[speaker001:] Many successful shops seminars too. The topics discussed... included how to attract new volunteers, how to make the most of the window, the shop layout, how Save The Children spend the money and oh the list goes on. They were all very enjoyable and useful seminars. If you attended the lunchtime fringe meeting on shops you probably had even more food for thought. Now looking for the future, is there an opportunity on the shop front, for further growth? Here's a mini report. [video playing]. Welcome to Save The Children in Sutton Coldfield where children from school have taken over the shop for a day. school is a big supporter of the Save The Children Fund. Princess Anne is the president of the charity and she visited the school three years ago for the golden jubilee. The children running the shop today are all aged eight and from the third year at school, but how much do they know about what the shop does. Erm, it likes... erm. Not much it seems so I asked manageress Janet to explain.
[Janet:] The money we make in this shop goes to... erm Save The Children Fund which supports children in countries abroad, particularly in Africa where you've probably seen pictures on television. Children starving, children who... who are orphans, children on the move, refugees erm... people that have... nothing, nothing at all and a lot of the money is spent in this country erm particularly in cities, very poor areas of the cities.
[speaker001:] The children learned how to do all the jobs that make a shop work. Opening the boxes, stacking the cards, I've been on the tills and serving the customer putting the things in bag. Time to hand back to the grown-ups. and time for this reporter to go back to school.
[Sally:] Congratulations and thank you to shop and branch volunteers, large and small. You work so tirelessly for the fund... many of you are in this hall today... now and thousands more are not. Please pass on our warmest thanks to them all. I would also like to thank the staff who work with and support the volunteers in so many ways.... Thank you for your help and guidance. So what will our birthday year be like for volunteers? Challenging without doubt. Because we need to raise twenty five percent more in branches and shop donations to hit our target. But the year should also be exciting and enjoyable too I hope. There is so much fund raising knowledge and experience amongst our volunteers. I was amazed during a recent visit to headquarters of the number of requests for posters and tickets I saw when I was leafing through that bible, the design it file. The variety of events were as ever absolutely astounding. Bingo in Swaffham, book sales, craft fairs, cream teas, open gardens. In Canterbury you could go to an evening of wine and wisdom. Winchcombe branch held a wonderful candlelit salmon supper. In Leominster they chose plonk and pate. On the music front, Scottish, string quartets, a juke box jive, a opera were in store.... This fund raising fair is our bread and butter and it is top quality. So for success in the seventy fifth I say to any volunteer who asks me, do what you always do, stick to your tried and tested methods because that's what you know best. But, go for a little more. Many of you have played what we come to call the seventy fifth game, where we round up to seventy five. So if you used to charge fifty P for programmes, consider, could you charge seventy five P? If you held and event last year and fifty five people attended. Could you go for seventy five this year? Invite groups to raise... seventy five pounds for us, or seven hundred and fifty pounds or dare I say it, seven thousand five hundred pounds. In shops, could you select better quality goods for a seven pound fifty rail? And could the shop team keep shops open an extra seven and half hours in the best trading week for example? So please, everyone, put a little more into the seventy fifth and get more out.... I now want to draw on some major fund raising themes directly linked to the seventy fifth. There are four national events, some of which will be familiar. The first is Save The Children Fund week. As you know the seventy fifth will be launched on the twenty sixth of April, nineteen ninety four. Can you make the most of the week and the wonderful opportunity we'll have for collecting in Tesco stores. We have a real chance here. Just look at your superb performance to date. Nineteen ninety three Save The Children Fund week raised nine hundred and forty six thousand pounds, a staggering nine percent increase on the previous year. More branches than ever joined in... six hundred and seventy four in all... and collections took place at more Tesco's than ever, two hundred and twenty five. The increase has been steady, thanks to all the tremendous effort put in by our volunteers and staff. I particularly want to mention the East Anglia and East Midlands region where a hundred percent of branches participated, yes an inspiration to us all.
