Undercover, Voluntary Action East Renfrewshire, Barrhead, February 24th
February 24th 2010
Undercover, Voluntary Action East Renfrewshire, Barrhead
On a snow swept day in February which increasingly turned into a blizzard in Barrhead, A Scottish Wave of Change held a joint event with Make a Splash! In the attractive, spacious offices of Undercover, Voluntary Action East Renfrewshire, a small group of participants came together in the warmth inside to discuss stories, values and change.
1. Introduction
Gerry Hassan introduced A Scottish Wave of Change and the aims of the evening’s discussion – linking Olympic principles and values to Scotland’s past present and future and opening up ideas of how our future might be.
2. Warm up exercise
Barbara Chambers invited the group to talk in twos and threes sharing stories of the family values they were brought up with. Each dyad or triad was to introduce each other and share a summary of their story of their formative years and their values system. Group had originated from Stornoway to Portpatrick, New Zealand, Dingwall and a travelling community. Family values shared were:
• Openness
• Honesty
• Faith
• Supportive
• Family support
• Be interested
• Tact
• Modelling behaviour
• Do unto others…
• Importance of trees
• Hope for all
• Life is for enjoying self
• Make ends meet
3. Past present future exercise
The group was invited to consider aspects of Scotland’s past present and future
Past
Independent
Fight for freedom
Re-use, hand-me-downs
Dark, black, polluted
Dinosaurs
Diaspora
Distribution of ideas and people
Hard work – land, industry
Changing place
Community: no diversity
Hierarchy
Hand-knitted
Thrifty to be generous
Present
United
Diversity without community
Throw-away
Plenty
Tough, poor, divided
Reinvention – look to past to inspire/improve
Tradition, heritage, foundation (with some conflict merging past and future)
Ideas of independence
Today’s dinosaurs (political parties, trade unions)
Generic/bland
Strong identity – kilt, ‘branded’
Flux
Culture of change, pace of change
Future
‘Trumpton on Sea’ – Donald Trump/planning/’Clearances’
Independent?
Inclusive
World player
Sustainability
Community with diversity
Bermuda (with rain!)
Identity (brand) competition
Connections
Less divided
More windmills or solar power
Collaboration
Rural strength – small communities
Natural resources
3. Olympic principles discussion
The seven Olympic and Paralympic principles were shared and the group invited to discuss these and come to some consensus of how relevant these are to Scotland today and whether these or other values/principles might guide our future.
Accepted
Seven values/principles in the round make sense
Need all of them – the balance of the set
Replacement
The one that means least is ‘excellence’
Don’t like sense of competition, perfection
Would prefer to replace with ‘aspire’ – sense of doing one’s best rather than having to be the best
Addition
Values that were considered meaningful to a positive future:
• Listening
• Nurturing
• Sharing
What ONE thing could make life better:
For you
• to be able to have a faith without persecution
• to respect everyone
• more living space
• community transport
• free bus pass before I’m 60
• more time and resources to do the things I’d like to do
• shape my own future
For your local community
• to have a shared faith
• to have true community with respect
• better education and amenities
• an active voice
• support for local activities in resources, venues etc
• more info/campaigns to get people involved in their community and local activities
• more meaningful say, community values
For Scotland
• a Christian nation – knows its faith
• a place where politics is democratic – the people have a say, they are the experts (live in their community
• better education and housing
• true participation in democracy
• better recognition of the value and benefit of cultural activity
• affordable, healthy food, instead of moaning about obesity: make good food cheaper and better quality
• stay united
Values
Shared Olympic and Paralymic values and asked which are relevant to Scotland today – or come up with own:
• Christian – values will come from the Bible
• Social justice, pluralism
• Courage to try something new! Take a risk!
• Discipline – to achieve these values in life
• All are very relevant – perhaps education needs highlighted
Tell us your thoughts
Participants invited to use prompts to share their thoughts and stories. Prompts were: The Olympic and Paralympic values and Scotland today; Your hopes for Scotland’s future; Your experience of life in Scotland:
• I think the values and principles of the Games are relevant to Scotland
• A more equal society for all
• Provide equal opportunities
• Stay united
• Not all of the past was bad!
• I think we need to respect the traditions of Scotland and nurture them more – especially the grassroots ones as if Scotland doesn’t follow through on this task, the diasport will wither!
• I aspire to Scotland being an inclusive society
• I feel the current Olympic values do not portray a positive way forward – too competitive
• A Christian nation: I would love to live in a Scotland where God is at the centre. At the centre of our families, communities and society; with all actions being undertaken through prayer and seeking God’s guidance and his will. I believe that this would enable a society/Scotland of shared values.