Friday 18th July 2008, 22:21Feed BackI gets lots of feedback to the blogs, thank you to everyone who sends me some feedback or an idea, and I thought it would be good to share this email I had today from Michael Burger who is doing some amazing stuff in our Offender Management Team.
Many thanks Michael for doing what you do everyday and for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights. Any more budding bloggers out there?
Thanks Roy
Dear Roy
Following your most recent Blog entry, I just thought I’d tell you about an event I attended the other evening.
I was invited by Lo.. View Complete Post Thursday 17th July 2008, 14:18Its in Our HandsLast week my family and I (Sam, Olivia and Tom) had a most amazing experience. We were very lucky to get tickets to attend the 90th Birthday Party for Nelson Mandela in Hyde Park London. Dashing home from school we packed ourselves into our car and attacked the M6 traffic with determination. Following a few comfort breaks we managed to arrive in Hyde Park as the concert was starting. Shuffling to the front we staked our claim to a patch of grass 18 inches by 10 inches. Each act came and went with increasing momentum, the sound system pushing every bass note through your chest walls and out thr..View Complete Post Thursday 19th June 2008, 22:27Feeling Worth LessLast week I had the chance to visit Johannesburg and work with some amazing people who are seeking solutions to some very difficult community issues facing South Africa. I met up with Lesley Ann from Khulisa who manages to inspire me each time I meet her. We worked on developing new partnerships to tackle exclusion in Australia.
I also met Patrick a taxi driver who took me to visit his people in the Alexandra Township, where there has been an outbreak of xenophobic violence during the last month. He took me to the place where people live with one toilet between 15 houses, no privac..View Complete Post Wednesday 30th April 2008, 21:56Three Women Improving Peoples LivesThree Women Improving Peoples Lives
A few weeks ago I had the honour of being able to travel to Rajgarh which is in the Rajasthan region of India. Sidharth Misra and I had been invited to visit the Mittal Community Centre and meet the team who have set up this centre to deliver services to the community of Rajgarh. Our host was Mr. Vishwanath the Secretary of the , Gita Mittal Foundation..
The Mittal Community Centre is committed to making an impact on the Millennium Development Goals. In particular I was shown a project that is reducing infant mortality rates and reduc..View Complete Post Monday 17th March 2008, 13:11Ann Woods an unlikely pioneer ................
I was first contacted by Ann Woods almost two years ago. Ann had watched a late night viewing of a TV programme about Emma Harrison and A4e. Ann was inspired by the vision of Improving Peoples Lives and was moved to find our web site and contact me through the Blog pages. Ann enquired if A4e was operating in Australia and if not, why not and what were our plans for setting up ASAP.
I agreed to meet Ann in Sydney early last year to give her a greater insight into A4e and also to gain an insight into the need she had identified for A4e in Australia.
Ann is best desc..View Complete Post Friday 7th March 2008, 09:53Paul Potts
I was thinking of Paul Potts And his rise to fame and I was thinking about what an ordinary humble man he was and totally unassuming. I watched his You Tube first audition and watched in wonder at the faces of the judges as he took his place on the stage in front of an audience and panel of experts who had already judged him if not a loser then certainly not a winner.
And there he stood, anxious, lacking in confidence and self esteem. Bare to the judgements of strangers.
And then he sang.
And boy could he sing. The judges moved to tears, the audience s..View Complete Post Friday 7th March 2008, 09:47Trust
In all our work trust is a critical component. When we are commissioned to deliver a service on behalf of one of the governments with which we work, they have indicated a level of trust in our ability to honour the contractual and spirit of the contract signed by both parties.
When entering into a community for the first time we seek to earn a level of trust so that members of this community have the confidence to entrust us with their future aspirations. In many of these communities trust is something that has broken with many of the agencies charged with delivering services..View Complete Post Thursday 28th February 2008, 21:20OutsidersOutsiders
In so many of the communities in which we work our mission takes us into the world of those in our society who see themselves as outsiders. Whether it be in England with the excluded groups of people in poverty, people with disabilities, prisoners or those who feel they live on the wrong side of the tracks, or Germany with the Turkish communities, France with the North African communities, Australia with the Aborigine and Torres Straits communities, India with those who live in the remote rural areas or today in Malmo with the immigrant Iraqi communities they all share th..View Complete Post Sunday 20th January 2008, 02:05Emma's DadAs you will have seen from Emma’s blog her Dad passed away last week after a long illness. Emma says we should not be sad as he had a wonderful life and achieved so much in his lifetime. Reading Emma’s blog it is clear to see his actions and values have moulded Emma’s life and given her the energy, passion, leadership and resilience she demonstrates each day in A4e.
My own memory is from 2005 when Emma, Jim and I travelled to Israel to see the new A4e centre delivering services to all parts of the community in Jerusalem. When I met up in the evening Emma told me s..View Complete Post Sunday 20th January 2008, 01:09The Foundation for Social ImprovementAt the last Group Board meeting we had a presentation and update from Pauline Broomhead the CEO of the Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI). Many of us first met Pauline when she was the working for the NSPCC as their National Fundraiser and together in partnership with Emma raised more than £57 million towards the Full Stop Campaign.
