Interesting Times!

Monday 21 May 2007

One of my colleagues Zoë Stead, who is the Extended Schools Development Officer based at St Bartholomew's C of E Primary School sent me this to share with you...

"Dear Chris
I am a regular reader of your blog, and would like to bring a story about one of the parents in Leeds to your attention. Mandy Craven has won not only a Community Champions award for the local Leeds Adult Learners' Week awards, but also a regional ALW award for Yorkshire and Humberside awarded by NIACE. On Friday she went with her family to have an award presented to her in Scarborough, and tomorrow she is being presented with her local Community Champions award at the Town Hall. Mandy is a return to learn-er who went back into learning at the local Park Lane College in Armley and worked her way through GCSEs, a mature Access Course and finally a 2:1 degree in dietetics at LMU. During her University course her small daughter was diagnosed as autistic, and despite this huge disruption Mandy still completed her work placement and the full degree. Her work for other parents of autistic children is tireless, and she is also massively active in her local community - having set up her own independent parents' group (APPLE - Armley Primary Parents Learning and Enjoyment) and helping out with the Armley Fun Day, working for her school as a school governor and much much more. I have attached a small case study which summarises some of Mandy's work.
I think Mandy demonstrates that committed individuals CAN change things - her work with the APPLE group is tireless and she is always ahead of me in arranging activities, courses and events and widening her group to be all inclusive (she is arranging for interpreters so that Polish mums in the area can join in some of the courses).
Mandy is very modest and never seeks publicity for her work, but I thought that you would like to hear how one parent is helping provide services for parents and children.
Thanks
Zoe"

Thanks Zoe... there are some incredible people about and it's true that thoughtful, committed, passionate people change the world... indeed they are the only people who do! Has anyone else got a story to share about someone who is making a real difference here in Leeds?
Chris

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Brilliant Quotes!

“I must accept life unconditionally. Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition.”
Margaret Lee Runbeck

“Happiness is not in our circumstances but in ourselves. It is not something we see, like a rainbow, or feel, like the heat of a fire. Happiness is something we are.”
John B. Sheerin

“Most true happiness comes from one's inner life, from the disposition of the mind and soul. Admittedly, a good inner life is difficult to achieve, especially in these trying times. It takes reflection and contemplation and self-discipline.”
William L Shirer

“The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase: If you pursue happiness you'll never find it.”
C.P. Snow

“Doubly rich is the man still boyish enough to play, laugh and sing as he carries and emanates sunshine along a friendly road.”
Charles R. Wiers

"Faith is not a shelter against difficulties, but belief in the face of all contradictions."
Paul Tournier

"Convictions are the mainsprings of action, the driving powers of life. What a man lives are his convictions."
Francis C. Kelley

"To do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger; but jump in, and scramble through as well as we can."
Sydney Smith

"It is often just as sacred to laugh as it is to pray"
Charles R. Swindoll

"Things never go so well that one should have no fear; and never so ill that one should have no hope"
Turkish proverb

"Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself"
Chinese proverb

"Don't bother to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."
William Faulkner

"In times of change, learners will inherit the earth,while the learned will find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists"
Eric Hoffer

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."
John Lennon

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation."
Robert F. Kennedy

"The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems."
Mahatma Gandhi

"Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way."
Abraham Lincoln

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Martin Luther King Jr.

"There is nothing in life so difficult that it cannot be overcome. This faith can move mountains. It can change people. It can change the world."
Norman Vincent Peale

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
Albert Einstein

"Life isn't measured by the number of breaths we take but the moments that take our breath away."
Anonymous

"Patience and perseverence have a magical affect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."
John Quincy Adams

"Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and woman to win them."
Ralph Waldo Emerson