The Words of the Huish Family
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The Words of the Huish Family |
What kind of person won the 2010 Grace Miller 2nd generation trophy this year?
As part of the Manchester region community this person played a leading role in rallying activities for youth membership in 2009 and 2010. One of these was a weekend visit to London including the HARP Sunday Service. As a European workshop attendee on several occasions, this person has networked successfully with other youth and established international friends. This person wanted others to be able to experience some of the things she had learned and this helped inspire her vision for the Northern England (a.k.a. Manchester) regional second generation workshop (workshop).
This person has been very largely responsible for the organizing of the workshop both in 2009 and 2010. In 2010 she took by far the leading role as others were less available than in the previous year. The workshops were considered to be a success by the participants and visiting speakers, the structural details and success of them can be attested to by the other staff involved.
Under any circumstances the organization of such an event is an achievement. However, the circumstances this person was confronted with were far from optimal. It was her A level (A2) year and she managed to fit in both. In addition, help from other communities did not materialize as promised. Furthermore it is seminal to appreciate that the Northern England region is small in membership and spread out geographically, so that little of the support and experience available in larger regions was available to her.
In summary, this person showed a self sacrificial attitude in potentially compromising her A levels for the sake of the public good (especially the workshop) and also commendable persistence in the face of adversity represented by limited support and working in a region better described as pioneering rather than established.
The winner of the 2010 Grace Miller award is Jo Spencer!
Here are a few words of gratitude from Jo:
This is a less on the spot speech I would like to share with you all for winning the Grace Miller award this year.
Wow! I won an award (smiles), me, how strange!
Firstly a big 'thank you' to my friends, family and all the other support that I've received whilst organizing the workshops in 2009 and 2010. Credit goes to them all as nothing could have been done without them and the idea which came from my sister… She started the ball rolling in 2009, finding out things for a workshop to go ahead.
We are a small church community in Manchester and all the blessed children are close, but we wanted to expand our horizons, you could say, and do something different, and the workshops were the best idea; we could be together and invite others to join in also. They were a success, so I heard. I'm not the sort of person to organize things to get credit, I just enjoy organizing things.
I recently came back from Chung Pyung in Korea having completed an intense, tiring, but amazing 40 day workshop. To receive this trophy after having had a wonderful experience just really tops off the summer. It'll be a memorable one.
Thank You again to you all, I hope everyone had a brilliant summer and hope to see you all in the near future.