Reflections from Eleanor Potter
It’s hard to believe that more than a year has passed since we formally launched FPA, and what a mad year it’s been!
I’ve learnt a lot over this time, both personally and professionally. The most obvious piece of learning for me at the moment is that I most definitely didn’t miss my calling as a primary / pre-school teacher. Lockdown has been tough going in the Potter household and I don’t think I have ever needed a holiday quite so much as I do now!
We’re here to help you to nourish the amazing ambitions you all have for your places and as we move forward with the programme, we will be with you all the way.
With so much else going on in the world and at home, it’s really hard to keep your eye on the bigger picture. We’ve learnt this year that being ambitious is tough, and that ambition needs a lot of nurturing.
The big issues we’re tackling as a cohort can, at times, feel overwhelming and impossible to overcome, and it’s tempting to take the path of least resistance. We’re here to help you to nourish the amazing ambitions you all have for your places and as we move forward with the programme, we will be with you all the way.
Now back to that holiday. We are (hopefully) setting off for our annual wild and windy camping trip to the Isles of Scilly this weekend. This is the ultimate social distancing destination – empty beaches, kayaking, fishing, rock pooling and (most importantly…?) the most south westerly pub in Britain! This is a trip I have taken almost every year of my life; it’s my leveller, my fix for everything. This is where I fell in love with nature and where my kids are getting to know it too.
The importance of engagement with nature, particularly for children, has always been a passion of mine, and I know that this stems from early experience of it.
A decade or so ago, Richard Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods inspired me to apply this to my work in East London, and I really believe that engaging urban kids with parks can change the world for the better.
The experience we’re going through right now seems at last to be waking everyone else up to what we (as parks and nature geeks!) have always known about the importance of nature to our wellbeing.
I am so excited and hopeful about the possibilities this presents for our sector – if we can emerge from this global crisis with a better understanding of what nature can do for us as humans, then that’s a real silver lining.