[speaker001:] [clapping]
[Sally:] In Northern Ireland where unfortunately there are no Tesco stores, there is a set target aimed at getting a minimum... Save The Children Fund week involvement in seventy five percent of branches. This is ambitious but I know you will do well, knowing how mativ motivated and generous people of Norlan Northern Ireland are. But where there isn't a branch near a Tesco's... how can we make sure that the collections are still carried out? Well I want to encourage you to think of asking other groups you know to help, and individuals too. If you can come up with lots of names, let the nearest branch, or your area organiser know. This is the way we'll meet our aim of covering all the four hundred and fifty Tesco's stores.... The second event is our birthday parties. A fund raising idea of Judy, a volunteer from Scotland, the actual birthday is the nineteenth of May, as you know, to mark this we are asking all our supporters to hold a party for us on that day, or as near to it as possible. It's a wonderful opportunity for volunteers in shops and branches and one-off groups to contact all the people who've supported them and Save The Children over the years. We want it to be a day of celebration, but not only that, as with all parties we hope to receive presents, but the presents must be money for Save The Children. I can't stress enough how we would love to get a hundred percent response for the parties from all our branches, so get the balloons and the collecting bins out please and please make the most of the idea. Thirdly there will be a national raffle with a car as the main prize. This year many branches are keen on the raffle, arranged by Ian, the treasurer of Wakefield branch and David area organiser for Yorkshire South. Lots of you applied for and sold tickets and the winning ticket was drawn by the Princess Royal during the lunch period. In the right place, a raffle can be a winner, by persuading a friendly car dealer to loan you a car to put in a shopping centre, or at a country show. Many branches have raised a hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds a day, or even more. Check as there may be insurance problems, but don't be put off, or how about getting a dealer to supply a cardboard mock-up of a car and using this, it still grabs the attention. Shops helpers are vital in selling raffle tickets too. So let's really all commit ourselves to the national raffle and make it the biggest and most successful raffle Save The Children has ever had. Fourthly, on a musical note, we are very fortunate that Richard Stilgoe is composing a special piece of music for Save The Children, the theme of course is childhood and we are putting together a menu of music and readings which will include this new piece. The idea is to invite choirs and musicians from all over the United Kingdom to use our menu, the sheet music and the pack of the fund raising ideas. To this end we will be working closely with Music Aid, a group of volunteers from the music world who set up after the tragic Ethiopian famine in the mid nineteen eighties. We will invite musicians and choirs to raise money for Save The Children. So many of our volunteers in branches and shops belong to, or have links with choirs. We are calling on all our helpers, both adults and children, who enjoy music, to spread the word or the song. Look out for the pack, it will be ready next Spring, in time for the events which will continue throughout the year... with of course, a big Christmas push for all those carol concerts. So four major fund raising schemes and a lot is being planned locally, by branches and by the councils in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. But also special seventy fifth birthday committees are conort coordinating large special events involving branch and non-branch volunteers like the youth music festival to be held in Canterbury Cathedral in nineteen ninety four.... Save The Children really recognises and values the skills of fund raisers, both volunteers and staff. Your efforts and achievements are always humbling. Let me just mention some of the ways in which you, the volunteers, are getting together, enriching your skills and supporting each other generally in support of the seventy fifth. In London a deputy area representative, Isabelle, is working with a group of well established trading secretaries to encourage other branches, less confident in trading, to spread their wings. Isabelle is well supported in this by the staff and I would like to mention how much we appreciate the changes to the trading goods which have taken place in the last year. Things have really taken off, our whole output has gone up a notch. If I had t t to give one word to describe it, it would be quality. Just look at our Christmas catalogue. There has been a great improvement in the range of goods and cards, I'm sure you'll all have noticed it too. On the education front, I believe we've had one of the most successful ever branches residential meetings at Bristol University. It was an opportunity to place Save The Children Fund's current and future aim into historical context and for volunteers a valuable lesson in preparation for the seventy fifth. Bursaries, available this year for the first time, broadened the opportunities to attend. Also, throughout the United Kingdom there are now school speakers training sessions. They began in Scotland and to take just one example we are very lucky to have Muriel, an area representative, coordinating the programme in the Midlands. Thank you Muriel. So to summarise, whatever the event, whatever your skill, whether you're a branch or a non-branch volunteer, I encourage you and everyone else to do something to Save The Children in nineteen ninety four. Here's one example for this year of how Save The Children can work with others.
[speaker001:] The steak pie costs nine pence, the spotted dick is tuppence, in fact all the prices of the staff cafe today were the same as they were sixty years ago, that's because today is the cafe's sixtieth anniversary. So today we reverted back to what we used to do and it's traditional dishes which quite frankly, what we build empires on, sausages, mash and onions, steak pie, chips and peas. And the added twist is that the menu is at nineteen thirty three prices, or a donation to the Save The Children Fund. The cafe was opened by Ambrosio Forte sixty years ago, it's now run by his son Mario. one shilling and ten pence. How much have you spent today then? I've spent one and ten pence, old money... and a donation of course. Is that a bargain? That was an absolute bargain, yeah. One and six please. There you are. Who said the west end's expensive, at least one place in Soho here today where you can get a square meal for less than two bob. Er that'll be one and six please. American Express? You must be joking.
[Sally:] Save The Children benefited from that event and the publicity, because we were the quickest off the mark in responding to the Star Cafe's request to help with their anniversary event. Well that takes us on nicely to more interviews, this time I'm coming down to meet members of the audience.... Can you hear me? First I am going to look for Kathy. Kathy is our area representative for Sussex, a very busy lady oh, oh yes I see you.... Hello Kathy, I think first of all you should tell us what an area representative is.
[Kathy:] An area representative is a volunteer, just like everybody here in this audience today, and I act as a link between the branches and headquarters, working with the area organiser but representing the branches, for me personally in Sussex.
[Sally:] You're a very busy lady I know and I also believe that your area's got some fantastic ideas for the seventy fifth, something to do with a special cake recipe. Can you tell us about it?
[Kathy:] Well... when you say cake, don't get the wrong ideas, erm... my idea of a cake, the vision that I had of a, a three tier cake, came to me as I was striding home from a meeting across The Downs and I had this vision of a three tier cake. The base of the cake was the branches, us, the foundation of Save The Children Fund, doing what we usually do but doing it very, very well and very professionally, the fetes, the coffee mornings, the fashion shows, the sort of thing that our reputation is built on. And then there was the second tier of the cake, something a little bit different, something a little bit more special for the seventy fifth year but still perhaps working on the tried and tested. Then I saw the top tier of the cake and that has got to be... the er piece, piece de resistance I think as the French say and I know that some very exciting ideas are coming out of the South East region. In particular Kent has put together a very interesting programme of a festival of food and drink which is taking place at Penthurst Place near Tonbridge Wells, the last weekend in June and again here at the Barbican next year after this particular annual public meeting, music aid, who you mentioned earlier, are putting on a concert er for Save The Children Fund and they hope to raise twenty thousand pounds on that night. Sussex is still working on its piece de resistance [] but I hope that we're going to get erm what we hope to do together very, very soon.
