[Bill:] The child victims of war. Images that are now a daily occurrence in dozens of countries across the world. Millions of young lives have now been devastated. It's all placing an intolerable burden on charities like Save The Children who say far too often the international community is not pulling its weight. In Somalia the combination of war and famine claimed a quarter of a million children dead last year. Today in the capital Mogadishu a hundred thousand more driven from their homes, are dependent on food aid for survival. In Bosnia the war has been especially cruel on children. One estimate puts the number dead in Sarajevo alone at twelve hundred and some fourteen thousand wounded. In Northern Iraq over a hundred thousand Kurdish children are still unable to return to their homes after being forced to flee Saddam Hussein's army. Many are living in appalling conditions without clean water and proper sanitation. In Mozambique, more than two hundred thousand have been orphaned or separated from their families. Three quarters of a million children have been forced to seek refuge in neighbouring countries, others are disabled for life. In the West African republic of Liberia where eighty five per cent of the population have been displaced, children, some as young as eight are being placed in secure compounds to prevent them from going back to fight for the waring factions.
[speaker002:] Children who've been given at a far too tender age, the terrible power of holding a loaded gun and be able to command everything in sight as a result of that, have actually got to get back and rediscover childhood.
[Bill:] Lost innocence, a pattern that's sadly being repeated across the world's battle grounds. Bill Hamilton, B B C News.
[Mike:] Can anybody fail, fail to be moved by those pictures. Children really are under fire throughout the world, literally and metaphorically. Even in those countries where the, the real firing has stopped, there's the aftermath. Many of the wars, most of the wars, are civil wars... and you know the bitterness, the lingering bitterness after a civil war doesn't help the children who have suffered from that war. Also just think of the troubles in our own Northern Ireland, right on our doorstep. Think of the problems that children have there. But even where there is no real warfare, man's inhumanity to children has caused serious deprivations of rights... and of benefits generally. Food, health... support, education, kindness,... care, affection. These are all... features of a child's life that they need. Otherwise children, without those, grow up physically,... psychologically... damaged and the purpose of Save The Children Fund... is to work to give children the chance of a better childhood... and the chance to grow up to be adults who won't repeat the sins... of their forefathers. Your Royal Highness, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this annual public meeting in this, our seventy forth anniversary year. Some of you er may take it amiss if I were to describe you as veterans... but my by contrast, this is my first annual public meeting and not just as chairman. I've never had the opportunity to attend one before. Although I have been a long time supporter. Today, her Royal Highness... Nick Hinton and his team will talk about the very impressive work... and the tasks that lie ahead in the fifty countries and the U K in which Save The Children operates. I I will talk about the fund as I found it in my capacity as a very recent chairman. A fresh pair of eyes. A fresh pair of eyes of a relative new boy... and the first thing I noticed was my family's reaction. It was as though they were saying to me, at last you're doing something worthwhile and respectable. My first impression was how well everything runs... and in... saying that I really am paying a tribute... to previous chairmen. For whose efforts on behalf of the fund I I really do thank them and I'd like to make a special thanks... to Lady Chandler, Lucy stepped into the breach as acting chair about a year ago and since I was elected has done a tremendous amount to help me settle in quickly and I hope effectively. I'm most impressed also with the hard work, the dedication and the, the sheer efficiency of the director general and his top team. I was talking, yesterday as it happened, to the chairman of another very large children's charity and I asked him how his, the spend, the annual spend of that charity was distributed between... the work of the charity, the purpose of the charity... and the support functions and he said about eighty twenty. Now I have to tell you that last year... we raised a hundred and thirteen million pounds... and of that... over ninety per cent, that's a hundred and four million pounds were actually spent on projects for children and I'm very proud of that ratio indeed... and I think it ought to give you, the raisers of money, a great deal of comfort because for a fund with two headquarters buildings... which operates all over the world... this is a distribution of funds of which to be proud. Now I've met... not many yet, but very impressive, a few very impressive field workers. I've not had a chance to visit abroad yet but I think I've got two visits booked next year to various remoter parts of the world, but I've met some who are on leave, recuperating... from the circumstances they've been in, sometimes illness, sometimes just the sheer tension of being under fire. Each country presents its challenges, some physically demanding, others morale sapping, there is disease, there are primitive conditions in which to live and work. I'd just like to mention one, Somalia. I'd like to pay a tribute to the courage of our people there, both the indigenous er workers for the fund and the ex-pats who've gone out there to lead that work. We're in touch with them every day, they refuse to leave and we're very grateful to them for their efforts. But those in the field, the front line... could not continue without... the less than glamorous work that has to be carried out back... here in H Q. They also serve, who work in our offices, collect our money, keep our accounts... make sure the administration is working well. Produce the educational material which is superb. And I visited both offices and I'm most impressed by the cheerful dedication and sheer hard work and efficiency of the people I've met. But the people I want to thank most... are you... the volunteers. People without whom we wouldn't be able to raise so much money. It's your tireless efforts as fund raisers that enable Save The Children Fund to survive. If children are to be helped... in the U K and throughout the world then we all have to succeed in persuading people to donate. Those who work in our shops, those who arrange events, those who collect... great and small sums of money from companies and from individuals, are all playing a vital part in the continuing work of Save The Children Fund. I think we call er the volunteers, or those who run the shops anyway, Sally's Army and that is in my way a tribute to Sally Barker who's chairman of our branches advisory committee and does so much to make sure... that the money does get raised in the field. It's a chairman's very pleasant duty to thank you all. As you will know... we're given large sums of money by governments, the E E C and others, to work in countries in need, to tackle specific tasks. But the money that comes in that way... never fully covers the expenses involved... in supporting our efforts in those countries. The money you raise therefore is extremely important... in enabling the S C F to tackle major, major tasks. Without that money... we would not carry on and we could not carry out our work effectively. I therefore am thanking you not, not just as a courtesy but in order to convey just how important your efforts are and just how important the seventy fifth birthday appeal is going to be next year. If that succeeds we really will be able to maintain the momentum of the fund and the work that it does throughout the world. If we don't raise our targets, we shall stumble... but I'm absolutely confident from all the news that comes in from the field, that we shall raise our targets. I know that plans are well advanced throughout the country for a massive collecting effort next year and I want to wish all of you involved all the very best in your efforts... as we approach these days, that's to say donation days, in the coming year. I'm sure your spirits will rise to the occasion... like the balloons in our logos and the banners at the side here. Rise... to the occasion. But I cannot finish er without also thanking... most warmly, our supreme supporter... in the task of fund raising, her Royal Highness. I know you will agree with me, that her example is inspiring to us all. Save The Children Fund and children throughout the world have every reason to be grateful for her unstinting efforts.
