Everyman

Just over the river first thing in the morning. An early morning return to the old “teaching kids about renewable energy” thing. I was in a little school in Stockwell. The energy company often sends a volunteer. Usually it’s someone hoping they won’t lose their job for being a bit useless, and trying to get some kudos by joining the school’s engagement. Essentially it’s often a potato. I’ve got used to running the workshop with a potato next to me, and trying to minimise the damage they do to the attention of the students.

Today was a treat. Today I had a guy who had been to the actual school, and left fourteen years ago. He recognised some of the teachers. When he went to that school he had just arrived in the country from Afghanistan, and spoke no English whatsoever, but he was good at football. So he made friends on the field, quickly got a part in the football team, learnt the language through the need to make friends and also through excellent teachers giving time after hours. I could tell it was emotional for him to come back. He found at school that he had an aptitude for engineering, and now he’s working at a very high level on some of the biggest pioneering projects in this country. We had things to talk about, with all the work I’ve done in alternative energy, and the understanding I’ve picked up over the years of exposure to large scale interference projects like Extreme-E. But he was totally FROM that school. I live fifteen minutes away, but Chelsea and an old Harrovian? I’m always astonished and flattered when they tick the box saying “The workshop leader was like me.”

This is why I keep doing the schools thing though is for days like today. It’s paid well enough, sure, and sometimes it’s a slog where discipline is bad and nobody believes they have a hope and can’t be persuaded in the time I’ve got. But they do have hope, these curious tricky young ones. I’m sure there’ll be some people already now starting an engineering job from a hard upbringing as a result of one of then bizarre sessions they’ve had with a slightly mad-haired bearded eccentric who doesn’t seem to be wedded to dogma but does seem to care about humanity and the fact we are boiling ourselves out of the picture for greed. They get links and a strong suggestion to follow them. I’m leading a lot of horses to water. They can choose to drink or not. So good to have such a passionate and relatable volunteer.

I finished at 11am. Went round the corner to a pub in Balham and got filmed in the audience for Boatman Town, a poetic rethink of Everyman pioneered by Helen Eastman and Creation Theatre. Gorgeous work. What a lovely day.