[Sally:] Isn't that wonderful er and thank you Kathy for working so hard for us. Now I'm going down.
[speaker001:] [clapping] Sally, erm well Scotland is very enthusiastic about the birthday appeal and we have five major events planned, erm two in the Glasgow area and two in Edinburgh and one up at Gleneagles... and erm... in all of these events we're actually pulling in on our people's expertise to widen our contacts, so it's not just the fund members who are running these things. We've got a ladies luncheon in Glasgow for four hundred and the organiser, Ruth the chair of Glasgow branch, is being helped by two ladies from the business community... erm Linda from the BAFTA award and Tessa who has her own marketing company, so we're hoping to sort of pull in a lot of people from that erm... Judy the chair of Scottish council, is yet again holding her... Charlotte Square ball... erm, this was very, very successful two years ago, I think you know erm and we're hoping for the same success erm, we are very lucky that the Royal Highland Show has chosen us to be er the charity this year for the gala preview of the show erm this is er for three hundred people, a champagne reception erm sponsored by the Bank of Scotland, so that you go and see the flowers before the show opens the next day. So that's rather nice I don't think I'll have any difficulty selling the tickets for that. And then up at Gleneagles we have a pro-am celebrity golf tournament and that's in conjunction with a dinner and a fashion show and yet again the interesting thing is that the Scottish P G A is actually going to run the golf tournament for us so that's a great scoop.... erm... These are all very exclusive events and ticket events so we felt there was a need for a public event and erm, what they say in Glasgow, something for ma, pa and the wains... and so we're having a family fun day at Chatlereau country park, just south of Glasgow at Hamilton. We're hoping... and I'm crossing my fingers here, that we'll get in excess of five thousand people there and the interesting thing is we've got a commercial exhibition at it, to give it a flavour of Scotland where people will show all the good things made in Scotland and we're calling it the taste and touch of Scotland and hopefully that will offset the cost of all the other, other er stalls and things that we're holding. So erm we're going to be very busy I think.
[Sally:] I'm sure you are... and thank you for being such a wonderful chairman.
[speaker001:] [clapping]
[Sally:] It's now my very great pleasure to look for Jacqui who's our shop leader of Sherborne shop. Some of you from that part of the world will know that it's a wonderful little shop, in fact it's a gold mine... and Jacqui's going to tell me a little bit about her recipe for running that shop. Hello Jacqui.
[Jacquie:] Hello.
[Sally:] I think I'll come and sit beside you as there's a spare seat. [LAUGHTER] Can you tell us a little bit about the recipe for running such a successful shop?
[Jacquie:] Yes I think that one of the most important things are to have a band of cheerful, helpful, happy, smiling volunteers behind the counter. It makes all the difference to the members of the public and the good will that it builds up is terribly important. The other things that are important are no cups of coffee, no sticky buns on the table... er my helpers don't wear trousers or leggings because helpers, like the goods, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and some of them look good and some of them don't.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]
[Jacquie:] Erm... there are all sorts of little rules, the... every black sack that comes in has to be gone through, no matter how grotty, somewhere inside it there might be some really very, very valuable piece of equipment.
[Sally:] I think that's right. I'm sure some of you last year... or least last week or even last month, read about the black sack that had all the wonderful jewels in it that came [LAUGHTER] into a charity shop [] and I think it's a lesson for us all isn't it, not not to miss anything in a black sack, Jacqui.
[Jacquie:] Absolutely... the other tip with black sacks is tip them out on the floor, do not plunge the hand into it... you get... livestock, and I have actually had teeth.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]
[Jacquie:] So it's one of those things to be very wary of. The other thing is window dressing. Window dressing is incredibly important, change the window every other day if possible, look for professional help in every aspect. Hold special events... erm... linen sales, bric-a-brac, anything that's got an appeal to the public, but do it through the window. I mean the seventy fifth we're going to be able to use the window to great advantage, it's going to be a great display time.
[Sally:] I'm sure she's right and I hope that's given some of the shop leaders who are sitting round about me, some ideas. I I think we can't emphasise too much the importance of the shop window, don't you agree?
[Jacquie:] Oh I think so but above all I think that the helpers and their smiles are the other things that are so important, after all they are the bedrock of the fund. I know you've got some other amusing stories, I don't know if we've time just to tell one more. Have you got one other story to tell us about your shop? There are so many of them. One man came in... took all his clothes off, tried on a load of things and walked out in them.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]
[Sally:] I think we'd better end the interview there don't you?... Th thank you Jacqui. Oh no you've got something else to tell us.
[Jacquie:] One further point is just remember grunge is big fashion so it's mega bucks.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]
[Jacquie:] Thank you Jacqui.
[speaker001:] [clapping]
[Sally:] Now it's my very great pleasure to I think probably introduce the youngest member of our audience here today and a very good supporter of Save The Children... erm I am sitting down soon beside Elise who's travelled all the way from Norwich. Hello Elise... I'm going to ask you first of all, how old are you, are you six?
[Elise:] No [LAUGHTER] I'm seven [].
[Sally:] You're seven are you... oh right. Now you've had a very good idea for fund raising I believe haven't you... and it's something to do with your daddy. Wh what is it, can you tell us about it?
[Elise:] Daddy always [LAUGHTER] empties his pockets [].
[Sally:] He empties his pockets. Well what does he keep in his pockets?
[Elise:] Money.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]
[Sally:] Lots of money?
[Elise:] Yes.
[Sally:] I think you... is it the pennies you collect?
