My
BRIT 2012 mile blog; sharing encounters and memories from every county of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland throughout 2012
2012
BRIT miles with a spinal cord injury; the equivalent of 310 marathon distances
in 330 days to support young people post-trauma
Thanks
to everyone for supporting me on my toughest challenge
This
month’s BRIT 2012 mile walk is November in the West Midlands
Up at half past two this morning
due to a painful bladder infection, I set off early for Birmingham.
My first engagement of the day
was with Jaguar Land Rover http://www.landrover.com/gb/en/lr/ who kindly gifts my
Adaptive Hand-controlled BRIT Range Rover. It was a pleasure to see Peter
Roper-Hall from Jaguar Land Rover who has been a tremendous supporter and
friend over the last two years and to meet April Wickens, Community Relations
Officer at Jaguar Land Rover’s Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility
department.
We had a great meeting and I am
delighted that April and Peter are going to continue to support BRIT and me. I
value the support from all the businesses and individuals who are behind BRIT
and I; they are all very special relationships and I am grateful for the
gifted, voluntary and financial support that BRIT receives.
I then headed on to Golden
Hillock School http://www.goldenhillock.bham.sch.uk/
Golden Hillock School has been serving the community of Sparkhill in Birmingham
since 1910. In their community there are many different cultures; many languages
are spoken and people live and worship in different ways. They celebrate this
variety, and are proud to see this reflected in their school. At Golden
Hillock, they learn together with respect and understanding. Staff and
Governors are committed to providing a high quality of education for their
students. Like parents, they want the very best for children; because of this
they insist on high standards of work and behaviour and they work closely with
parents to see that this is maintained.
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| Pre-walk and a warm welcome at Golden Hillock School |
Their vision for Golden
Hillock is:
To build and sustain a community
which loves learning,
promotes and celebrates
achievement,
cares for and respects all its
members,
promotes health, well-being and
creativity,
and collaborates with others to
achieve shared goals.
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| A very happy day with young people from Birmingham & the Fire & Rescue Service |
A community which loves learning
– a community engaging its members through exciting and appropriate curricula
and learning styles using up-to-date technologies – a community which has
ownership of its learning – a community which is ‘Learning Together’.
 |
| Super support from the West Midlands Fire & Rescue Service |
A community which promotes and
celebrates achievement – a community raising academic standards and developing
personal skills so as to further the aspirations, life-chances and prosperity
of individuals and the community, thereby countering deprivation and negative
social pressures.
 |
| Spending time with young people at Golden Hillock School, Birmingham |
A community which cares for and
respects all its members – a community of inclusive practice - a community that
is confident in working with people of different abilities, lifestyles, needs,
cultures and races – a community that celebrates its diversity exploiting its
richness to the benefit of itself and as an example to others.
 |
| The BRIT Fire fighters Jacket being worn at Golden Hillock School, Birmingham |
A community which promotes
health, creativity and well-being – a community that understands the importance
of healthy lifestyles – a community of imagination, that is able to take risks
and has the opportunities to discover talents - a community that develops
rational and critical thought – a community that grows rounded and balanced,
but with a creative energy and confidence of expression to lead change – a
community that values its members’ personal, social and spiritual nature.
.jpg) |
| With some of the super young people at Golden Hillock School in Birmingham on Day 295 of my BRIT 2012 mile walk (2) |
A community which collaborates
with other institutions and services to fulfill shared goals – a community engaging
with local schools and colleges, and providing multi-service approaches and
extended school opportunities to support and extend its members in life-long
learning and the promotion of well-being – a community that broadens horizons
to enrich personal experiences and develops national and international
awareness.
Golden Hillock School - a
community which is: ‘Building Futures through Learning Together’
I had a super time at Golden
Hillock School and I was delighted to be joined by many of their disabled
students and wheelchair users who joined me on my BRIT 2012 mile walk.