[speaker004:] [clapping]
[Mike:] It's not often a chairman has the chance to thank her Royal Highness publicly and I do so with pleasure now. And now... to illustrate aspects of Save The Children's Fund and its long term health work, here now is a short video... shot on location in Lesotho in Southern Africa... and in Pennywell in Sunderland. Thank you.
[speaker004:] [clapping]
[speaker005:] Save The Children's work is not just about dealing with emergency situations. It is mainly concerned with long term development. Lesotho is one of the poorest countries in the world, surrounded by South Africa it has few of its own resources. In places like this poor water supply and sanitation is a major cause of death. Contaminated water kills more people than any poison. Nine thousand children a day die from one of six preventable diseases around the world. To combat these problems needs a concerted and effective approach. Lesotho is one of eight countries across the globe in which Save The Children has introduced the riders for health project, working with the ministry of health, a successful programme has been developed which provides primary health care to almost five times as many villages that could have been reached on foot.
[speaker004:] The Save The Children Fund programme with the motorcycles has... made a very big difference to the number of visits that health assistants can make to villages. Before they had the motorcycles they had to walk which meant a lot of travelling time and then less time at the, each village when they arrived. Now with the motorcycles they... spend less time travelling and they can spend more time in the villages doing their educational and health work. We found that the number of visits that... on average that they can do has increased by four or five hundred per cent. In fact they couldn't really do their job without the motorcycles.
[speaker005:] Previous attempts to start the project before nineteen ninety had failed because of poor maintenance to the bikes, and accidents. By introducing specialist training and good management the bikes have been used extensively.
[Bill:] That's good... well forwards... excellent, well done, very good.
[speaker005:] The learning process from this project has been invaluable and it's allowed Save The Children to move forward in several other countries. Recent research into how governments and donors contribute to the provision of health services shows that effective long term systems need to be put into place. These can be worked through with local cooperation. Riders for health is a good example of what can be achieved through good planning.
[Mike:] I think that the... riders for health project has... given us... ah a model that can be used in a great many other situations and we've found here in Lesotho that many other ministries and government departments are interested in what we're doing because the motorcycles, if used properly, can provide a very cost effective form of transport.
[speaker005:] It is their work in the villages which is most impressive. The local health workers are able to spread basic advice on health and cleanliness as well as providing cheap but effective medicine such as immunisations and rehydration salts. Most importantly the workers help to improve the local water supply. Clean water saves more lives than any medicine that can be provided by the human race so far. Degosang is three years old. She lives in a remote village, ten kilometres from a paved road. She now has clean water from a pump that Mohali her health advisor, helped the village to organise and build. It is these basic measures which can make a difference to saving lives all over the world. Each year five million children die from the lethal effects of diarrhoea, four million from respiratory diseases like T B and bronchitis. It is through prevention that Save The Children can make the greatest impact on life. But it's not just in Africa where children are under threat from poverty and disease. In the U K Save The Children has shown the link between a poor environment and poor health. Pennywell is a housing estate in Sunderland where one in three adult males are unemployed. Health is a big issue here. Sunderland has the fourth highest number of smoking related deaths in the U K. Low birth weights are more common.
[Michael:] Well obviously unemployment is very high in the North East and er all the major health indicators are related directly to income. So consequently er poor... poor people live shorter lives and they suffer more chronic illnesses. And this is also er true of the children.
[speaker005:] Twins Rachel and Rebecca, seen here at just over a year old, live on the estate with their mother Carol. When the twins learned to climb up the stairs, Carol was terrified they might have an accident. She probably could never have afforded a stairgate, so Save The Children lent her the equipment from its safety loan scheme.
[Caroline:] The safety gates have made a big difference, since I've gotten them erm I've got peace of mind... for the stairs and... I can answer the phone and... I haven't got to like keep trying to pull them downstairs and do do different things.
[speaker005:] The family centre provides a place for people to get practical help and advice with their problems within walking distance.
[Caroline:] Save The Children have... developed in this area. I mean before they came to the centre I think people felt Save The Children only did work in... countries abroad. makes us all realise what a good job Save The Children do... in our country as well.
[speaker005:] Whether it's the U K or Africa, simple and appropriate solutions with the cooperation of local communities can have the most dramatic effects in improving the lives of our children. It is in these areas that Save The Children has consistently moved forward through developing long term strategies which are being added to and developed year after year.
