Bursting the bubble

Part 3 – Now what? Where is the bubble?

I asked in the opening paragraph, what else lies beyond the bubble, and so far, a fair amount. Over 60 countries, hundreds of cultures, languages, moments of joy and also despair. But what now? The answer - Project Sahel. During the London to Cape Town Expedition I started a PhD (as I ran out of cash 5 months in!) with the aim of creating poverty alleviating technologies for rural communities across the globe based on my experiences throughout Africa. Now, I want to combine the research skills I have built during my PhD working with the world leaders in my sector and my love of the African continent with my previous expedition experience to launch Project Sahel.

Project Sahel is a scientific research expedition that simply looks to understand the energy needs of the Sahel Region (the southern border of the Sahara Desert) through a novel method I developed as part of my PhD. We will train local Sahel based researchers to carry out the work, run an expedition from the most western to most eastern point of Africa (Senegal to Somalia) to promote the research, make a series of documentaries highlighting some incredible stories through the voice of local people and in the end leverage the data set we produce to work with private sector organisations giving 100,000 households sustainable energy access. This is my Everest.

The budget is close to £1,000,000, the stakes are high, the rewards are immense and in the end hundreds of thousands of lives will change for the better. This is my contribution to creating a fairer and more equal world.

In an ideal world, the cash, resources, connections and partners would appear before me and that would be that. However, as I’ve learnt since that first expedition you have to work a lot of hours at 5 pounds an hour to earn £1000 let alone £1,000,000! This is where I need help - corporate partners, expedition sponsors, CSR programs, research institutions, film makers, explorers, scientists and medics – this is where I need you. Not only can this be my contribution to creating a fairer and more equal world, it can also be yours. You can experience the joy of changing someone’s life for the better who has always struggled to survive.

But be under no illusions this is not charity, this is not westerners imposing technologies on Africans, this is sustainable development driven by Africans for Africans. This is creating research skills that will allow young Africans to change the world they live in, this is creating opportunities for African education, business and improved livelihoods – a privilege that we as ORs have had all our lives. This is creating a fair and equal world for all no matter where they are born.

If you would like to be part of Project Sahel, then email: benjamin.robinson@nottingham.ac.uk

Top: Checking for ‘soft spots’ after getting stuck the previous day in the Moroccan Sahara. Above: Project Sahel

WHEELBARROWS

TO BEER BARRELS 2020 sees the 50 year anniversary of the opening of the Junior Common Room, and this most auspicious occasion in the history of Radley could not go past unremarked.

Boys self-serving alcohol at Radley. This was the proposal put forward for consideration to Dennis Silk in just his first year as Warden. As an idea it was quite progressive for the time and according to Michael Hodgson (1965), Senior Prefect in Michaelmas Term 1970, the Warden’s concern was that the facility would attract the more rebellious elements and might get out of control. Therefore, in the Summer Term 1969, it was suggested to Martin Stanley (1965) that the Warden thought the position of inaugural Secretary of the JCR might be one that would suit him.

Martin had been a stalwart of the 2nd XV that year and so already had a good relationship with the don in charge of the creation of JCR and 2nd XV coach, Peter Le Roy (PJL). The two of them set to work, going on fact-finding trips to other schools to get ideas on how this sort of enterprise might work, and the JCR committee put together the rules and regulations, in conjunction with Common Room. By Martin’s own admission, when it came to the administration and set up of the JCR, “whilst it was nominally me, the stark reality is that he [Peter Le Roy] did most of the work, and I swanned around pretending I understood what was going on”. But whilst the administrative work for the JCR may have been Common Room-led, much of the physical work to transform the cellars under Mansion was actually undertaken by the boys themselves. As an article about the JCR in the The Radleian from Lent term 1971 states, it “was started off with two years of voluntary labour by the boys who scraped off the plaster on the roof and lowered the floor a foot then during the summer holidays professional builders finished the job...

Through the terms from 1969 to 1970, voluntary labour was used and those who worked down there’s work was much appreciated, though (needless to say) work there took longer than expected. Things seem to have changed a lot since Summer 1970, when it was a complete quagmire with the air full of dust, with various figures toiling in the gloom, carting barrow-loads of mud, chipped brick, glass and plaster from seemingly endless piles. The worst work was the removal of the plaster from the ceiling, during which one was invariably covered with debris ranging from fine dust which got everywhere to chips which got into the eyes and even the occasional brick!”

The extent to which the boys were involved, is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that even the Senior Prefect of Lent Term 1970, Simon Eliot (1965), recalls “time in the bowels of the Mansion scraping paint off the bricks. I had a much-reduced academic timetable for various reasons and therefore spent longer than most during those cold weeks trying to make the cellars habitable.”

However, by the time the JCR was opened by the Warden in Michaelmas Term 1970, Martin Stanley recalls that the boys were left to run it by themselves, with just guiding oversight provided by PJL. Boys were rostered on to perform the barman duties, with responsibility for cashing up and closing up. With two handpull pumps and barrels behind the bar, the aim to have a grown-up, clubroom feel was a success from the off. The same article for The Radleian notes that “Amusements in the Clubroom are talk, darts, dominoes and drink (the last inevitably being the most popular) and last term the Clubroom was used very successfully by ‘C’ social for their social dance”. There would be many more Social dances and other events in the years that followed, however music was (and is still) avoided in general in the JCR. The idea that this would be a place for conversation as “members chat over their beer”.

The question was, would this experiment work?

Right & Below: JCR being used for a school dance with one of the local girls schools, c.1972.

A springboard to success

The JCR story is taken up by David Sellar (1967) – who, with his two brothers, followed their father to Radley, and whose own great-nephews are currently in K Social.

“I was asked to take on the role of Hon Secretary in 1971-72, with the continuing President, Peter Le Roy. We had regular committee meetings in the Singleton Library with formal minutes kept in a hardbacked book.

The JCR was open for 1-1½ hours on Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays, with a shorter session on Sunday. The ‘on tap’ beers, which were rotated, usually included Whitbread, Watneys Red Barrel and Morlands of Abingdon. The bottled beers were generally more interesting and some much stronger, Newcastle Brown being a much in demand brand. Over 18s were allowed 1½ pints on a Saturday!

We had a memorable JCR dance in Summer 1972, with music provided by Will Bailey’s newly formed disco. This was the springboard for great success over many years. The girls were a lively crowd from St Mary’s, Wantage (latterly merged with Heathfield). I recall ascending the ‘lighthouse steps’ to the roof of the Mansion with the head girl. Amazing view from there as well! At the end of my time at Radley we realised that we would remember our experiences for the rest of our lives. The building blocks for our future was built on the strongest of foundations: compassion, steadfastness and humility being some of the core values.