In June 2010 Gold Award holder David Speirs travelled to London as one of the inaugural participants of the Peter Cruddas Social Innovation Initiative (PCSII).
The PCSII was established by the Awards’ global benefactor, British entrepreneur Peter Cruddas, to showcase selected gold award holders from around the world and give them the opportunity to learn skills that will assist them to upscale the service project they carried out as part of their gold award.
While in London David was a guest of the Award at Cumberland Lodge on the Royal Estate at Windsor, attended leadership sessions with renowned social innovator Charlie Murphy, went to a church service with the Queen (and had an informal chat with Her Majesty afterwards) and attended an afternoon tea and dinner at Buckingham Palace.
David has described his time in the UK as one of the most amazing events of his life saying:
“It was an absolute privilege to be involved in the program, I met an awesome bunch of people and learnt lots about community leadership, a once-in-a-lifetime experience for sure."
David’s participation in the program recognised his involvement in Friends of the Lower Field River, a landcare group he established with local residents to rehabilitate a suburban river in Adelaide’s southern coastal suburbs.
Friends of the Lower Field River was established in 2006 when local residents living in Hallett Cove became concerned about the amount of rubbish in the river and its reserve. What followed has become a labour of love and has resulted in the revitalisation of the river, its estuary, a surrounding reserve and remnant dune system.
David’s role has been focused on both practical works on the site, and with community engagement activities. The group is passionate about bringing the wider community along on their journey, aware than unless the whole neighbourhood is involved, it is unlikely to be able to make the sort of lasting difference that they want.
As well as planting thousands of trees, shrubs and grasses over the last four years, the group has connected with local schools, run a successful youth forum, launched a website, produced 20,000 brochures to raise awareness the entire length of the catchment, and developed a strategic plan to guide the group’s vision in the coming years.
