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A lifetime ambition achieved
ByJohn MayToday was the day I did something I thought I’d never get to do. Twenty years ago I eschewed the stage to become a teacher, so dashing any hope of performing at the National Theatre. But today, as part of the UK Career Academy Foundation’s “Capital Experience”, we took over the Olivier stage and auditorium…
Plenty to eat in Hungary
ByJohn MayTerry Leahy must love Hungary. Wherever I looked this weekend, I could see either an enormous Tesco or a billboard telling me where the nearest enormous Tesco could be found. I was in Sümeg, in the westernmost county of the country, about an hour north of lake Balaton, for the annual gathering of the Friends…
Fuelling children’s imagination
ByJohn MayI was listening to the always wonderful Simon Mayo’s BBC Radio 2 podcast this morning on my way to work. He was talking to the poet Roger McGough. Roger was bemoaning the closure of libraries around the country, particularly those in schools. Computers may give children instant access to information, he argued, but they don’t…
The work happens in the middle
ByJohn MayI have been revisiting The History of Youth Work in Europe, the remarkable series developed over a decade through the partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe. The seventh and final volume is co-edited by my good friend Howard Williamson, alongside Tanya Basarab, and it is one of those books that prompts…
A Night with Oxfordshire Scouts
ByJohn MayThis evening, I had the enormous pleasure of joining Oxfordshire Scouts for their annual Adult Awards Dinner, held at the beautifully appointed Bicester Hotel and Spa. Nestled just outside Chesterton, it’s a rather lovely setting – part country retreat, part hive of activity – and it proved the perfect venue for a night of celebration,…
Cats and dogs
ByJohn MayWell, it certainly rained yesterday. The site changed from being a pleasant country park to near Glastonbury-like muddy slush. It got colder and colder and we began to worry about whether we’d be able to get things ready in time. Late at night, 77 Saudi Arabians arrived without tents or sleeping bags. The wind was…