[Elise:] Yes.
[Sally:] And where do you put them when you collect them?
[Elise:] In my jar.
[Sally:] In your jar... and I think you've also taken this jar to school haven't you?
[Elise:] Yes... yes.
[Sally:] Are you going to tell me what you did with the jar at school?... I think you asked all the children to help you didn't you?
[Elise:] Yes.
[Sally:] And... what did you do with that jar? You took it round the school?
[Elise:] Nope.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]
[Sally:] Well, if it was nope what was it, what did you do? Tell us about what you did with your jar.
[Elise:] [LAUGHTER] I collected lots of money.
[Sally:] That was very good and... we heard somebody else talking about pennies and how important pennies were this afternoon, Patricia Routledge mentioned pennies as well. So with your pennies and her pennies I think we should all make a lot of money for Save The Children, don't you?
[Elise:] Yes.
[Sally:] Good luck next year. Are you going to do it again for the seventy fifth?
[Elise:] Yes.
[Sally:] That's wonderful... and thank you so much for coming today.
[speaker001:] [clapping]
[Sally:] I'm now going to look for another young person who's sitting here in our audience. I'm looking for Ismar who's come all the way down from Dundee to be with us today. She's a student at Dundee University and has had some brilliant fund raising ideas amongst her friends at the University and she's here sitting in the front row. If I... sit beside you I think that's easier... hello Ismar.
[Ismar:] Hello.
[Sally:] Now I believe you've had a fashion show is that right?
[Ismar:] Yes erm, my sister and I organised a charity fashion show in aid of Somalia last year.
[Sally:] A and what made you raise money for Somalia, did you see something on television or.
[Ismar:] Oh yes we saw the the news reports... found them rather disturbing... erm we thought we'd do something to help and decided on a fashion show. Erm, we thought it'd appeal to young people and... we thought it'd be great fun, which it was, and we raised er one thousand seven hundred pounds.
[Sally:] Congratulations.
[speaker001:] [clapping]
[Sally:] You told me earlier it was fun. What else did you do apart from the fashion show?
[Ismar:] Erm... well we had a a big raffle erm we wrote away to all the local shops and restaurants ask them to donate prizes and we raised a lot of money through that and also my mum erm cooked Indian snacks which we sold during the interval erm which everyone loved and... so it worked quite well.
[Sally:] And I think there was a bit of dancing was there?
[Ismar:] Yeah well we we thought we would erm erm try and get the... Asian community involved and we included some sequences with Asian clothes with Asian music an tha that was all very impressing for for the white people as well as the Asian people in the audience.
[Sally:] What a good idea and those of you sitting round who have a lot of Asian students at your universities, I'm sure that's a very good idea for you all to think about for next year. I think we want to be encouraging young people because you told me that they're all quite keen to do something for Save The Children Fund now it's the seventy fifth year. Would you like to say a little bit about that?
[Ismar:] Oh yes, I mean if there's that you're good at or... if you've got a good idea that's simply fun I'm sure all young people would be really willing to help.
[Sally:] Thank you very much and thank you for coming down and talking to us today.
[speaker001:] [clapping]
[Sally:] Thank you all. I have really enjoyed hearing your fund raising stories. Everyone... have a good seventy fifth year. Keep up the good work and really rise to birthday challenge. The children are counting on it.... Thank you all and goodbye and I'd now like to thank... hand over to Nicholas Hinton. Thank you.
[speaker001:] [clapping]
[Nicholas:] Thank you... very much Sally. Watch it Kilroy Silk.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]
[Nicholas:] Your Royal Highness... ladies and gentlemen... the foundations of Save The Children. May I begin this afternoon... by adding my thanks to those of previous speakers for all that you've done to raise money for Save The Children during the past year... you are tremendous.... I have just completed a round of visits to most of the fund raising regions... in England and Wales... and I've been most impressed by the preparations that are underway to prepare for our seventy fifth birthday. Of course preparations in themselves do not raise money. That, together with the continuing recession, explains why we are this year having a very tight year, financially. This fact makes it imperative that we all succeed and have a tremendously successful seventy fifth. I have every faith in every one of you.... If I had any criticism of our organisation... it would be that we have a tendency to hide our light... under a bushel. We seem somehow, to be shy of shouting from the rooftops of our many, many achievements over the years, here in the United Kingdom and overseas. Last week... last Thursday... saw the launch by the disasters emergency committee, of which Save The Children is a part, of another appeal for Africa. Among the ten African countries for which the appeal was made, there was a mix of hope, on the one hand, hope for progress in Eritrea... or Liberia, Mozambique... or Ethiopia... and on the other hand, countries of despair... Somalia that we've heard about today, or southern Sudan... and of course, Angola. I'm certain that those of us who heard Mike... Save The Children's overseas director on the Today programme... or our field director in Angola on the evening television news yesterday, can have... hold nothing but pride, what they had to say of Save The Children's work in that country, a country described as... the heart of darkness... a country with the world's worse infant mortality rate. I was also immensely proud when Gavin Campbell, who fronted last week's B B C D E C appeal,... told me that words could not describe the tremendously high quality of Save The Children's work in Malawi, Mozambique and Sudan, which he had recently visited in order to film for the D E C appeal. That I believe was, perhaps unfortunately, obvious from the film itself. We do indeed, thanks entirely to you all, have a great track record. Anything that you can do to support the D E C appeal for Africa... will be more than welcome. It has so far reached a total of rather over half a million pounds.... As you well know our mission statement, Save The Children's vision, commits us to using our experience gained here and overseas to achieve lasting benefits for children on a far wider scale than would be the case if we just confined our work to those children and families who happen to be involved in the projects we run.... Let us go back to the beginning, to nineteen nineteen. For we can be rightly proud of one of Eglantine Jebb's major achievements five years later... that of drawing up the original first ever charter on the rights of the child... and persuading the then league of nations to adopt it. As you know, this early and admirably simple document eventually became the basis of the U N convention on the rights of the child adopted unanimously by the U N in nineteen eighty nine and since by the majority of member states as mentioned by the Princess Royal this morning. It is worth reflecting what a most remarkable contribution women have made to Save The Children throughout its seventy four years history. This fact reminds me of a tale I was told in the States recently whereby President Clinton and his wife Hilary and Major Kay... drove into a garage, quite why this was necessary the tale does not relate, as the petrol or gas attendant began to fill up the limousine, Hilary Clinton leaped out of the car and became involved in an animated conversation with the petrol attendant. On her return to the car the President said how is it you know this petrol pump attendant so well?... Mrs Clinton replied that she'd been at college with him and they'd had a very close relationship. The President mused, I don't think so.... So... claiming that had this relationship continued Hilary would probably have ended up as the wife of a petrol pump attender rather than the wife of the President of the United States. No, recorded Hilary, had I married him, he would have become President of the United States.
