Thursday 25 October 2012

Harnessing the Spirit of the Olympic Legacy 2012

Harnessing the Spirit of the Olympic Legacy 2012

What is Legacy? - Something handed down by predecessor The British Business Embassy, Global Business Summit on Education at Lancaster House was a brilliant, stimulating event and held during the wonderful London Olympic and Paralympics Games; made it just great! The legacy of 2012 must be secured and in order to do that realistically, cost-effectively and in as inclusive a way as possible it is essential that the ideas build on what most moved people across the UK and praise is given to the Olympic Team, the Olympic Board, the Mayor, LOCOG and the ODA. Momentum must not be lost.
We found this summer of summers to be one of the best ever, simply put, the nation was lifted, national events like this kept people smiling, people were talking and people had hope in their hearts that the world is a good place to be, the only place we have to live!! From the beginning when London won the games to the moment the Torch was lit, little expectation of what we were to witness in London, it did not dawn on us at first, but just got better and better and after Danny Boyle’s breathtaking opening ceremony, it was WOW!! That was a Great British statement that we saw.

I, Sue, was born and raised in Islington and having worked with so many teenagers during my long education career there and now have my own education enterprise and charity, www.egar.co.uk and www.letsgettalking.org we must offer huge hope to the ‘young people’ not only in London but throughout the UK. Inspiring a generation rung true, children were swimming, jumping, running and rowing to their hearts content and showered us with a thousand smiles as they followed the paths of the great Champions of it all, we did not want it to end and surprisingly, felt a grieving process taking place when it did. It is imperative this is seen as a UK initiative and no better example than the immense emotional response to the Torch Relay in diverse communities across the UK.

• Taking the torch back – local ambassadors and champions especially Olympians and Paralympians. Keeping the spirit of Britain 2012 burning! Local events for all ages and backgrounds to mix and understand more about each other, our unique mix of cultures and our amazing depth of knowledge, skills and achievements working together.

• The re-invention of volunteering – I, Ann, am a Games Maker, a Business Coach and Mentor and Leader of Damsels in Success www.lookingforchange.co.uk and a part of a fabulous family of ‘Games Makers’. With so many people literally lost now that their volunteering is completed and looking for chances to find the same buzz. In addition there are many people who are regretting not having taken part. Plan a schedule of upcoming events across the country and get a ‘task force’ of ambassadors who can support local communities in organising ‘supporter networks’ where individuals who would not ‘volunteer’ to do a weekly/monthly commitment can do either drop in volunteering or event volunteering. Talk up the benefits to them in tangible terms by getting existing volunteers to do YouTube videos about how they have grown and benefited from the experience. Encouraging Government to continue to fund the sporting legacy and to develop the work of volunteering in the UK.

 • People talking to each other – creating opportunities to talk – like a flash mob idea or creating programmes which are community based just to get people together to talk about what is good and share experiences – don’t focus just on disadvantaged – many sections of society feel isolated and encouraging us to rally around what is great in our country counters the media gloom. Let’s hunt out ‘the good stuff’ – a PR and media campaign promoting positive news around our shared values.

• The powers of female role models – young women are bombarded with the outputs of celebrity-centred media. Give them something else – use the success of the women in Team GB in 2012 and the powerful stories of the women who made it possible to get young women thinking about options not based on appearance alone. Celebrate the history of women in shaping our society – business, sport and politics.

• The Paralympics raised the attitude toward disabled people, this needs to centred on and moved even more forward in school work, communities, youth services, with messages of “How long will it take for you to see me and not my disability”!

• At Award-winning EGAR and Lets Get Talking we positively embrace ‘Talkshops’ intervention and prevention programmes with our learning method that support the health and well-being of young people and to reduce the likelihood of them being involved in crime and violence. A particular focus is planned on those young people who find themselves in the Not in Employment, Education or Training category (NEET) and also young offenders. Let’s create more opportunities to support young people to talk about their lives, their hopes and their dreams.

 • Young people loved the Olympics and the Paralympics; they openly embraced the ‘Champions’ such as Usain Bolt, Jessica Ennis, Mo Farrah and Tom Daley to name a few, who were such an inspiration to the hopeless lives they are living. They enjoy our ‘Talkshops’ discussing the champions and what makes a champion and using the photos to talk through was a great media and proved extremely optimistic for young people to engage and focus via communication, never to be undervalued, helping them with decisions, talking and listening skills, negotiation, team work, flourishing and brain, thought and reasoning development. • A legacy is the Park itself, a wonderful feat of engineering to be adored and ‘used’ even by schools and youth services, along with the network infrastructure that must carry on and develop even more technological advances along with social media which drove much of the communication and conversation speedily around the globe.

• Driving change to support small businesses to receive investment and mentoring will be a legacy in itself as we know and would appreciate. This nurturing of support and growth helps to build a brilliant future for the UK; small companies are the strength of this country and need to be valued far more than they are. So, now the triumphs are over, let us not get to complacent, there is much work and many strands to tackle along with vibrant visions for our futures and if we can be a part of that ongoing movement, do get in touch with us.

Kindest Regards,

Sue Scott-Horne – Teenager’s Champion
Director
Award-winning EGAR Educational Games And Resources
Founder Let’s Get Talking Charity

Ann Rennie Business Coach – Mentor Ambassador
Games Maker Leader Damsels in Success