[Michael:] Your Royal Highness, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. I am Michael Taylor and I'm the Director of the United Kingdom and European Programmes Department of the Save The Children Fund. What we've just seen conjures up for me some positive messages of direct impact upon children and young people's lives through our work in this country and overseas. This is very much my experience of this organisation in the eight months I've worked here. Prior to coming to Save The Children... through the media, I was more aware of your work, the emergency work all over the world. As director of social services for the London borough of Hillingdon I knew of the work with refugees... in my role in Hillingdon I was responsible for services for child arrivals at Heathrow airport and I worked closely with Save The Children on the successful effort to get specific recognition for asylum seeking children in the asylum and immigration appeals act. What I didn't know was of the ninety-plus pieces of work, both large and small, which Save The Children undertook in the United Kingdom. I believe an important issue for all of us in the run up to and throughout the seventy fifth birthday, is the need to increase the understanding and raise the profile and the value placed upon our work in the United Kingdom. I feel we will've achieved significant progress if we have turned, I didn't know you worked in the United Kingdom, into it's good to know that the rights and needs of children are just as important to you in the United Kingdom as they are overseas. For me this has been a very exciting year in which to take on a directorship of the department. This is both in respect of the run up to the seventy fifth birthday and also with the increase in responsibility to take on the remit for the development of our work in relation to the European Community, central and Eastern Europe. We have already have significant contact through the international Save The Children alliance partners in Europe and we have representation on the European forum for child welfare. On particular issues, such as work with refugee children and work with trav traveller and gypsy families, there is already established European collaboration. It seems to me there is a massive potential to develop opportunities for practice sharing across Europe and for practice and policy initiatives of the former U K department to be assessed and developed in the European framework. Specifically though the European Programmes Division with the department will lead the development of our programmes in Eastern Europe. This will be done in partnership at all times with the in country non-gav non-governmental organisations, where such exist or where they can be developed, with governments and where appropriate with European and international agencies. The massive changes brought about by the ending of the cold war and by the collapse of state mechanism in some Eastern European countries opens up a significant opportunity to undertake work in the very near future. Save The Children fund has been involved already directly in partnership and with other international Save The Children members in providing direct and emergency aid to former Yugoslavia. However I think it's important to stress that right from the early days of the conflict we had determined not to be involved in providing large scale emergency relief. This was primarily due to a concern... that given commitments elsewhere, we did not have the logistical support and any activity in former Yugoslavia would mean a major diversion from a already established programmes overseas. However this summer a temporary programme coordinator has visited the region and a short term programme of material support to children's homes has been provided and we are now working to put other facilities in s to institutions in Serbia... and are hoping that through the restructuring of children's services, when the conflict is over and we believe obviously that may be some off, that we can tri can contribute to meeting the longer term needs of children in that war torn zone. In Slovenia a psychiatrist has been advising staff in refugee camps as to how to respond to the needs of traumatised children. In Croatia we are supporting an agency which provides direct assistance to refugee families and to young people. This work in former Yugoslavia will become an established part of our European programme. In Romania we are planning to work with Romanian Save The Children... and to help the Romanian government in its juvenile justice system which is sadly in need of major development and change. We're also engaged with the European Community in discussion over a bid for funding to develop social work, child protection and alternatives to institutional care and to other child care systems within Romania. This work again will be undertaken in partnership with non-governmental child care organisations in that country. Through g contacts already established throughout the U K department, links have been destablished and developed with work in Poland,... Russia and Albania and we're working to assess the policy, practice development or programme contribution we might make in those European countries.... I believe our credibility and our strength in these new initiatives in Europe flow from our status as an international development agency and from our high quality work in projects in the United Kingdom. I'd now like you to hear directly from a young person for whom access to one of our projects in the United Kingdom has made major changes in her life.
[Princess Anne:] To Caroline home is a room for her possessions, abandoned by her Mum and Dad as a baby, she spent her life moving from one set of parents to another.
[Caroline:] When you haven't got no one, you have to, sort of like find a way of doing it for yourself and it's much harder.
[Princess Anne:] Today Caroline lives alone in a room in Oxford. Without family guidance she sometimes finds it hard to manage, especially money. While some of her friends have taken drugs, Caroline's been in trouble with the police for stealing from shops.
[Caroline:] In the beginning I did it to look good, cos I wanted the money, towards the end it was doing it to live, it was literally doing it to live. I hated doing it. I used to go into a shop and I'd shake and I'd... know that I was doing wrong and I'd be really scared and I'd just knew I don't want to go to prison so I decide to stop it.
[Princess Anne:] Now when she needs a hand, Caroline turns to life chance. A partnership between Save The Children, social and youth services it helps youngsters help themselves by turning moans into action.
[Patricia:] Really we're trying to give young people a voice, put them in the driving seat.
[Sally:] Gradually it sort of like brings people out of themselves and do you know what I mean, they learn to do things.
[Patricia:] Whilst as a worker I might see the process, to me very important, I think there's a lot of concrete outcomes for young people feel we have achieved this, we did this for ourselves, it's ours, we own it.
[Sally:] You've gone and achieved something, you feel like you've done something good, you feel like you're somebody.
[speaker002:] This is when I was pregnant went to put my name down on the housing list and they said to me sorry you can't we've got too many people on there already.
[Princess Anne:] Life Chance workers hope this can homeless teenagers who will be the next to benefit from the project. Building up trust and friendship takes time but for hundreds makes Life Chance a lifeline.