I thoroughly enjoyed talking to
many of the students and it was great to be joined and supported by Fire
Fighters from West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service. If you are considering a
career in the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service, please click here; http://www.wmfs.net/
My time at the Golden Hillock
School was a very special occasion as I was joined by two of BRIT’s Partner
Charities; The Children’s Trust http://www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk/ and Mosaic http://www.mosaicnetwork.co.uk/en_gb/portal
One of my BRIT Advisors and the
Chief Executive of Mosaic, Jonathan Freeman, had travelled up from London to be
with me on the visit which had been organised by his staff; it was great to see
Jonathan again.
Mosaic inspires young people from deprived communities to realise their talents and potential.
Founded by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2007, Mosaic’s mission is to create opportunities
for young people of all backgrounds growing up in our most deprived
communities, championed by Muslims and harnessing the power of positive
thinking. In doing so, they also aim to increase opportunities for
understanding between people of different backgrounds.
They believe that positive aspirations are crucial for young people’s
future success; what people aspire to do as a child is linked to what they do
later in life and that low aspirations lead to poor academic attainment and
professional achievement. For many young people an ‘aspirations-attainment gap’
is caused by a lack of information about how they can realise they ambitions,
by too few role models and a lack of contacts in professional roles.
Mosaic believe that by linking young people with inspirational role models,
this will help to boost their confidence, self-efficacy and long-term
employability. Their mentoring programmes are tailored to the needs of
particular groups:
Primary School students –their mentors inspire young
girls and their mothers to pursue their education and consider the careers
available to them.
Secondary School students – group mentoring is
supplemented with World of Work visits and exciting presentations. Students
also have access to their Enterprise Challenge competition, and an intensive
programme for mentees demonstrating leadership potential.
Young ex-offenders – one-to-one mentoring support is
provided for those making the difficult transition from prison back to their
communities, coupled with access to employability programmes.
Mosaic needs to raise £1 million a year to be able to continue to support
young people from the most deprived communities in the UK and abroad. Their
supporters are a mixture of individuals, companies and grant-making
organisations - and without their generosity, they could not deliver their
mentoring programmes year in, year out. To find out more about becoming a
Mosaic supporter, please click here; http://www.mosaicnetwork.co.uk/en_gb/portal/get-involved
Young people will succeed if they are supported by
those who are already successful.
The Children's Trust, Tadworth provides
care, education, therapy and rehabilitation to children with multiple
disabilities, complex health needs and acquired brain injury.
Their services include the UK's
largest paediatric brain injury rehabilitation centre, support in the community
for children and young people with acquired brain injury (ABI), The School for
Profound Education for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties
(PMLD), short breaks, transitional, palliative and long-term nursing care.
I am honoured to be a Vice-President
of The Children’s Trust and I was delighted that Mosaic Chief Executive,
Jonathan Freeman, agreed that any money raised by the students or public
attending my talk later in the evening for Mosaic would be split between both
charities.
I had a super time at the school
and am grateful to the Mosaic staff and the staff and students of Golden
Hillock School for hosting me and inviting me into their community so warmly.
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| The Coat of Arms of the City of Birmingham |
From the school I then travelled
into central Birmingham to an evening for Mosaic in the presence of the Lord
Mayor of Birmingham, Councillor John Lines http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/lordmayor
and his wife, Kathleen.
Where I can I do my utmost to
support the charities I have official roles with and also the charities that
BRIT shares partnerships with. Tonight was an opportunity to thank Mosaic for
their partnership with BRIT and to explain to an audience of distinguished
guests including many Mosaic supporters how we aspire to work together and the
need to support and mentor young people.
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| Supporting HRH The Prince of Wales' Mosaic Charity in Birmingham following my BRIT walk |
It was a pleasure for me to meet
Muslim business leaders and Mosaic Mentors and to meet young Muslim students
who have benefitted from the Mosaic Charity Mentoring Programme.
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| A very happy moment with young Muslim students who have benefitted from the Mosaic Charity Mentoring Programme |
I thoroughly enjoyed the evening
and finished a very long Day 295 with 178 miles to go.
Best wishes,
Phil