Saluting their mentor
He was an energetic full-time volunteer well into his seventies, a voracious learner and a former director of social work for Strathclyde who was renowned for bravely giving miners financial support in the teeth of political opposition during the 1984/5 miners’ strike.
His interests and activities were legion: he was as fired up about child poverty as he was about climate change and couldn’t go on holiday without finding a new cause.
For Fred Edwards, obstacles were there to be overcome, dismantled or simply brushed aside, a quality that impressed and inspired those who saw him in action. When he died in October 2008, aged 77, his loss was keenly felt not only by his former colleagues working in social work, but by more recent ones in the environmental movement, the church and the voluntary sector.
Following Mr Edwards’ death, a group of friends and admirers came together, motivated by a shared desire to commemorate his remarkable life. The last thing he would want is a statue, they agreed; he would want to be remembered in a way which, to use one of his favourite phrases, “made a difference”.
And so the Fred Edwards Trust will be launched later this year. It aims to do something innovative: to inspire others in the way that Fred himself did. “He left people with an enhanced feeling of capability, a belief in themselves and in their capacity to make a difference,” notes Simon Pepper, the former head of WWF and a founder of Scottish Environment LINK, which Mr Edwards chaired.
As trustee Alan Dickson, chief executive of Capability Scotland, puts it, Mr Edwards was “a catalyst”, a person who recognised talent in others: “He created an environment where people could flourish.”
Mr Edward’s work was guided by four principles which will inform all the trust’s work: social justice; ecological integrity; an understanding of economic ideas and how they impact on people; and a global world view.
To promote these aims, the trust is setting up a collective mentoring scheme. It will work by bringing together groups of eight or more individuals, chaired by a facilitator, who will discuss problems encountered in their work, particularly their voluntary work. They will learn from one another. The facilitator will then help the group develop points for action. This is crucial: Mr Edwards was focused on turning words into deeds.
The trust’s intention is to start with four groups and build from there, setting them up around Scotland. Anyone of any age may take part, though it is hoped that the scheme will help shape the approach of future leaders by encouraging them to embrace Fred Edwards’ guiding principles. “A lot of schemes are about how you climb the greasy pole,” says Alan Dickson. “Ours is more about ensuring these principles guide what you do.”
The start-up costs for the trust have been covered by LINK and Capability Scotland, but more fundraising activity will follow.
On October 25, the trust will be formally launched in Edinburgh. Each year, the trust aims to hold a major event, starting this year with a lecture given by the zoologist and broadcaster Prof Aubrey Manning.
This is only the beginning, however: the trust hopes to broaden the scope of its activities in future. Sandy Cameron, the trust chairman, says: “I believe the trust can make a wide-ranging contribution to Scottish lives and citizenship for the future. I hope the initiative receives the widespread support it deserves.”
One person who is enthusiastic about the power of mentoring is Sam Gardner, 33, climate change policy officer for WWF Scotland who was inspired and supported in his own career by Mr Edwards.
“I really got to know him after a failed interview for a job at a charity where he was on the board,” he says. “The feedback I got from him was so positive and constructive that we stayed in touch. We built up a relationship off the back of something that could have been a very negative experience.
“His ability to give a sense of the possible was very striking. He gave me the impression that not only was I capable and competent, but I could get results. It was a very empowering message.”
Mr Edwards was also loved for seeing the person, not the trappings of office or status. “I was always struck by his absence of prejudice,” says Sam Gardner. “He was always genuine. I don’t especially have heroes, but in the case of Fred, I would strive to be like him in every way.”
Mr Edwards’ widow Mary, his second wife, says: “I am enormously humbled that people are so inspired by him and I’m very proud to have been his wife.” Not that he was a saint, she adds. “He was always striving to be a good person but as he said, his appetites got in the way.”
His second marriage, she says, was his “second chance”: during his first, he was extremely busy as director of the largest social work area in Europe. He was also a demanding boss with very high standards, she adds: not everyone enjoyed working with him.
“He had his own frailties,” says his friend and neighbour, Brian Watt, another trustee. “That’s why he got the best out of people – because they could sense that.”
Mr Edwards, then, was an admirable man, but did not represent an unattainable ideal. He learned to be the man he was and his friends hope others, through the Fred Edwards Trust, will be able to do the same.
To join the mentoring scheme, make a donation, or attend the launch event on October 25 at the Playfair Library, Old College, Edinburgh, call Kate MacColl on 01738 630 804.
www.frededwardstrust.org.uk.
Similar Posts:
- How television could save the lives of Scotland’s 40-something couch potatoes Case study
- Swinney agrees new loan plan to fund Ravenscraig
- Watchdog exposes crisis in £3 billion care network
- Guaranteed nursing jobs are part-time
- Oral pain relief for £1