[Michael:] I think that Caroline's experience as portrayed in that video is not unusual. Many children and young people get caught up in crime. Either through the necessity to obtain items which they believe are essential or through a desire to be one of the gang and valued by their peers. Interestingly Caroline expressed both those needs at different times during that presentation. Children who are caught up in crime are getting a lot of media attention lately. Many people say that the solution is to take the young person who has committed a crime out of their community and lock them away, that will achieve a solution. Save The Children Fund's years of experience shows it doesn't work and indeed that form of incarceration can lead to some of the tragic circumstances of self image, damage and even death which have occurred in penal institutions and been reported recently. We've also we believe got concrete evidence to show that community based alternatives do work. At Scone Park in the North East of England we offer classes in motorbike maintenance and land conservation to young people. They build on young people's skills and confidence so they feel that they have something to offer... to the world and to their own community. Latest figures show an overall twenty seven per cent decrease in crimes reported in that area since the project began. Because of our experience at Scone Park and in many other projects in the twelve years we have been working with young offenders, we, along with the other children's charities, oppose the government's proposals on persistent young offenders. Kenneth Clarke, when Home Secretary, announced the establishment of secure training centres where young people aged up to fifteen years could be sentenced for a period of up to two years. We took the view that this was a misplaced use, both of the finances required as it would divert money away from community provision, but also that there were no success criteria guaranteed other than removal from community. The children engaged in crime often come from families where there is high unemployment already and where the prospects of employment are actually denied school leavers. They're children and young people with a very poor self image and where their investment in the education system has probably been... partial to say the least. There is little out of school provision and where the youth service is actually suffering savage cuts in terms of local government finance. Projects such as Scone Park have shown that there can be alternative provision and that you can meet the needs of children and young people and respond to those in their own community and develop the investment in that community. In taking this view we are not denying that the loss of liberty may actually be necessary in a few extreme cases and this should only be where the child presents a significant danger to him or herself... or where there is a significant risk... of major further offending and severe damage to community. These incidences are very rare and actually disposals through the courts do exist using the care facilities which are already available to the local authorities and the secure accommodation. We know that custody does not stop young people committing crimes when their sentence is over. Seventy five per cent of young people released from custody re-offend within two years. We believe and we know that re-offending rates after secure regimes are much higher than after community based schemes and the well being and safety of children we believe can be compromised by incarceration in secure provision. Because of that view and because of the principals which we as an organisation espouse we chose to challenge the position that the Home Secretary had adopted and raised, we believe, the debate in the media and in the parliamentary setting of what should be provided to meet the er needs of young people. We've demonstrated the direct link between investing in community support and reduced crime levels and we believe that programme, valued as it is in local communities, has a message larger and wider for policy makers in the United Kingdom. We recently had a similar experience in terms of a media debate and entering into it, in our work with lone parents. Reading some sections of the media recently, children of lone parents are talked about as as if they're nothing but a drain on state resources. As an organisation we believe that children in these circumstances may well need support but they're also a real resource to our society, an investment in children's welfare and children's education is a sound investment in the country's future. Recently government ministers and the media have tended to concentrate on the small minority of very young women who have had babies and who live on their own. In fact, according to government statistics, only two per cent of lone parents are aged under twenty. The majority of lone parents are older, divorced, separated or widowed women. In reading the media recently one would believe that those figures were actually reversed. Housing policy in this country has traditionally given priority to children's needs... and we would find it very worrying if that priority were eroded in any way by the introductions of policies aiming to discriminate against children in one setting i.e. children of lone parent families. A recent report by the institute of housing managers confirmed that no specific priority is given in the analysis of housing need an and the awarding of points by which housing is allocated. But again the suggestion through the media would be that in order to gain top priority you need to be a young single parent with at least one child. We consider that punitive policies such as cutting benefit payments or not providing adequate housing for lone parents or their children, would immediately damage the health and well being of children and we consider that that in itself is contrary to the U N convention on the rights of the child. We will continue to encourage government to take positive steps to improve the situation of families in poverty, like providing better child care and better support services to families and maintaining and improving benefits at a level... which actually ensure economic stability and guaranteeing that housing, safe and proper housing, is available for all children in our society. Our experience at our projects demonstrates that given the opportunity, lone parents, like any parents, want to improve the situation of their children by by working... and by not being dependent upon benefits. At the Pattmore project in London and the Rosemount project in Glasgow for example, mothers are provided with adequate child care and it enables them to attend courses and gain skills and qualifications that give them a better chance in the job market. The very positive self image, the change during the first week, that single parents experience those courses is absolutely striking. We believe that the children of all lone parents can best be helped by po policies which support their commitment to their family and their children and pathways out of poverty should be built which ensure that all families living in poverty have the chance to change their situation.... Like your chairman, I am a newcomer to the fund and my induction experience has not been limited to the division offices in the United Kingdom or visiting projects in the United Kingdom. In July of this year, along with the overseas director Mike Arrinson, I spent seven days in Bangladesh. We visited both city and rural programmes and were struck by the amazing capacity of the people... to overcome adversity, both natural disasters and the extremes of poverty. The desire in all the work which we saw there was to extend... to develop and to move ahead with new ideas to meet needs. The video which follows now