It's too long between blogs but there's been activity.
I'm inspired by the speedy 'yes' from the team who have said yes to getting together and looking at Awa Kiore.
The team consists of Peter Kane, Sean O'Sullivan, Angus Hartley, Chris Abbott and John Egan.
We are meeting on Wednesday March 17 at 5.30pm at the boardroom of DLA Phillips Fox, courtesy of partner Sean.
Thanks everyone.
Ned Tapa's work with young people at risk in Whanganui is inspiring and he will be at the gathering to see what's possible.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Boy Oh Boy Whanganui 3
Well, it's Feb 24 and too long between blogs.
To move 'Boy Oh Boy Whanganui' forward, since my Feb 1, I had a meeting in Wanganui two weeks ago with three men I've known for a while.
Ned Tapa, who is involved with iwi and support programmes for young people, Ross Mills who was a busy dad around school like me a few years ago in Whanganui, and Tasi Sua, who I played rugby with and who has a lot of mana in his work with Child Youth and Family.
Out of that discussion it emerged that Ned's work was underfunded. So we agreed that getting together a team in Wellington to source funding would be good. And the most logical thing is to make it Whanganui old boys.
So far Sean O'Sullivan, Angus Hartley and Peter Kane have agreed to get together. Sean has offered his company boardroom for a meeting. They were all in Ned's year at school. I also have two others I'll be asking.
I'll keep you posted
To move 'Boy Oh Boy Whanganui' forward, since my Feb 1, I had a meeting in Wanganui two weeks ago with three men I've known for a while.
Ned Tapa, who is involved with iwi and support programmes for young people, Ross Mills who was a busy dad around school like me a few years ago in Whanganui, and Tasi Sua, who I played rugby with and who has a lot of mana in his work with Child Youth and Family.
Out of that discussion it emerged that Ned's work was underfunded. So we agreed that getting together a team in Wellington to source funding would be good. And the most logical thing is to make it Whanganui old boys.
So far Sean O'Sullivan, Angus Hartley and Peter Kane have agreed to get together. Sean has offered his company boardroom for a meeting. They were all in Ned's year at school. I also have two others I'll be asking.
I'll keep you posted
Monday, February 1, 2010
Feedback
It's amazing when you put something out there how you and your thoughts (2 separate things) grow with the feedback you get.
My follower, Amber (thanks Amber...loved the wedding photos and I trust the world honeymoon is fantastic), came up with the idea of bringing a bit of me to the Good Fullas in Focus gathering with some of my food skills. Of course!
Date and time is set, 1pm, Sat Feb 13 at my daughter's place in Whanganui, where Cheryl and I are babysitting our grandkids for that weekend. Email me on bernie.whelan@gmail.com or text 027 4548446 for the address.
In my first post I talked about not being too clear about how to go forward - hence the gathering.
As I've shared my thoughts with people in Whanganui one of the more consistent reactions has really got me thinking.
The consistent reaction is that I must be talking about a lower socio-economic group that pops up more regularly where growing good boys is a problem.
The reaction is understandable. Part of my thinking for this project stemmed from the fact that this is the group that more often pops up in the media when there is a violent event in Whanganui (or anywhere in NZ) that affects a family.
But seven to 10 years ago we were going through through problems with a daughter and I had a violent reaction to it.
I did a course with the Whanganui Living Without Violence Trust which was fantastic.
I've shared that a few times now with people when I've been talking about the project, and was doing so again earlier tonight, which made me realise that perhaps the trust might be a good focal point for my project.
Perhaps it could be a fund-raising event for the trust.
I'll call them in the morning.
Also...for anyone who hasn't heard of DIY Dads, here's an inspiring website for fathers:
www.diyfather.com
My follower, Amber (thanks Amber...loved the wedding photos and I trust the world honeymoon is fantastic), came up with the idea of bringing a bit of me to the Good Fullas in Focus gathering with some of my food skills. Of course!
Date and time is set, 1pm, Sat Feb 13 at my daughter's place in Whanganui, where Cheryl and I are babysitting our grandkids for that weekend. Email me on bernie.whelan@gmail.com or text 027 4548446 for the address.
In my first post I talked about not being too clear about how to go forward - hence the gathering.
As I've shared my thoughts with people in Whanganui one of the more consistent reactions has really got me thinking.
The consistent reaction is that I must be talking about a lower socio-economic group that pops up more regularly where growing good boys is a problem.
The reaction is understandable. Part of my thinking for this project stemmed from the fact that this is the group that more often pops up in the media when there is a violent event in Whanganui (or anywhere in NZ) that affects a family.
