possible.
Ok, what is Bikefest? Well
it is the official Arts and Culture organisation for Welcome to Yorkshire’s
(WTY) Leeds events prior to the Tour de
France’s Grand Depart in 2014. As part of hosting the Le Grand Depart WTY will
provide 100 days of arts and cultural events to celebrate.
I am working with East
Street Arts and Space 2 to support them with planning and connections in the
run up to its launch, as well as helping them build a programme which we
believe will make it the biggest and best Bike related festival in the UK. Now that
just does not happen over night and there is a small, but perfectly formed
steering committee chaired by Jonathan Riley at Pinsents and supported by Clive
Goldstein at Union, Nic Greenan, Jon and Karen Wakeman from East Street Arts,
Emma Tregidden from Space 2 and Councillor Roger Harrington.
We launch Bikefest at the Skyride that
is taking place in Leeds city centre on the 7
July and if any of you are around please feel free to come along and say hello.
I think I am in charge of leaflets, as the artists in the group have rejected by
considered musings!
Oh and I nearly forgot. If
you are a Corporate and want to get
involved, please do get in touch with
me.
The Big Connect - 12 July
The Big Connect is the first of what we hope will become an annual
event, bringing together the growing network of Business
Connectors from across the UK,
along with the people and the organisations from the communities in which they
work. We are also inviting the companies, national partners and
individuals who are supporting the Business Connectors programme and helping to
make this network possible.
This high-profile, interactive experience is about sharing
learning, building powerful networks and showcasing the great work Business
Connectors are doing in our communities, changing people’s perceptions of
business by demonstrating that business can be a powerful force for good.
During the event there will be a wealth of learning opportunities to
help attendees get the most out of the day, including facilitated learning
exchanges, roundtable discussions, plenary sessions, 1:1 learning ‘sofa
sessions’, and interactive workshops on how to empower our young people,
revitalise our high-streets, find the funding you need to scale up your work
and make the most of your social networks.
I have six organisations attending and will feedback on their thoughts
and any lessons we can share.
A Little Extra Help from
the Halifax
Recently I was lucky enough
to spend some time with Halifax Community Bank and understand the challenges
they face and how they are trying to help our community’s prosper.
From this, local director Damien Greenwood asked how his teams could get
more involved in Leeds and the types of areas
he felt they could support. After a little thought, we met up with Mark Smith
from Leeds Learning and John
Smeaton High
School.
Mark is responsible for various areas of pastoral work across 3 high
schools and 14 primary schools in Leeds and is
always looking out for practical long term support. In turn, he wishes to
provide businesses the opportunity to get involved and possibly make a
difference in our young people’s lives.
Damien and his colleagues are now going to look into a number of areas including
work placements, in-branch interview skills training and teacher/pupil coaching
and mentoring.
A huge thank you from me to Damien for taking so much time out a very
busy diary, but if the last meeting was anything to go by then I know he and
his team will benefit greatly.
Could you mentor
someone?
Yes? Well if so then
UnLtd Social Entrepreneurs could do with your help. They are looking for
volunteer mentors to support current and alumni Award Winners on
their exciting journey to make the communities we live in a better place.
Mentoring can be a very
rewarding experience and they have a number of great opportunities across
the UK.
The support requests vary greatly, for example:
·
Writing business plans
·
Sounding board/objective viewpoint
·
Sustainability
·
Accounting
·
Sales and forecasting
·
Marketing and branding
·
Routes to market
·
Generating income/funding
·
Import/export
·
Website and IT development
·
Social media
·
Tax/HMRC requirements
·
Legal structures
If you can offer your
time and skills in ANY of these areas to help guide social entrepreneurs
through the process then please contact HelenDavies@unltd.org.uk
And finally…
I started off
by talking about my secondment shortly coming to an end and making a few wrong
turns. Well I am delighted to announce that we will have a new connector Susan
Pollard joining me. She is not just any connector but an M&S Connector!
Welcome on board and good luck.
Thanks for
reading and as always if there is anything I can support you with, please just
let me know.
Kind regards
Shaun
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