There are 337 Fire Departments in the State of Maine USA, and 94% (316 of them) are Volunteer Fire Departments (VFDs). For a population of roughly 1.3 million, that works out at about 1 Fire Department per 3,964 Mainers. In Wales we have approximately 153 Fire and Rescue Stations, all operated by paid professionals. For […]
Take me back to Alphonso Street (Dowlais) #ChurchillFellowship Post 15
Alphonso Street, Dowlais. Please excuse the obscure post title. Alphonso Street is a place in Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil. Remarkable and exciting (for me anyway) because it’s where a Spanish Community that traveled from the Basque Country settled in South Wales in the 1900’s. I’ll explain more in a minute. Mutual Benefits – cooperation between Wales […]
GSEF2018 Bilbao, that was brilliant! Now to get Wales to GSEF2020 Mexico City. #ChurchillFellowship Post 13
I’m still in Bilbao. Fizzing with enthusiasm after 3 days of the Global Social Economy Forum conference. Apologies if I’ve been spamming you with Tweets. There’s a mountain of information I need to digest and share, which I will try and do through a variety of routes. Just to set the scene, here are a […]
IMAGINE – everyone working towards a common aim, the benefit of Future Generations. #ChurchillFellowship Post12
This is a post for anyone interested in how; people, the place where they live, what happens there, private enterprise, public services and government, all co-exist in a way that is focussed on making sure future generations have something left for them to continue in that place. So, I’d like you to take a deep […]
Dig Hill 80, Wijtschate, Belgium. How mass collaboration changes everything.
Please have a look at this video from BBC Breakfast about the Dig Hill 80 an archaeology project at a World War One site in Wijtchate, near Ypres, Belgium. I visited the site two weeks ago and I’m still deeply affected (in a good way) by the experience. The video gives you a sense of what […]
Ikastola. Do Cooperative Schools Create a Cooperative Society? #ChurchillFellowship Post 7.
I should more beware of seeking simple answers to complex problems. One of my KLOE’s (Key Lines of Enquiry – yes, I confess to an audit background) on my trip to the Basque Country was to get a sense of: ‘how you develop a society where there is a widespread understanding of cooperatives, and the […]
GUREAK. A Basque Social Labour Inclusion Flagship, ‘Here with Ours’. Churchill Fellowship Post 5
I’ve visited 100’s of factories over the years, as part of previous jobs, and in my leisure time (ask my wife). Sometimes I’ve been accused of getting a bit over enthusiastic. I love seeing things being made. However, I’ve never been so greatly affected at an emotional level as I was when I visited GUREAK […]
Cooperative Entrepreneurs Boot Camp. Mondragon Team Academy. Churchill Fellowship Post 4
Yesterday I had a “I wish I was 18 again” experience… I was wishing I was 18 again so I could go to Bilbao and spend four years doing a degree in Entrepreneurial Leadership and Innovation at Mondragon University. I’m not kidding. This was all slightly unexpected, and I’ll cover that in the next post […]
Participatory Budgeting. Think carefully about ‘Going Brazilian’ and Silver Bullet Syndrome
Participatory budgeting is all the rage at the moment, but is the stampede for ‘Wales to be more like Brazil’ realistic? Participatory budgeting is big in Brazil by the way, and you can read about it here. The re-branding of Barry Island as ‘Barrybados’ was genius, but Cardiff-Copacabana-Bay might be a bit of a stretch. I do […]
The Secret Bed Transportation Squad and The Abominable NO Man/Woman
A long time ago I was part of an undercover squad that would move beds around at weekends and in the evenings. These weren’t ordinary beds. These were the sort of beds you see in hospitals (the really expensive ones), with mechanical parts that allow you to lie down, sit up or position yourself in […]
