GFTU BGCM 2019 Minutes

the world’s eyes were on the East End of London. I had a hip replacement. I

could not watch the Games. The BBC’s coverage was extraordinary. I had

done a lot of work quietly, but sometimes you have got to be the observant and

invisible bystander. But I thought that the Inspiring a Generation would see us

start to rebalance the imbalance, as austerity had kicked in and I saw the

issues spike. We are now seven years in from that pledge. The Olympic Park,

the East End of London, London, the rest of the country, is still asking itself

what does Inspiring a Generation mean?

Lives lost means we increase our work and the intensity of what is required. I believe the single biggest thing that we need is a 21 st century Youth Service, so

we termed it a social coach. What does a social coach do? A social coach

brings an authentic relationship of trust, confidence and respect and is

reflective of a whole society approach. Yes, you can go to university, but you

might be a mentor, you might be a school teacher, you might be a policeman,

you might be a janitor, you might be anybody. That is a social coach. That is

intergenerational. Those were the people who helped develop me and those

were the people I saw in post-Apartheid South Africa in a township where they

did extraordinary things with extraordinary enthusiasm with very little grant. I

believe the National Lottery will either be the best or very worst thing that ever

happened to us, because I know communities who have said, “If I don’t get a

grant, I’m not doing anything, especially at the expense of those who are

getting a grant”, but we do get the most Lottery tickets bought from those very

same communities. It might be you!

So we engage, we equip and we empower. The social coaches, we have now

delivered multi-sectorally from police to teachers to communities, but you will

not have heard of it. We presented it to the last three Governments. I will not

tell you what policies it has inspired, because I have learnt you have got to be

sometimes within the political favour or you have got to be in the groove of who

you might be on the roll of that political rollercoaster with, but we have to

always remain authentic. Telling the truth to power is not a crime, it is not an

offence and you are able to provide that value in all that you do and all that you

can do. Those rings are powerful, because we have a world within our own

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