Interesting Times!

Wednesday, 31 January 2007

I spent most of today on a train... a very nice train and of course you can get a lot of work done when you spend six hours on a train...

I went to the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham to do the after-lunch slot at the ContinYou 'Learning Families - Healthy Communities' Conference. It was a fantastic opportunity to network and share... they had a great lunch... and I did a great session!

There were some amazing people there with wonderful sories to tell. The SHARE School of the Year was Robin Hood Infant and Nursery School,a wonderful little school from Nottingham, and the SHARE Authority of the Year was the Isle of Wight, clearly somewhere doing interesting things... Leeds won that award last year!

What were my highlights of a great day with some brilliant people...

I met Roy Smoothe, a charismatic young man, who produces these materials called Smoothe Mixx, a blend of inspirational, motivational and educational messages to music.
I met Neil Solo, another inspirational character, who works for Barnardo's and runs an African Caribbean Fatherhood Training Programme.
I found out about ContinYou's Young Leaders in the Community Programme which links to the National College for School Leadership's Student Leadership Programme to work with students of today to develop leaders of the future.
I got hold of a copy of the CEDC's 'It's a man thing! Reading together' pack which aims to encourages dads to read with their children.
I discovered The Basic Skills Agency's 'Learning with Grandparents' programme which encourages grandparents to actively support their grandchildren's learning.
I also met Julia Damassa, a storyshaper. Storyshaping is an interactive way of making stories and sharing them out loudusing storyshapesa nd handshapes. But it was actually Julia's t-shirt that attracted me and I'll tell you what it said when Julia sends me one.

All in all it was a great day... a day when you realise that all we have to do to release the magic is to SHARE! Thank you ContinYou for everything I learned today.
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