[Mike Aaronson]

Pete, this is some of the most helpful stuff on AI that I’ve read; thank you!

[Mike Aaronson]

Hi, there, Pete; just checking that this gets through to you. I wanted to send a DM, rather than create a post; have I done the right thing?
Thanks, Mike

[Mike Aaronson]

CALL FOR PAPERS: Constructing Histories: exploring the potential of charity archives

On 1 July the Cadbury Research Library at the University of Birmingham is hosting a workshop on this topic. It’s aimed at aid workers as much as at academics and, to quote: “The Study Day aims to provide space for critical reflection of the activities of various charitable agencies throughout the 20th century and towards the present day.” Full details are in the attached document.

I’ll be presenting a paper on how the Cadbury archive has helped me with my research on Save the Children’s role during the Biafran War. Others will have similar stories to tell. I’m hoping this will lead into a wider oral history project, where current members of the organisation will be supported to collect histories from alumni, thus strengthening the organisation’s institutional memory.

I do hope I shall see some of you there; you’d be very welcome!

Mike

Save-the-Children-Study-Day-Call-for-Papers.pdf

[Mike Aaronson]

Here’s the latest blog post from the Cadbury Research Library team, this time on SCF’s work in India:

https://thesavethechildrenarchive.wordpress.com/2019/11/01/cyclones-refugees-and-nutrition-on-wheels-save-the-children-funds-work-in-india/

The previous one was on Save the Children’s initiatives in education work:

https://thesavethechildrenarchive.wordpress.com/2019/10/01/save-the-childrens-education-initiatives/

Do please pass on these links to anyone you think might be interested.

Mike

[Mike Aaronson]

I have written a reflective blog piece on the conference, which has just been published on the Transformation website, courtesy of the Editor, Mike Edwards (ex SC UK). Here is a link to it; please pass it on and if you are on social media; tweet it or whatever you do!

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/100-years-save-children-uk-what-have-we-learned/

The success of the conference owed a huge amount to those alumni who engaged with it, so a big thank you to all of you! There will be a proper report in due course, and the recordings of the sessions will remain permanently in the Save the Children archive. For now you can still access them on this site using the YouTube links below.

All the best,

Mike

[Mike Aaronson]

Thanks for this lovely post, Pete, and for being the white hot genius of technological revolution in the background (see first picture) who was responsible for ensuring that the recordings are now available to all – and, along with Leonie Lonton and Judy Lister, for stewarding throughout the event and making sure it ran to time.

I have posted some additional photos below showing the following Alumni, in rough order and not repeated when they recur: Peter Poore, John Seaman, Mark Bowden, Angela Penrose, Lewis Sida, Pete Smith, Carolyn Miller, Celia Petty, Rae McGrath, David Alexander, Hussein Mursal, Lizzy Berryman, Toby Porter. Lots of other lovely people as well, but too many to mention!

Mike

[Mike Aaronson]

The centenary conference is now just a few days away and I am getting quite excited about it! It’s taken us four years to get to this point, and inevitably there is a lot of last-minute activity.

The conference programme is available here: https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/conference100

You might also be interested in my blog post on the LSE website here: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2019/04/01/childrens-rights/ [Post script: it mistakenly points to the LSE Public Lecture flyer rather than the conference programme as given above.]

There will be a live stream of the conference; we are just finalising the details of the link but it will at the same location where you currently see Sky News on this site.

I hope everyone who wanted to do so has managed to register for the public lecture on Monday 8 April in the evening; in case not the site is here (I can’t guarantee there will still be places available):

http://www.lse.ac.uk/Events/2019/04/20190408t1830vSZT/Politics?utm_campaign=LSE+home&utm_content=1553880514&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

The public lecture will be live streamed and as far as I know will also be available after the event on the LSE website here: http://www.lse.ac.uk/lse-player?category=public+lectures+and+events

Many thanks again to all the Alumni who have contributed to making a success of this event!

Mike

[Mike Aaronson]

Thanks, Pete; that’s a really impressive obit – and I hope that one of the outcomes of our alumni site is that we will be able to pay tribute to our former colleagues in this way (for those who haven’t seen them, there are obituaries of Hugh Mackay, Andrew Hutchinson, and David Mepham elsewhere on this site).

Does anyone out there have any memories of Mary? According to the obituary she was engaged with the organisation into the 1990s, so perhaps someone had dealings with her and can add to our knowledge of her?

Mike

[Mike Aaronson]

Dear Harriet,

Many thanks for your comments. As it happens, I am in the early stages of thinking through the details of a conference to look at the role of big international NGOs, past, present, and future. But that won’t be until spring 2020. In the meantime, I would sugest to you and to all with an interest in this topic that the “Politics, Humanitarianism, and Children’s Rights” conference that we are organising at the LSE on 8/9 April will indeed be an opportunity to start thinking about the issues you raise by using Save the Children’s history as a vehicle for a critical reflection on where we are and where we all go from here.

The website advertising the conference is now live, here:

https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/conference100

I am also attaching the programme, which goes into more detail than the website. The names of the panellists will be added once they are confirmed.

There will be a limited number of places at the 2-day conference reserved for SC UK alumni. The number available will depend on the uptake from the various constituencies (SC UK staff, Sheffield and LSE students, Advisory Board members, the wider practitioner community, etc.) so I can’t guarantee that applications will be successful, but they will be taken on a first come, first served basis so I urge you to get quickly onto the Eventbrite website via the link above if you wish to attend. The closing date is midnight on 6 February.

The evening event on 8 April will be a bigger affair but the tickets will only become available a week before the event (that’s the way the LSE does it). You might want to set a calendar reminder and bookmark the link to the site, which is is here:

http://www.lse.ac.uk/Events/2019/04/20190408t1830vSZT/Politics

I look forward to seeing as many alumni as possible at one or both events!

Kind regards,

MikeSave-the-Children-Centenary-Conference-Programme-Names-to-be-Added.pdf

[Mike Aaronson]

It was great so see so much support for the Alumni Association, and we had a truly inspirational evening. Now it’s all about the follow-up! Here are some more photos, of Isobel and Pete presenting to an attentive audience… I now await with some trepidation the one of me in the funny hat…

Mike

[Mike Aaronson]

I agree with Bill – but you could maybe put a general health warning above the newsfeed just to make clear that we are not vouching for the accuracy of the items in it?

[Mike Aaronson]

Hi, everyone, and thanks to those who responded to my earlier post. As many more people have joined the Alumni Association in the last month I thought it worth issuing a reminder, particularly as we are still very much on the lookout for names of potential panelists and have also updated the brief for the panels as per the attached document.

We are particularly looking for panelists who can speak from the perspective of people in the countries where Save the Children carried out its overseas operations – they don’t need to have worked for us for long and maybe they have gone on to do different things outside the sector; they just need to have an interesting perspective that they are willing to share.

Do please let me know if you can think of suitable people and how we might contact them. We do hope to have some funding to bring people over.

Thanks,

Mike

Witness-Sessions-Brief.pdf

[Mike Aaronson]

Amazing to see so many people here! Fears about not being able to recognise people overcome by clever labelling…

[Mike Aaronson]

Just on the way to the pub!

[Mike Aaronson]

It’s at The Fence, 67-69 Cowcross St, from 1730: https://www.thefenceuk.co.uk/

[Author]

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