portrays some of our work in Bangladesh and I'll provide the commentary upon it.... Khulna is a large industrial city in South Western Bangladesh. It attracts many migrant families from the surrounding rural areas and as such is similar to many of the cities in Bangladesh. People flood to the city seeking employment, seeking security and actually trying to find a means of sustaining family life.... Many seek employment in matchbox manufacture, in working with textiles... in stone breaking,... in ship building, metal working and in paper manufacture.... The slums people live in have open sewers, amazingly crowded housing, poor sanitation and ineffective drainage. Eight hundred to a thousand people will live in a dense area and are subject to the vagaries of government and landlords. Slums are bulldozed overnight on occasions to make way for new developments.... These people live... amongst the wealthier residential areas... in all of the cities of Bangladesh.... The seasonal rains bring a deterioration in the living conditions and without effective drainage sewage overflows into the homes. Children are more prone to disease.... These were the conditions in the slums which we visited in Dacca.... Amidst these circumstances, Save The Children Fund clinics are providing primary healthcare programme for slum mothers and young children. Local clinic staff are appointed from the community itself and they provide immunisation, family planning, a dispensary, ante-natal and post natal services. More importantly they provide training for local volunteers and they give health education advice. This has led to a fall in the emergency attendances with almost a hundred per cent registration rates from local slum families. What's more these families are paying for the clinic service that they have come to appreciate.... The clinic staff make weekly visits to every slum home providing effective follow up to clinic visits, whilst encouraging good health practices at home too. There is a massive investment in health education and in improving diet.... The clinic has acted as a strong focus for slum living mothers to campaign for improved conditions in their surroundings. For example making arrangements to cover up open latrines.... As a collective, people are contributing financially to the installation of new tube wells. The cleaner water supply has dram dramatic effects on the children's health. Every clinic conducts regular surveys to monitor the effects of the programme, proving that infant mortality rates have dropped, whilst scabies and bronchitis have decreased too. Mike and I saw a a very young child being washed at a tube well, those guiding us round the site were very impressed by this, the child was rather perplexed and surprised as normally it was taken down to the river to be washed.... Women are now participating in credit saving schemes organised through Save The Children. In groups of five they each save weekly after which one of their number can take a loan and invest in an income generating project. Each group opens their own joint bank account,... manages their own money,... does some basic budget planning and learns to fill out the forms and paperwork necessary to record all the transactions and keep track of the state of the fund and their management of it. We saw numerous examples where people bought equipment. For example Amina... has bought a sewing machine. This will give her financial independence and a steady income. She has repaid the debt and now has sufficient money on which to live. Rebaya and her daughter purchased the materials necessary to men to make incense sticks and again have achieved a degree of financial independence which... six months before could not have been expected.... Some people use the money to buy fishing nets. Our integrated health programme has provided a catalyst for slum families to have a hand in controlling their environment and working together to benefit each other. Free of money lenders and learning to save and contribute financially to their own programme is an important step towards long term self sustainability.... Thank you.
[speaker004:] [clapping]
[Mike:] Thank you very much indeed Mike for that excellent presentation. And now I would like to ask her Royal Highness... to come to the platform and address us. Thank you very much ma'am.
[speaker004:] [clapping]
[Princess Anne:] Chairman, ladies and gentlemen.... Well I'm delighted to see so many of you have taken the trouble to come and join us today... for yet another annual public meeting and in welcoming you can I give a particular welcome to our new chairman Mike Betts, thank him very much indeed... for joining us. He has... an excellent background in support,... not involved in in the running but continuous interest and support... and for him to... take on this challenge shows a particular kind of commitment to the work of the Save The Children Fund and we're very grateful to him for taking it on and I sincerely hope that he will enjoy the experience, especially after... meeting all of you today. Mike thank you for joining us.
[speaker004:] [clapping]
[Princess Anne:] Today is an important occasion for the fund. It always is er a moment to reflect, to look forward to... renew acquaintances, to recharge the batteries, to get new ideas and that's quite right... and this public meeting marks the eve of a particularly important year for all of us at the Save The Children Fund. Our seventy fifth birthday year.... I hope it will be... a birthday year in in every way, er but it's not just a good excuse to have a party... there is... very serious intent behind this birthday.... When Eglantine Jebb launched the Save The Children Fund in May nineteen nineteen, one of her aims was for the fund to work for its own extinction. Seventy five years on that day seems more distant than ever. Eglantine also said that children are always the first to suffer... and that is certainly as true today as it was then which means that the Save The Children Fund's work is needed now as much as it was then.... B but the funds to support this work are harder to come by... and you don't need me to tell you that. Yet the need is such that our spending at home and overseas has doubled in the last two years... and still vital pieces of work in the U K and overseas await funding. The sad reality is that nearly seventy years after Eglantine Jebb drafted the world's first charter of children's rights, the charter which became the foundation for the nineteen eighty nine U N convention.... Children's rights to health, to a good education, to safety, to a secure childhood... are still threatened. In short children across, across the globe are facing pressures and conditions that are no longer considered acceptable to an international community that sees so much suffering around the world. They want to do something. I believe with our experience that the Save The Children Fund can do something positive that will last. We urgently need funds to be able to respond effectively... and to meet the increased demands being made on us as well as to maintain our existing work. That's why Save The Children is marking this seventy fifth birthday year with the biggest and most important fund raising appeal in the organisation's history.... Our target is to raise, in cash and in pledges, an additional twenty five million pounds over and above our normal fundraising. But before I talk in more detail about how we hope to raise this money let me spend a little time explaining why I feel that this appeal is so vital to children everywhere.... I need hardly remind you of the many emergencies... that Save The Children has responded to in recent years. The most recent was for Somalia, and you responded magnificently, helping to raise over five million pounds for relief work.... But as you know the needs of the world's children