There’s a lot been said about the benefits of the autonomous vehicles we’ve been promised in the next few years; on-demand use, energy efficiency, less congestion, improved safety, high reliability etc etc. But I’m not so sure… The ‘reliability thing’ (never breaking down and leaving you stranded on the roadside) has two negatives in my […]
Volunteer Fire Departments and Community Building. Neighbours helping Neighbours. #ChurchillFellowship Post 16
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 […]
How many; Post Offices, Libraries and Volunteer Fire Departments = Socialist Utopia? #ChurchillFellowship Post 14
In September I drove over 2,250 miles around Maine, Massachusetts, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (in an economical compact car) . It was part of my Churchill Fellowship travels. I think its fair to say I saw a lot of small towns along the NE Coast of the USA and Canada. One thing that […]
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 […]
Over 50’s Social Entrepreneurs Bootcamp. Use voluntary early retirement payoffs for something different. #ChurchillFellowship Post10
This might be my daftest idea yet. If it’s as obvious as I think, why isn’t it already happening in Wales? Here’s the idea. An intensive University Degree Course, aimed at the over 50’s. On the course the participants will; create real businesses, with a strong social purpose (cooperatives if possible), and get a degree out […]
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 […]