[speaker001:] [clapping] [LAUGHTER]
[Nicholas:] Moving on, I am sorry... we need to, to nineteen forty five which saw Save The Children's first involvement with pre-school playgroups here in the United Kingdom. Now a facility that is almost universally available if often under funded. Nine years later, in nineteen fifty four, S C F pioneered hospital playgroups and now, again commonplace, if again under-funded. Twenty years later as many of you will remember Save The Children launched its stop polio campaign which in turn led to polio prevention becoming an integral part of world wide immunisation programmes. How many lives has that... have you, saved?... In nineteen ninety one we'll all recall the desperate scenes of our television screens of Kurdish refugees scrambling up the mountains, fleeing from Iraq's Saddam Hussein. The delivery of essential supplies, clothing, food, shelter to those people seemed ad hoc at best. It was this episode that led S C F on the path... to arguing for a reform of the international system for humanitarian relief. S C F has much experience to back up such an initiative. Experience in Ethiopia, Angola, Cambodia or Sudan. We may, indeed we have not, always made ourselves popular in arguing for reform of humanitarian aid system but it has certainly been effective and we are never, but never, ignored. I was reminded of this in a recent villit, village a visit to the United Nations in New York. I went to meet a friend in the cafeteria there for coffee. We got the coffee, he paid for it and we walked to the remotest part of the canteen, behind a sort of screen, why here I said. I wouldn't be seen dead with you in here was his reply.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]
[Nicholas:] In nineteen ninety S C F began its work providing facilities for prisoner's families in Crumlin road in Belfast, Norwich prison, Strangeways and here in London's Holloway prison for women which I visited at the beginning of June. This has enabled S C F to persuade the Home Office's prison department to run such facilities and budget for such facilities in every prison to be rebuilt and there appears to be no shortage of those, or designed from herein after.... This very year, Save The Children's reports making ends meet and our contribution to the world health survey have enabled radical alterations to be made to the world communities practice with regard first to nutrition and food aid, particularly in East Africa and secondly to primary health care practice. This is a magnificent record, thank you... and... and in nineteen ninety three I would like to announce the day that Save The Children has been unanimously chosen by the charities aid foundation as its first recipient of the charity of the year award nineteen ninety three.
[speaker001:] [clapping]
[Nicholas:] This in my view, is a tremendous tribute to everybody in this hall and the many thousand who cannot be with us today. Well done.... I'm proud in your name, I shall be proud in your name... to receive this award from the Home Secretary, Michael Howard on four November at the cunan Queen Elizabeth Hall here in London. Well done you and a very, very special thanks to the Princess Royal, without whose leadership it would not have been possibly at all.
[speaker001:] [clapping]
[Nicholas:] On a somewhat linked matter, you will I am sure, have read of the Home Office sponsored report on voluntary organisations or charities published last week. I do not want to waste your time today discussing this rubbish. I just want
[speaker001:] [clapping]
[Nicholas:] I just want to let you know that chief among my criticisms of this report, it is is that it is a total insult to all of you, who give of your time freely to a unique cause to which we all belong. To remove charitable status, at a cost of some five million pounds a year to Save The Children Fund, to relegate us to the status of a quango, is absolute rife nonsense.
[speaker001:] [clapping]
[Nicholas:] Let us give the report no more publicity, it does not deserve it.... Europe has figured large in the past year and I am delighted that Save The Children is among the first of United Kingdom non-governmental organisations to establish an office in Brussels and mount... a pan- European operation. My thanks are due to all those, including volunteers, who have become engaged in this initiative. I am confident that in some ten years time, Save The Children will be a strong pan-European organisation, perhaps the strongest as such within the European Community.... Well at the end of the day all our work is for the benefit of children, individual children, individual human beings like you... or like me. Perhaps the most lasting memory I have of the past year is a conversation with a small nine year old boy in Liberia in West Africa in August. He was resident in an orphanage which is supported by Save The Children. A boy who during the vicious war in Liberia, has seen first his mother and then his father, his two elder brothers and his two elder sisters, savagely assassinated in front of his eyes by the guerrilla troops. In the middle of this episode he had fled into the garden, terrified. The soldiers sought him out... he was not assassinated but draughted into the army as a boy soldier. As he told me that he had killed perhaps ten, eleven or twelve people during the course of the war.... An agonising first nine years of life, this was a little boy who had seen things that little boys and little girls should never see. Thank God for the work that S C F is doing there, his only hope through counselling, of being able to regain any form of normality. Thank you very much.