go far beyond the immediate emergencies like those in Somalia or Liberia. The need for sustainable health, education and welfare services is as acute as ever. Children in the United Kingdom face different sorts of problems... but they too are under threat. Parents need help with their own lives so that their children don't suffer... from the unemployment and homelessness that contribute to ill health and an unsafe living environment... that too many children have to live with today.... It is only by establishing and maintaining development programmes and by working in conjunction with families, with communities and with governments that we can begin to achieve lasting improvements which tackle the root causes of the poverty and inequality that threaten so many children. Investing in human resources is a fundamental part of that process too. It helps to promote the political stability and economic growth that is an essential backdrop to any kind of lasting change. But as you know the Save The Children is just one development organisation and with limited resources, so a major part of our task is to use our influence and authority to press for change on a wider scale by keeping the issues of poverty and inequality and of children... firmly on the international agenda. Ladakh... in North West India, very distant, remote, mountainous, a harsh environment for any child to grow up in. Most villages are perched over ten thousand feet up in the Himalayas.... Many can be reached only by walking, for several days along precarious footpaths and they may be cut off half the year by snow. In winter, the temperature can drop to minus forty degrees centigrade. Ladakhis live from farming and livestock rearing... and believe me they know how to do this. They know how to cope... and they have very sophisticated forms of irrigation. But although they are largely self sufficient, needless to say livelihoods in these sort of conditions and communities are on a knife edge. The growing season is short and the tiny fields are extremely difficult to plough.... For health and welfare most villages depend on village healers. But unless this is combined with techniques like vaccination and knowledge of oral rehydration, diseases like measles and diarrhoea are child killers. To net to get an education beyond primary level, children have to leave their village primary schools because the terms coincide with the peak agricultural seasons. Save The Children d went into Ladakh fifteen years ago to provide emergency feeding for malnourished children. Today that emergency programme has evolved into a broad based community programme, focusing on health, education and economic status and training of teachers and health workers. To give Ladakh's children a better start in life means supporting services that work in harmony... with local structures and rhythms. Now there is primary health care for all mothers and children however remote their community. Families have become involved in income generating schemes... and children have better access to education and in all these areas the villagers, particularly women, work closely with staff to play an active part in the development of their own community and the securing of their children's future.... Now a Glasgow inner city area migh may seem light years away from all this... but in many ways the need is just as acute. And they are still a community under pressure. Royston in Glasgow, where unemployment is high, the housing is high and poor and there are few safe areas and precious little childcare provision. Many of the residents are single parents who often feel isolated and trapped and unable to improve their situation. Save The Children's Rosemount project which I visited in June is working with parents and children, providing quality child care with individual attention for each child... and offering courses in computing and child care for women to improve their skills and equally important, their confidence. In other words giving people the raw materials to improve their lives and safeguard their children's future. Both of these interventions are successes in their own right. They apply to different communities, they have responded to different communities' needs but they also contribute to a ripple effect of achievement at national and international levels which will ultimately benefit the lives of many more children. They are setting standards of good practice that we in the Save The Children Fund can then help to spread. These children the world over need your continued help... and that is what this birthday appeal is all about. With seventy five years of working with children under our belt and with our many achievements on behalf of children with pioneering schemes, we have the experience and the expertise to achieve real and lasting change. So where do we start with the mammoth task of raising an additional twenty five million pounds? I have little doubt that nineteen ninety four, ninety five will be a challenge, especially in today's economic climate. This is going to be a year when we will all have to go that extra mile for children. But... I'm afraid your reputation precedes you, you are renowned for rising to challenges like these and I feel sure that you can build on your previous successes and that together we can... and probably will, do it. I will be launching the birthday year in January when I hope that among other things, we might succeed in gaining recognition for Eglantine Jebb and our many achievements for children... and I was delighted to be asked to chair the birthday advisory group and to be closely involved with activities during nineteen ninety four. One of the activities we have great hopes for is our private appeal which will run alongside our public fundraising. This is a first... for The Save The Children... and we will be approaching wealthy individuals, foundations and trusts for donations towards our work. That will not be easy because most of them are heavily involved in funding of all sorts of other organisations and they have their own interests. We will have to be very sure that we know what we're talking about when we meet them to persuade them... that we need their funds more and we can make better use of them... and we hope to raise around half of that twenty five million pounds from them. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Sir David Scholey, the chairman of S G Warburg for chairing the private appeal. Sir David is a long term supporter of Save The Children and has sat for many years on the industry and commerce group. And I'd also like to extend my thanks to his very able committee. Our corporate members are ready... but they very much need your help. We are relying on you and all the other volunteers around the U K in your contacts with the public to help make this year a success. You are the public face of the Save The Children Fund. The people who have carried the fund raising banner throughout the years. The people at the fund raising coal face who have the skills and the expertise to ensure that our seventy fifth birthday year goes down in Save The Children's fund raising history. This year though we want to attract new supporters and search out people who haven't traditionally supported Save The Children as well as building on the commitment of our existing supporters.... You are all familiar with our loyal supporters, but what about those people on the fringes who may have given a donation or done something for Save The Children in the past, but never really followed it up... and there are the people who are interested who think, it's a charity I feel I ought to support. Let's see if we can move them on this year so that they start to think it's a charity I know I really want to support. What better time than a birthday year to persuade all these people to become active and long term