Power to the People

Last week we had the pleasure of welcoming Nick Maisey, Director of Befriend, to join us at Barnwood for a few days. Befriend is an Australian based not-for-profit organisation sparking an inclusive, connected world.

Based in Perth, Befriend are a community of more than 5,500 people from diverse backgrounds and all walks of life. Their mission is to make it easy for people to get connected. They break the barriers and social rules that get in the way of making diverse friendships happen: It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what you do, or what you believe in, Befriend values everyone.

Nick is one of 10 Australians who have been awarded a Social Change Fellowship with Westpac in 2017, giving him the opportunity to undertake international travel to visit inspiring people and organisations to enhance his learning of world-leading approaches to enabling inclusive, connected communities. As part of his fellowship he visited Barnwood to find out more about our community building practices. It was an invaluable exchange of ideas across continents.

Nick has written a thoughtful and reflective blog about his visit to Gloucestershire, entitled Power to the People:  https://nickmaisey.wordpress.com/2017/10/15/power-to-the-people/