Weekly Meeting

21^st November 2019 Life Education Nottingham – Guy Molyneux

Prior to the speaker presentation a cheque was presented to Sian Ashburn who is putting on a Dance Show to raise awareness of mental health issues called “Sincerity is Scary” with a further 20 pupils from her school.  Sian has appeared twice in The Vales got Talent and has suffered herself from Anxiety over a period of 4 years, so is very conscious of the mental pressures facing students of her age and wants to do something to help.

Bill Banner set the scene for Guy’s presentation reminding us of the initial instant 30 years ago when Prince Charles visited Australia and came across charity work that he brought back to the UK attempting to set up a similar project through The Princes Trust. Eventually adopted by Rotary as Life Education, which Bill, Stephen Kitch, Roy Parsons and Earnest Pappin brought to our District in 1995.

Guy then picked up the baton, explaining that as a charity fund raising and depleting school budgets brought about the amalgamation with Coram on a National level.  Coram being the oldest children’s charity in the UK, dealing with fostering and adoption, so making Rotary Life education the Education arm of Coram. It is now international with Shetlands, Finland, Australia and New Zealand all operational.

They still use their “Life Buses” to take into schools with Harold the Giraffe still playing a major role, but fluffy and more colourful now. They also have the ‘Life Space’ tent, as an alternative, but there have been many changes over the years, with the SCARF programme, which offers 270 lesson plans for teachers to follow up on the fantastic work that Guy and his colleagues do. Safety Caring Achievement Resilience Friendship being built on the foundations of the 5 steps: 1.connect with other people 2.Physical activity 3. Learn new skills 4. Give to others 5. Pay attention to the present moment (Mindfulness)

Another important development is “Family Learning” with parents, proving successful in relating some of the modern health issues: sugar based drinks, junk food, exercise, mental health and inevitably, the internet.

It’s easy to see why this project is successful and still developing with people like Guy connecting with children in such an informative, enthusiastic and inspiring way.

Our continued support was demonstrated with a cheque for £1000 presented to Guy at the conclusion of his excellent presentation.                                                                                                 AR