supporters of the Save The Children. Plans are well underway for next year. I know that many of you... have already come up with some interesting ideas on seventy fifth theme. Many branches have already scheduled a range of exciting events based on the birthday in addition to the events that will be happening nationwide. Like the thousands of birthday parties that we hope will take place on May the nineteenth. There will be more on all these happenings later today. Other fund raising plans are well advanced too. I'm delighted that our old friends at Tesco, a founder corporate member of Save The Children, are once again lending their generous support. In nineteen ninety four they are making us their charity of the year and offering to work with us across the U K to help raise an extra million. I would also like to thank another of our corporate members, Cadbury Limited. Over the past eighteen months Cadbury and Save The Children have worked very successfully together, staging three strollathons... sponsoring nationwide pantomimes... and running a promotion on chocolate bars. I think that was probably the most popular.... As our seventy fifth birthday approaches, Cadbury hopes to stage more events and promotions to help us meet our seventy five million t pound target and meet our commitment to the world's children. All in all it promises to be an exciting... enjoyable and hard working year for Save The Children and all its supporters. It is going to be hard work. Nobody would pretend... that raising an additional twenty five million pounds is going to be easy but time and again you have risen to the challenge. We must make very sure we know what we're doing it for.... It will help to remind ourselves of the challenge that Eglantine Jebb took up. Her clear sighted approach... to bring long lasting help to mothers and children, so that children could benefit, wherever they were... whatever their country, their colour, their situation -urban or rural, their culture, their religion, their society in the sense of its development and their expectations and their infrastructure. She was frustrated by short term palliatives. When knowledge of basic principles might cure for future generations... many diseases and even hunger and that education might set solid foundations for extending and repeating that knowledge, as well as the economic viability of the community and a sense of responsibility. A sense of responsibility in the children that we help, that they all grow up to be responsible adults. In seventy five years the fund has remained true to her principles and yet it is as pioneering as she ever was. I hope she would be pleased by our efforts, in spite of the fact that we are still here and needed. I know she would be proud of you, the fund raisers, who make it possible. As you set about making your plans for next year let me leave you with this thought from Eglantine Jebb... If children of any country are physically or morally abandoned the whole world loses by it... and the whole world gains if children grow up healthy, capable and ready to work for the good of their neighbours. Good luck.
[speaker004:] [clapping] [clapping]
[Mike:] Thank you very much indeed for that... superb key note address.... And now let us proceed with the next business of the day, it gives me great pleasure your Royal Highness to er invite you to present several Save The Children awards this morning. These awards are given in recognition of outstanding services to children. Five people who've been nominated for awards are not available to receive them from her Royal Highness. Though absent they are... Ray, Lee, Kim, Cho and Marjorie. Congratulations to them all, they'll be receiving their awards in due course. We now
[speaker004:] [clapping]
[Mike:] Now for those who are present I will call out each name and if each one can come forward and receive... the award from her Royal Highness. Joe
[speaker004:] [clapping]...
[Mike:] Lady Sarah
[speaker004:] [clapping]... [clapping]
[Mike:] Esther
[speaker004:] [clapping]... [clapping]
[Mike:] Josephine Anne
[speaker004:] [clapping]... [clapping]
[Mike:] Dora
[speaker004:] [clapping]... [clapping]
[Mike:] Jill
[speaker004:] [clapping]... [clapping]
[Mike:] Thank you award winners and thank you all... for your contribution to Save The Children Fund. Now I have some er... parish notices for you all.... Now there are imbit information stands on level five where several catering points are available for lunch and er members of the audience can... also attend four fringe meetings. These meetings are... Making the most of the seventy fifth in shops, Involving young people in singing for the seventy fifth, Branches sharing fund raising ideas for the seventy fifth and Small World Theatre extracts from... Moving, a play on the theme of refugees. Now these are taking place between one and two this afternoon. I should say that there are only seventy five seats available for each fringe meeting so... if you want to go hurry on and get your tickets which will be issued at level three information desk on a first come, first served basis. A colour coded system will be in operation to help you find your way around those fringe meetings. Now I just want to end this morning session by reminding you to be in your seats by two twenty. We have a speaker... er... Patricia Routledge in her guise as Mrs Bucket or Mrs Bouquet she would not be very pleased if you were late.
[speaker004:] [LAUGHTER]
[Mike:] For one of her candle-lit after-lunch speeches.
[speaker004:] [LAUGHTER]
[Mike:] Thank you very much for this morning, we'll see you this afternoon.
[speaker004:] [clapping]
[Mike:] interesting as well as a er... edible lunch... er we're very pleased now to start away the afternoon session... and I'm particularly pleased to be able to introduce Patricia Routledge, she's an actress with so many parts in so many media that I'm not going to make any further introduction, but merely to ask her to come up and speak to us. When she has finished Sally Barker, branches advisory committee chairman, will make her presentation. Thank you very much.
[speaker004:] [clapping]
[Patricia:] Your Royal Highness, ladies and gentlemen.... It is a particular privilege for me to be here today and part of me feels not totally qualified. I have over the years... sent my postal order regularly and it wasn't until... two years ago that I became more actively involved in the work of Save The Children fund raising. I was invited to give an entertainment at the Bristol Old Vic theatre, the wonderful old Theatre Royal, the oldest extant theatre still being used in the country and one of the oldest in the world, a very beautiful place... erm and I was asked if I would do an entertainment that I have called Come for the Ride which I was persuaded to concoct by my home town of Birkenhead in the North West of England. I did it there originally and then did it at festivals all over the country. I have a particular affection for Bristol and the West country, I'd like you know that, those of you who've come all the way to London from the West and I so I was very happy to have this evening and be able with er an accompanist and musical director, to provide entertainment that would raise money. I was told early on that it was possible that your Royal Highness would be able to be there and indeed you were and it gave us all... one of the most unforgettable nights.... I remember after the show you spoke... for twelve minutes without a note and not only that but you came round afterwards and spent eight or ten minutes with us, the artists, which absolutely made our evening. It seems to me that that attention to the moment is significant of the great work that you do for this particular charity.
[speaker004:] [clapping]
[Patricia:] Now I recently have accumulated unto myself, a notoriety that I didn't originally seek.