[speaker001:] [clapping]
[Mike:] Just before introducing our... final speaker today, I would wish, because I would think you would want this, for me to express thanks to the two key people on my staff who are responsible for organising today. Which I think they call the A P O... annual public.... Appointment Linda Chalker, Baroness Chalker, the Minister for Overseas Development, is unable to be with us today.... She cannot get away from the House of Lords because of important parliamentary business. I think I'm right in saying that she drew a very short straw and is the first reading in the Lords of the bill to privatise the railways.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]
[Mike:] We'll send her our good wishes shall we?
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]
[Mike:] But it gives me great pleasure to introduce Mark Lennox Boyd, the parliamentary under secretary of state, the foreign and commonwealth office, a position he's held for some time. Amongst his responsibilities... are the relationships between the United Nations... and our government and of course for us his very, very special claim to fame... is that he is the younger brother of our former chairman Simon Boyd.
[speaker001:] [clapping]
[Mark:] Your Royal Highness, ladies and gentlemen. May I add first of all my apologies on behalf of Lynda Chalker that she's not able, due as we've heard, to business in the Lords to be with you today. I know she's disappointed as you are but may I [clears throat] coming in her place... thank Nicholas Hinton and his colleagues for having me at the Barbican at this important annual public meeting. I am delighted to be asked to deliver Lynda's speech to such a large body of people committed... to helping the disadvantaged and to be able to say a few words about how government is meeting the challenges that it faces in the developing world. Now it so happens that I am... in some small way, relatively well qualified to stand here in Lynda's place. In addition to what Nicholas er recounted about my brother, I believe that I... am the only minister in the government, possibly the only member of parliament... who has ever worked for the Save The Children Fund. When I was in Jordan in nineteen sixty five studying Arabic, I helped the Save The Children Fund... operation there for a few months and this was undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable and interesting short periods of my life and I look back on it with great warmth and affection and as your Royal Highness knows, it happens also that many, many years ago... before you were our president, my father occupied your office and I therefore come to this meeting today with some... knowledge of the fund's activities and with great admiration and respect for all the that the fund has achieved. I s certainly shall not stint in my praise of the fund and I would like to add my congratulations on behalf of the government at the recognition that the charities aid foundation has granted to the fund in making it er the charity of the year this year. Let me say right away that partly because of aid... official and through... N G Os such as you, many people in developing countries are living healthier, happier and more secure lives. This kind of good news is so often overlooked because the challenges presented by the developing world do not diminish, indeed they seem to grow, climate change, wars, famine, rising populations, are some of the many complex causes of underdevelopment. Now what I'd like to do this afternoon in the short time that we have is to outline some of the ways in which the British government is helping to meet the challenges of under development. I shall cover our response to the needs of the voluntary sector, of Eastern Europe, of Africa and I shall say a particular few words about the needs of children, the subject which is of course at the very heart of your work. Perhaps I should start by telling you something I'll not be talking about and that is the subject of financial resources and how Lynda's getting on in her discussions with chief secretary, I don't suppose that comes to you as any surprise but I shall I not be talking on that but let me say that we remain committed strongly to a substantial aid programme which as far as possible is directed towards the poorest countries. We continue to support activities which will improve the quality of life of poor people. A significant feature of that support is our assistance to and cooperation with the voluntary sector. Last year S C F programmes received almost eighteen million pounds of the hundred and forty seven million which we channelled through N G Os. This was to support your long term development work as well as emergency and disaster relief. The partnership which we've built up over many years with you means that I'm confident that British tax payers and recipients in er dep developing countries are getting the best possible value for money when government supports S C F initiatives... and what is true for S C F is true for the many other M G, N G Os with whom we work. O D A funding of British N G O activities... has more than doubled in the last three years. This is no accident. N G Os have shown over and over again that by working alongside a community they can help identify the barriers to development experienced by that community and they can support the community as it works to make social and economic progress. This work is both a vital and complimentary part of any balanced aid programme. Now I know that the ma vast majority of everyone here is involved in fund raising for the vital work done by S C F. That too challenges government to respond, I believe that our record is a good one. Since nineteen seventy nine... we have done much to extend and improve the tax incentives available in order to encourage individual and corporate donors to give to charity. Government cannot... and should not do everything. In Britain we... have a rich reserve of good will, energy, commitment in our voluntary sector. We would be failing in our duty if we did not seek to ensure that the very considerable effort of the voluntary sector was not translated into tangible benefits to poor people in developing countries. That is why the support of the government to the voluntary sector has grown so dramatically in recent years. Let me give you some examples. Charities are by and large exempt from income tax, corporation tax and capital gains tax. Transfers to charities are exempt from both inheritance tax and from stamp duty. In addition to this... any individual or company making donations to charity under a deed of covenant can get tax relief for their donations. Since nineteen ninety, large single cash donations by individuals and companies attract tax relief. Charities can reclaim pay repayment of basic rates of tax on gifts of as little as even two hundred and fifty pounds. Since nineteen eighty seven it has been possible to arrange for employees to have charitable donations deducted from their pay through the payroll giving scheme. There is also er a very broad range of value added tax reliefs, benefiting charities and the voluntary sectors. Recently... this has meant that V A T relief has been targeted on fund raising by charities such as zero rating of much of their advertising and the sale of donated goods and the exemption of income from fund raising events organised by charities. There are some reliefs where costs cannot be estimated for example on capital gains and inheritance tax lifetime transfer but both direct taxes and... value added tax relief drew