Monday 21 July 2008

Photos from the launch, and thank yous

A good friend of mine, Andy Barker, kindly took the pictures at the Launch of the Trust even though she had a cold. You can see them on Facebook if you follow these links:
Album 1
Album 2
Album 3
Album 4

If anyone wants to contact Andy, or have a look at the rest of her work, please go to her website.

I also wanted to thank the talented graphic artist Paul Donnellon for creating the wonderful GBHT logo. You can look at the rest of his work by clicking here.

Praise to John Schwartz too for designing the first GBHT leaflets which really captured the fun feel of the organisation. TU Ink kindly printed the leaflets and can turn around print jobs really fast. They do a lot of work with trade unions and the third sector.

I'm also really grateful to The Atrium Restaurant who gave us a discount on the venue and who tolerated the need for extra wine at the last minute! They do good food and cocktails and it's a lovely venue for all occasions.

Of course none of it would have been possible without the financial support of Apex Communications who funded the launch at the last minute. Thank you Pete and Ed.

Finally, there were so many people who helped to make the launch a success, but I'd like to give credit to our intern Stephanie Tranter, helpers on the day including Claudia Wood, Emma Carr, and Jessica Studdert. BBC help from Joanne Hilditch, Sue Brewer and Lindsay McCoy. Sophie Gunther and Richard Evans for plugging the launch to their colleagues. Anne Reyersbach, Rachael Ellis, and Suzie Butler for organising the year 11's from Bramhall High School in Stockport. And of course, a big last thanks to all the Trustees and Patrons who spread the word far and wide.

Now the really hard work of fundraising begins!

Sunday 6 July 2008

Thanks Malcolm!

Today Malcolm Clark ran the British 10K race in London in 56 mins, 35 secs - he was running for Gareth's Trust which is fab. If you're on Facebook, you can see the pics here. I will repost when Malcolm knows how much he's made, but in the meantime I'd just like to say thanks Malcolm!

Launch event YouTube film

An old friend Nic Careem kindly took this film of Ed Ball's speech at Wednesday's launch, it's a bit echoey but you can hear most of what he said.

We will have pictures taken by my friend Andy Barker soon...

Thursday 3 July 2008

Wow - what a night!

The Gareth Butler History Trust was formally launched last night at the Atrium in 4 Millbank where Gareth used to work and where we met. It was a brilliant evening with over 250 people present.

Tony Robinson spoke passionately about the importance of bringing young people face to face with their history in its original context. Could the Trust help to inspire the next generation of GM Trevelyan's, was Tristram Hunt's question, as he told the gathered audience about the need to get historians out into the field as well as young people. Ed Balls pledged his support to the aims of the Trust and said he hoped that one day support for young people outside of the classroom could be extended much further. Jim Naughtie was a wonderful master of ceremonies, and the three year 11's from Bramhall High School who came all the way from Stockport with their Head of Year Suzie Butler were just fantastic. Everyone was moved by their descriptions of visiting the battlefields last October, and by their confidence in front of so many people.

I've got to dash, and will blog more about the event tomorrow, but here is the speech I gave if you weren't able to make it there in person. I just hope Gareth would have been proud.

Jessica Asato Speech at the
Launch of the Gareth Butler History Trust

I would like to start with a number of thank yous.

First to the BBC for helping to secure the venue, providing the PA equipment and turning out to support this evening in force. In the past months I have seen why the BBC has the qualities of a family and I am proud that Gareth gave so many of his working years in its service.

Second, to Apex Communications and its Directors Pete Bowyer and Ed Owen who came to my rescue at the last minute to cover the costs of food and wine, and who provided a working space for our intern.

Third, to our intern Stephanie Tranter who has worked with dedicated enthusiasm and complete professionalism over the last two weeks. I can see why Sandhurst were sad to lose her, but their loss will be the third sector’s gain I am sure.

Fourth, can I thank all the generous friends who have donated their skills to make the launch possible: Paul Donnellon for designing what I think is a wonderful logo (my interpretation – running up the steps of a castle – what’s yours?). John Schwartz for designing the leaflet and TU Ink for printing it. And Andy Barker for the photographs – I last worked with you on our brilliant wedding day in May last year.

Fifth, to the Trustees – Gordon Marsden, Guy Lodge, Mari Williams, Selman Ansari, Dan Butler, John Parker and Greg Rosen – for signing up to the idea and plugging the event. And thanks too must go to our numerous Patrons – I am very much looking forward to working with you over the coming years.

And finally, to my Mother, Charlotte who I am so pleased made it here today, and to Gareth’s family: David, Marilyn, Dan and Ed who have put their faith in this project and provided so much solace at a terrible, heart-breaking time.