At the start of 2007 Pauline agreed to continue her partnership with Emma by heading up the Charity the FSI. This was quite a coup as Pauline is ranked within the top 10 fundraisers nationally in the UK. The vision for the FSI is to capacity ..View Complete Post Sunday 20th January 2008, 00:59Do you have a new idea?As we return from our Christmas break I hope you all enjoyed the rest and time with your families. I had a wonderful time although I do return to work with a repetitive strain injury caused from my son’s new Wii game.
This period of rest can often allow us to return to A4e with new energy and vigour but also new insights gained into how we may improve our services and better meet the needs of the communities we serve.
If you have such an idea, no matter how big or small please contact me if you think I can add some value to the process of bringing it into the full..View Complete Post Sunday 20th January 2008, 00:58Thanks to the OLASS team.Whenever I set out to develop a new international market for A4e it is always on the back of great work in the UK. This week our journeys took us to South Africa where we have the chance to deliver a ground breaking project in Kwazulu Natal.
Our invitation to undertake this work has come due to the hard work and energy of all our staff in the UK engaged in delivering our OLASS contracts. Your passion for the vision of Improving Peoples Lives and your commitment to transforming the lives of the inmates where we work has earned us this opportunity.
Thank you to David Jack..View Complete Post Sunday 20th January 2008, 00:45Update on France and Germany
Last week Bob Martin, Steve Marsland and I attended the board meetings of our businesses in France and Germany. The implementation of the vision continues. We are recognised in each country for our unique offer of Improving Peoples Lives.
Max and his team in Paris have worked very hard to ensure the vision and the cultures of the French communities we are serving are complimentary. They have fought hard for each client to come through our door and make them comfortable in our world as they introduce them to the tools and techniques and resources we can invest in their f..View Complete Post Sunday 20th January 2008, 00:44Time to RememberIn November 2007 my six year old son earned the opportunity to have a place in his beavers group as they took part in the Remembrance Day Parade in our local village. He was very proud to be selected and as he marched we as a family followed the parade. Everybody was represented in the parade; Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, Fire, Ambulance, Prison, Coast Guards, Scouts, Brownies, Girl Guides, Councillors, MPs, schools, churches, voluntary groups and charities.
As we collected around the war memorial those who had fought in the Second World War were moved to the front. These elderly..View Complete Post Friday 18th January 2008, 22:03Improving Peoples Lives - Including mine...............This week I have had the privilege to visit a number of correctional facilities in South Africa as we prepare to deliver our programmes in six units in the region of Kwazulu Natal. My thanks to the Area Commissioner Mr Z K Monama and his team from the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) for the wonderful welcome and arrangements they put in place to facilitate our meetings and joint working. We had been invited to take part in the development of these new programmes due to the invite from Khulisa (an amazing organisation) who work magic inside the prisons of South Africa with the inmates..View Complete Post Thursday 13th December 2007, 15:50What shall we give for Christmas this year?
Almost since the end of summer my children have been writing lists to Santa to make sure all of their requests are noted in full. For my six year old it seems to change each week from a Yu-Gi-Oh Egyptian God card set to a Nintendo Wii or a snooker table. For my thirteen year old daughter an iTouch, becomes a iPhone and then a new pair of jeans. And so as the big day gets closer and Santa needs to start to fill his sack in readiness for that sleigh ride in the sky I have been thinking about what I should give for Christmas this year.
Maybe I should support a child ..View Complete Post Thursday 13th December 2007, 15:44Improving "more" Peoples LivesImproving “more” Peoples Lives
Earlier this year I wrote a Blog about driving up the number of people we get into work each day. Because we understand better than most the transforming impact it can have on our customers lives when we are able to move them into work and independence I asked the question “was there anything else we could be doing to help one more person move into a job which could change their life?”
I asked the question because I know we are always looking for that next creative solution, that new partnership we can strike up whi..View Complete Post Thursday 15th November 2007, 17:49Sidharth My Hero
Four years ago Sidharth Misra was working in an administrative role in our St James office in St James as part of the Invest in Skills programme. Everyone who knows Sidharth knows him to be loyal, hardworking, earnest, focused and very caring.
However, here are some things you may not know about him;
• Sidharth was born in the Bihar region of India
• He came to the UK on Foreign Office Chevening Scholarship
• He studied to complete his Phd in Peace Studies at Hull University whilst he worked at A4e for three years.
• His fondest mem..View Complete Post Tuesday 16th October 2007, 10:31New Hospital DesignsNew Design
I apologise for returning to a theme which I have picked up before in these blogs. The design and layout of our offices has been a defining feature for A4e over the years. The bright colour, open plan, shared kitchen facilities, sofas, friendly style, open plan, fresh fruit, quality furnishings, notice boards and positive feel have all contributed to A4e creating a new place in the market for our customers.
Brilliant.
When we bring along our international visitors they always remark on our unique premises. And when we look at our competitors it.. View Complete Post Wednesday 10th October 2007, 21:12Holidays for our CustomersHolidays
Over the last few months I (like many of you) have had the chance to relax and enjoy your family during a holiday. Perhaps you took off on your own to pursue a sport or interest; friends of mine took holidays this year to pursue interests in beer, food, books, art, motor bikes, camping and an opportunity to help others.
I enjoyed a wonderful holiday with my family where we spent time together in a new environment and saw new things, walked in new places and returned home rejuvenated by the experience.
I have spent time in our centres and listening t..View Complete Post |
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