in some nine hundred and thirty million pounds on behalf of charities in the nineteen ninety two ninety three financial year. Now this may not be the most compelling subject but it is important for you to know that throughout our term in office, we've not left you on your own as you carry out the task of raising funds for your programme. Now may I say one or two words about our various... several of our bilateral programmes and er perhaps I will start... with er saying a word or two about what the O D A is doing in Eastern Europe. The collapse of communism in the former Eastern block and the disintegration of the former Soviet Union represent a major new challenge the governments have had to face. The particular challenge for donors has been how best to support the fragile but vital process... of transition to a pluralist democracy and market economies in the region. I make no apologies for this... it is self evidently both right and in everyone's interest to do what we can to support this transition process. A process crucial to greater prosperity and stability for us all including developing countries. The needs are substantial. Exposure to market forces and the removal of state subsidies has revealed the weakness of many economic structures in the region. The recent events in Moscow have underlined the difficulties that some of the countries face in establishing new, stable, pluralist systems. Much of our assistance has been in the form of contributions through the multilateral institutions... the European community programmes, the European bank of reconstruction and developing, the world bank. In our bilateral aid the main need was for carefully targeted and flexible assistance in the form of advice, skills and training and our response in this area for our bilateral aid was... the creation of the know how fund for the former Soviet Union and for central and Eastern Europe. They've had a particular focus on assisting the economic transition in the region. For example through health with privatisation of state enterprises and assistance with the creation of small businesses. At a more day to day level we've helped improve food quality in the Ukraine and have provided advice on improving bread supplies in Moscow. We've also worked with a number of N G Os to help the development of voluntary agencies in the region. Both... through the charity know how fund as well as the establishment of special voluntary programmes. In Russia for example we intend to launch a small partnership fund to support small projects promoted by the voluntary agencies in the United Kingdom who've developed a wide range of connections with their Russian counterparts. A substantial number of British N G Os are already responding the challenges of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and many more including er yourselves are beginning to pay... er attention to it. Well I've said a few words about the Soviet Union but I would like to add... that our programme of assistance to the Soviet Union and to other countries in central and Eastern Europe, while it's had to grow rapidly in response to the urgent needs of reg region, it does not... it has not grown and will not grow in any way er which will undermine our commitment to the developing world and er perhaps on that note I might turn to... Africa. We hear much about the seemingly intractable, intractable problems of Africa. Indeed the nineteen eighties was a wretched decay er for that continent, famine... deterioration in terms of trade, higher world interest rates, poor economic policies, undemocratic governments, all conspired against progress in Africa. Africa was fe falling further and further behind but things are changing... economic and political form is taking root across the continent and showing return. The twenty core countries benefiting from the special programme for Africa achieved economic growth of nearly four percent in the year nineteen eighty eight,i the years nineteen eighty eight to nineteen ninety. Faster than before the ruror than before the reforms were introduced and faster than population growth, leaving room there for for some modest increase in average incomes. Now... in the years nineteen ninety one to nineteen ninety two Britain spent... four hundred and five million pounds of its financial aid programme in Africa, about forty percent of the total and we shall continue to respond to the demands and challenges that Africa presents. But external assistance alone cannot deliver sustainable development and st political stability. Success must depend on the efforts and policies of the countries themselves. Africa's reliance on aid is already dangerously high, it is sobering to contrast the difference in aid levels between Asia and Africa. Five pounds per capita in the former... er five dollars per capita in the former against thirty four dollars per capita in the latter. Private investment, domestic... and foreign needs to be increased and the public sector made more efficient and effective. We need to improve the quality of public expenditure with more money on primary health care and education and less on defence and parastatal subsidies. Donors will help, Britain's commitment of five hundred and fifty million pounds for the special programme of assistance to Africa since nineteen eighty, is testimony to that... but African governments must own their reform programmes. Real political commitment to better government and sensible economic policies is essential. The challenge is to strengthen and deepen the economic reform process. Now when talking about economic reform... I am very well aware of the shadow hanging over... most African countries' debt. For some the burden is crippling, threatening their economic viability. Britain has long ha led the way in providing er help. The existing Trinidad terms are a result of a British initiative. They've had the effect of halving the value of payments due to creditors during the period... of an I N F agreement and have benefited seventeen countries so far including thirteen in sub-Saharan Africa. But we're not content in in the government to let it rest there for the... poorest countries, the very poorest countries, even more help is urgently needed. We are therefore pressing for an immediate reduction in the stock of debt for those countries. In pressing ahead we cannot... er overlook the position of the poorest. [break in recording] Reduction to be increased beyond the existing fifty percent to eighty percent for the most needy. Not all creditor countries are ready to go beyond fifty percent and we do need to move forward multilaterally... but there is increasingly widespread support for our proposals. The Tokyo summit called for all ed poorest, most indebted including the possibility of earlier action on the stock of debt. You will certainly not find a more determined or persistent advocate of full Trinidad terms than Britain. But economic reform also needs good government and these are the two major planks of Britain's aid policy for Africa. A free press and the close scrutiny of freely elected assemblies will help to root out corruption and mis-management. A conscious decision is needed to get government out of things the private sector does better and to concentrate government on the basic things that only governments can do. It must for example, ensure an independent judiciary, provide health and education services, basic infrastructure and maintenance and it must bring about the economic environment that allows the private sector to create jobs and growth.... In pressing ahead we cannot... er