So why are we here? It is not an uncommon reaction for widowers to throw their energies into establishing a memorial to their loved one – it provides a channel for grief and an opportunity to create something positive out of a horrible situation. But I was not convinced at first that Gareth would have wanted to be remembered in a grand way - his was a quiet confidence. He was unpretentious, unshowy and didn’t seek the limelight. Neither was Gareth a massive fan of ‘good works’ – he contributed to only a few charities – he was sceptical sometimes of the ‘cottage industry’ nature of many charities and the inefficiencies found therein. So it was with some trepidation that I talked with friends about creating a long-term organisation in his memory.

But, I think I can say with some certainty that Gareth would be an enthusiastic supporter of the Gareth Butler History Trust. It touches on so many things that he cared about and which defined our lives together.

Gareth’s day job was as a political journalist, but history was his metier. He gained a First in history in Cambridge and often mused whether he should have followed his father into academia. The first book he gave me was The Asquiths – an unusual opening gambit for romance - followed by A Foreign Field by Ben Macintrye, Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks and Forgotten Voices of the Great War by Max Arthur. He particular interest was in the First World War – men from all classes and backgrounds suddenly thrown together in the extremities of existence. Sweet moments of comradeship followed by utter despair. The folly of generals and bravery of ordinary folk. The book Gareth was reading when he died was Peacemakers: the Paris Conference of 1919 by Margaret Macmillan which he was hugely enjoying for its challenge of some of the conventional theories of the Treaty of Versailles.

Gareth’s love of history permeated his relationship with Joel and Sacha his two adored children, who are here today. One game which we used to play on long car journeys was to ask Gareth any date from about 1066 to the modern day which he would follow with an interesting fact about that year or decade. From these trips we learned about the reformation, the Rennaissance, the pioneers in America, and the French Revolution, the suffragettes, the feudal system and also I remember the history of criminal punishment replete with facts about the last use of the capital sentence in this country.

Gareth also strongly cared about the lack of social mobility in Britain today and he had often talked about writing a book charting social mobility through the ages. He worried that the history teaching which had so inspired him at school wasn’t available to all children, and in particular that the curriculum forced teachers to focus on just a few periods of history rather than the sweep of events which formed our nation.

All of these characteristics led to the main idea for the Gareth Butler History Trust which will be to provide funds for disadvantaged young people in state schools to go on school history trips, initially to the Battlefields of Northern France.

School trips are in decline with the number one factor being cost, and particularly so at this time of high oil prices. Hearing from one history teacher about her struggle to find any national funds to take her year 11 history set to the Battlefields, I thought how unjust it was that the very young people who would benefit from getting out of the classroom and going to experience history at first hand were the ones who were least likely to go. Too often school trips are seen as an ‘add-on’ or something to be done if the PTA has had a good fundraising year, which means that they are not viewed as an essential part of the curriculum which should be available to all pupils rather than just those who can afford it. Given that all the research shows the huge benefits to attainment, and social and emotional development, learning outside the classroom can afford, it struck me that here was one area where our education system was compounding social exclusion rather than working to remove it.

Since setting up the Trust, I have been inundated with stories from history teachers telling of their dismay when lacking funds they have to make a choice between taking those children whose parents can afford the trip and leaving the rest behind or abandoning the project altogether. Yet there is so much potential for school trips to lead to wider things. One of our plans is to work with University History Departments to involve history students from state school backgrounds in the trips we fund to encourage young disadvantaged pupils to think about taking history at GCSE and further, opening up the notion that university might be for them. We also want to explore the possibility of taking members of veteran organisations to the battlefields along with students as a way of bringing the generations together. There is also much potential for the Trust to conduct research into the best ways of educating young people outside the classroom in history and we are very pleased to be working closely with the ‘Learning Outside the Classroom’ team at the Department for Children Schools and Families who will be launching a package of support for teachers in the Autumn. I am delighted that the Secretary of State is here to formally launch the Trust and hope that we can work together to grow the organisation over the next few years.

I am also delighted that we have three year 11’s here to talk about their experiences of going to the Battlefields of Northern France. It will be seeing the impact on young people of going to the Battlefields next year which will provide the first real sense of the merit of this charity. It was once said that those who do not understand history are condemned to repeat it. The past teaches us how we arrived at where we are today and it is therefore the grounding for knowing where we might go tomorrow. History is not just a series of lessons. It is also a vivid and extraordinary story and the more young people who can be encouraged to immerse themselves in it the better. As Katharine Anthony said: “The lovers of romance can go elsewhere for satisfaction, but where can the lovers of truth turn if not to history?”

I hope that you will do everything you can to make this a reality for hundreds of disadvantaged children in the future and join myself and the trustees of Gareth’s History Trust on a new and exciting venture. Thank you.