[speaker004:] [LAUGHTER]
[Patricia:] And certainly didn't expect... but everywhere I go it comes at me. It gives me great pleasure because people are extremely kind and extremely generous. We're very obsessed with things called viewing figures in television and I worked out quite simply that if everybody among the eleven million people who are supposed to view Keeping Up Appearances every Sunday, popped a penny into a money box for Save The Children Fund one Sunday night, that would raise a hundred and ten thousand pounds within an hour, now why don't we get going and encourage people to do that.
[speaker004:] [clapping]
[Patricia:] Multiply that by seven... and it's seven hundred and seventy thousand pounds.... What we are able to do in my job is to do what I was happy to do which is to give a performance in aid of a charity, one soon learns how to expend one's energy and in which direction to focus it. Earlier this year, on April the twenty second,... her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal, entertained various representatives from the world of entertainment and sport and journalism at Buckingham Palace. We had the most wonderful evening, it began with a film show, an extremely well er composed film to do with the work that is being done, the variety of work that is being done in the variety of places. Various reports... a plea for support... a plea for interest particularly for the seventy fifth anniversary year next year and after that we had the most lovely party.... I have a list here of people in my particular part of the profession who have pledged themselves to assist with the great drive forward for the seventy fifth anniversary. A number of celebrities were appearing in the Cadbury's sponsored pantomimes around the country and supporting the Save The Children fund raising activities. These include Lesley Joseph, Jeff Capes, Bobby Davro, Windsor Davies, John Nettles and Gloria Hunniford and Ian Botham. Pam Ferris from the Darling Buds of May is actively supporting the fund and will help with publiscation and er fund raising, publicising and fund raising in the birthday year. Sandi Toksvig, the comedy actress, has been advising on the seventy fifth birthday plans with television, book and consumer magazine support, she'll be visiting Zimbabwe in October with a B B C television crew to film a documentary and will be visiting and filming Save The Children Fund projects while she's there. Lulu... Ulrika Johnson, Tessa Sanderson, Debby McGee and Linda Bellingham all lent their support to this year's Cadbury's strollathon and we look forward to their continued support in our birthday year. Next year I am going to be very active in the theatre and I've already this morning, sown the seed er for possibly er giving a particular performance er of one of the plays in this particular season I'm going to do er for Save The Children Fund and I've said
[speaker004:] [clapping]
[Patricia:] I've said move fast, get on with it.... William Wordsworth... nearly two hundred years ago, wrote this... my heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky. So it was when my life began... so it is now that I am a man.... So be it when I shall grow old or let me die. The child is father of the man. And that is what it seems to me... is the purpose of all our support for this fund. I've been particularly impressed with the officials and executives and workers that I've met. I've been particularly impressed today to learn how people come here every year, particularly for this meeting and of all the various ways in which money can be raised. The money is there, we know this. I always say that we all spend our money on what we really want to spend it on... and put a bit by for what we really desire to achieve. It is wonderful all the work that you do.... And I applaud and admire it.... I... am here partly because I was fortunate enough to have the happiest and healthiest of childhoods and I see it... as a very happy obligation to try to do my best to ensure that all over the world it is possible for other children to enjoy something of what I had. God bless you all and I hope to be... walking alongside you during the seventy fifth year anniversary efforts.
[speaker004:] [clapping]
[speaker005:] In Sri Lanka thousand of families have moved from the countryside to the capital Colombo in search of a better life. Instead they find nowhere to live, nothing to eat and poor health and education. Save The Children is helping families to rebuild the ghettos, to make a better life for themselves and the next generation.... In the Sudan cities are surrounded by huge camps filled with victims of a five year long civil war. It's a poor part of Africa but most of its problems are man made. Fighting has cut off supplies to the refugees. Save The Children works with organisations like the Red Cross to restore that life line.... Poor children in Jamaica often fall prey to drugs dealers who offer them clothes and shoes in return for carrying drugs. Save The Children helps youngsters living and working on the streets, it runs schools where the poorest can get hot meals and lessons. Just one more example of how Save the Children does just that all round the world....
[Sally:] Yes. Those are some of the reasons why I and many others support Save The Children and thank you Patricia Routledge... for talking to us today, it was a pleasure listening to you. Hello everyone. Once again it is lovely to see you all. Well this is it, next year is our seventy fifth birthday so today is one of our most important meetings we will ever have. It'll be a very challenging year for volunteers, I'm sure you'll all agree.... In the past year I've been invited by many of you to meet branch members and to make shop visits all over the United Kingdom. It's been a privilege to have done this... and I'm overwhelmed by the enthusiasm I've encountered. You, Save The Children Fund volunteers, are determined not to let the recession beat you. The message I've given to London is that volunteers are in very good heart and it doesn't stop there. The really good thing is that there are a huge variety of plans for our big year. More of that later. But what about the last twelve months. What stories do our figures tell us? Well... while we were all delighted about the tremendous increase in income two years ago we were also a little concerned about how we should hold on to it, but we have. Last year branch income was on target at seven point eight million pounds, a massive increase on the plateau of five to five and half million pounds we were on before Skip Lunch. Congratulations to you all.... And the shops, well there are now one hundred and fifty nine shops. Together they have raised five point seven million pounds last year, a wonderful result and thank you all. I particularly want to highlight the shop cash donations.... We've introduced a new donations box and some shops have special donations secretaries... and many helpers encourage donations too. What a success story. Shop cash donations have gone up from five hundred and sixty three thousand to six hundred and twenty nine thousand, a marvellous increase.