overlook the position of the poorest, the social costs of not adjusting are much higher and affect many more people than the costs of adjusting... but we must be prepared to help those at the bottom of society to cope and this is where you, as N G Os can play a special role. Let me give you one example. In the district of Ethiopia... the O D As joint funding scheme is assisting with the implementation of a water supply project. In the villages of the region women and children spend many hours each day walking to a spring where the water trickles out of the ground to collect water in twenty kilo twenty litre pots weighing over twenty kilos. The task is anything but easy, particulary for the young children who are involved. By piping water from the perennial spring, this project will provide drinkable water to over fifty thousand people in the region. Village life in this case, is being transformed at the cost of a mere fifteen pounds per villager. So... amidst the doom and gloom that seems to cloud the the African horizon, we can see that aid does work and in the example I've just given, that it works indeed for children. But there's no room for anyone of course to be complacent about the growing er demand of the needs of children er a subject of such importance here. Seventy years ago your founder Eglantine Jebb drafted a revolutionary and challenging document, a charter which stated that each child has independent rights. The message in this charter has as you know, at last received universal acceptance after many years and much determined effort by those concerned. Save The Children are to be congratulated for the part they played in securing the nineteen eighty nine United Nations convention on the rights of the child. Children have rights to health, education, to be free from physical and sexual abuse, to have a voice in the decisions which affect them and to grow up as responsible and active citizens... but in many countries today... many children stoo still do not enjoy these rights. In the worst cases they have even lost the right to grow up in loving and secure homes, seeking to earn their living on the street or separated from their families by war and civil conflict. How can the British aid programme help? The objectives of our development assistance policy are closely related to the convention on the rights of the child. Key aims of the British aid programme are to alleviate poverty and promote human rights. Many of the problems facing children and their families are caused by poverty. We seek to tackle this by programmes which support economic and social development, which improve education and health care and give parents the chance to have children by choice. But as countries move into much needed economic reform programmes we know that children may be the losers in the very short term and that's why in the O D A we are concerned with helping governments develop social policies which provide adequate safety net provision for children during this process of adjustment. Assisting children to achieve a basic education... is one of O D A's priorities. For many years to come there will be generations of children growing up without the chance of an education... so we have yet another challenge, that of the invisible children. Those not even knowing how to read and write. I want us to think for a moment about the rights and needs of all those millions of children who do not go to school, who are invisible... because very often development programmes tend to ignore... er their needs. It is a terrible irony that although they are invisible to the planners... all of us who've travelled in developing countries cannot fail to have noticed these children out of school. They are busy at work in the market place, in the fields, caring for the younger children, fetching water and fuel, pounding mail maize or mending bicycles, selling goods on the streets, they pulling rickshaws. What rights do these children have when their primary need is to survive in often harsh environments and perhaps even help to support their families. Yes children should be at school and not at work but how can we ignore all those millions of others now growing up without this opportunity. It's because of this particular challenge that O D A funded... er the S C F's recent report on children and income generating programme. I welcome the recommendation in this report that income generating programmes for children need consideration... but with great care in their design. Such children must be assisted in gaining education and skills built around their existing work activities. That is what we are seeking to do in our slum improvement programme and in our programmes for children on the streets. Direct government t t government aid is not... always easy because many of the problems are sensitive, like the exploited child labour in carpet factories, like violence against street children. We therefore er very much value the role of S C F er for four particular reasons. First er... in raising national awareness of the problems, secondly in acting as advocates for children, thirdly in piloting new and innovative methods for helping children and fourthly in acting to protect the interests of children who are the victims of disaster. The challenge of meeting all children's needs and of helping them achieve their rights can only be met by concerted efforts of governments... of multi-lateral agencies and bi-lateral donors, as well as by the path-breaking initiatives of N G Os such as Save The Children. I look forward to continuing our partnership. We must have partnership between government and non-government if we are to achieve any degree of success in our aid efforts. If our partnership is a genuine... and practical one, we can go forward to meet the difficult challenges which face us. Not in a spirit of pessimism on the one hand or of complacent expectation on the other, but with an optimism that is founded in the reality of our shared experience. I am glad we have that partnership with all of you here and it is... on that note, on behalf of the government, that I wish you every possible success as you embark upon your seventy fifth year.
[speaker001:] [clapping]
[Mike:] Minister thank you very much indeed. I know, I'm sure everybody here would have appreciated the reminder of the considerable encouragement that this government has given since nineteen seventy nine... erm to... adding to charities fiscal benefits, which has added to our income quite considerably. Very interesting to have a review from you of the O D A's work, both with regard to central and Eastern Europe and the developing world and I'm sure I speak for everybody in saying we are delighted minister... that you spent... the third part of your, your speech looking at... the U N convention on the rights of the child which as you rightly say, is very close to the heart of Save The Children.... Well... that's it... thank you all very, very much indeed for coming. I hope you've enjoyed it, I hope you've enjoyed it perhaps more than... some of us dared to. But it's been I think great fun and I will wish to renew my thanks to those who made it possible and that of course is you by being here. Just before we go... we are going to hear a recording of a song that's been referred to which I think is called the greatest love of all which I'm told we'll all know by heart er this time next year hmm... erm anyway on that note if I may... thank you very, very much indeed and I leave you with best wishes for a highly, highly successful birthday year. Bye.
[speaker001:] [clapping]