But seven to 10 years ago we were going through through problems with a daughter and I had a violent reaction to it.
I did a course with the Whanganui Living Without Violence Trust which was fantastic.
I've shared that a few times now with people when I've been talking about the project, and was doing so again earlier tonight, which made me realise that perhaps the trust might be a good focal point for my project.
Perhaps it could be a fund-raising event for the trust.
I'll call them in the morning.
Also...for anyone who hasn't heard of DIY Dads, here's an inspiring website for fathers:
www.diyfather.com
Sunday, January 24, 2010
It's a boy!
Welcome to the birthing of this blog, Boy Oh Boy, Whanganui.
Boy Oh Boy, Whanganui, will follow a project I have undertaken which focuses on raising good young men in Whanganui.
The project is part of a course called Self Expression and Leadership, a three-month programme run by training and development business Landmark Education.
A key element in the course is taking on a project that inspires me.
While I no longer live in Whanganui, I was raised there and returned there to raise a family.
It's a great place with great people and I still have family there, including two grandchildren
Here's how my thinking started with this project:
Whanganui is a typical Kiwi place where boys can grow to young men with less power and inspiration than they deserve - they don't get to see what's really possible in life at a young age. The results are actions like violence and broken families. It has become generational. And it is not confined to a particular socio-economic group. It just looks a different way in different socio-economic groups.
Here's what I've done so far:
I've swapped emails with Celia Lashlie, author of He'll be OK: Growing Gorgeous Boys into Good Men, exploring the idea of an event she may speak at. She's open to the idea.
I've talked with various friends in the city about the project and will continue to do so, exploring ideas.
I was put onto one interesting contact, Joseph Driessen (www.educationanswers.com), a former Whanganui teacher and now leading international educator in boys' education who was great to talk to. He suggested we can't look at boys 'problems' in isolation from girls. He said a lot of good work was already being done by in various sectors, and perhaps given the scale of the issue, perhaps my energies would be better placed working inside a good existing programme that did not have a presence in Whanganui, such as Project K.
I liked the sound of that, made email contact, and they recommended I have a look at their web info (www.projectk.org.nz) and get back to them. That's work in progress.
My plan also includes getting a group of men together, ordinary blokes who have been boys, fathers, husbands, grandfathers, sons, as a focus group (I like the sound of 'Good Fullas In Focus'), to chew over the issue. That will be on the weekend of February 13-14 (time to be set) for a couple of hours. Anyone interested is welcome to join us.
And I will be continuing to do more interviews on this.
And that's where I am at right now.
All feedback welcome.
B-)
Boy Oh Boy, Whanganui, will follow a project I have undertaken which focuses on raising good young men in Whanganui.
The project is part of a course called Self Expression and Leadership, a three-month programme run by training and development business Landmark Education.
A key element in the course is taking on a project that inspires me.
While I no longer live in Whanganui, I was raised there and returned there to raise a family.
It's a great place with great people and I still have family there, including two grandchildren
Here's how my thinking started with this project:
Whanganui is a typical Kiwi place where boys can grow to young men with less power and inspiration than they deserve - they don't get to see what's really possible in life at a young age. The results are actions like violence and broken families. It has become generational. And it is not confined to a particular socio-economic group. It just looks a different way in different socio-economic groups.
Here's what I've done so far:
I've swapped emails with Celia Lashlie, author of He'll be OK: Growing Gorgeous Boys into Good Men, exploring the idea of an event she may speak at. She's open to the idea.
I've talked with various friends in the city about the project and will continue to do so, exploring ideas.
I was put onto one interesting contact, Joseph Driessen (www.educationanswers.com), a former Whanganui teacher and now leading international educator in boys' education who was great to talk to. He suggested we can't look at boys 'problems' in isolation from girls. He said a lot of good work was already being done by in various sectors, and perhaps given the scale of the issue, perhaps my energies would be better placed working inside a good existing programme that did not have a presence in Whanganui, such as Project K.
I liked the sound of that, made email contact, and they recommended I have a look at their web info (www.projectk.org.nz) and get back to them. That's work in progress.
My plan also includes getting a group of men together, ordinary blokes who have been boys, fathers, husbands, grandfathers, sons, as a focus group (I like the sound of 'Good Fullas In Focus'), to chew over the issue. That will be on the weekend of February 13-14 (time to be set) for a couple of hours. Anyone interested is welcome to join us.
And I will be continuing to do more interviews on this.
And that's where I am at right now.
All feedback welcome.
B-)
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