Over the past couple of decades thousands of Good Citizenship Awards have been distributed and Roscoe Lectures have been staged by Liverpool John Moores University’s Roscoe Foundation For Citizenship. Here, David Alton explains the background:
Good Citizenship Awards
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_5jV9O6WsM
Roscoe Lectures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGnVfxLl2fk
The next Roscoe Lecture will be given by the Rt.Hon.Andy Burnham MP, Shadow Home Secretary, Thursday March 17th at 5.00pm at St George’s Hall, Liverpool, entitled “What Kind of Country do I want Britain to be”
Tickets available from:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/roscoe-lecture-mr-andy-burnham-mp-tickets-20017054549
Details at: https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/roscoe-lecture-series
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The previous Lecture was given by Dr.Susan Cohen who celebrated the life of Eleanor Rathbone:
‘A life of action: Eleanor Rathbone (1872-1946), Liverpool’s unsung heroine.’
This lecture complements an exhibition at Liverpool Central Library and the launch of the commemorations of Eleanor Rathbone.
Eleanor Rathbone was elected, in 1929, an Independent MP sitting in the House of Commons for the Combined University Seats.. She was also a Liverpool City Councillor (representing Granby Ward from 1909-1934). She was noted for her opposition to Appeasement and Nazism, for championing refugees, welfare reform – particularly family allowances to be paid to mothers – women’s suffrage, and women’s rights in India. In 1919, on the retirement of Milicent Fawcett, she became President of the National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship and was responsible for the creation of the Liverpool Personal Service Society, becoming its first chairman.
Born in Liverpool, at Greenbank, she was the daughter of Gladstone’s Chief Whip, the philanthropist, William Rathbone VI; the grand-daughter of William Rathbone V, Mayor of Liverpool in 1837; and great-grand daughter of William Rathbone IV,(1757-1809), – a close friend of William Roscoe and who, with him, was one of the three Liverpool businessmen to join the Committee for the Abolition of Slavery. She was the cousin of Hugh Rathbone, MP for Wavertree from 1923-24.
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Previous recent lectures:
Thursday November 12th at 5.00pm; Former First Sea Lord, Admiral the Lord West of Spithead: “The Role of the Royal Navy in World War One”
This lecture may be listened to at:
https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/roscoe-lecture-series/audio-downloads
Admiral the Lord West of Spithead – former First Sea Lord
There are few people better qualified than Alan West – the Rt.Hon Admiral the Lord West of Spithead, the former First Sea Lord – to give a Roscoe Lecture on “The Role of the Royal Navy in World War One” – and, with its rich maritime history, nowhere better to give it than Liverpool.
In the first half of the twentieth century the UK was the world’s dominant naval power and our island nation’s survival depended on the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy.
Following the launch of Dreadnought in 1906, the subsequent emergence of destroyers, torpedoes, and submarines fundamentally changed the British Grand Fleet. U-boats, sonar, radio, mines, and early aviation transformed the nature of naval warfare. The deadly battles of Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank and Jutland – along with the sinking, in May 1915, of merchant vessels such as Liverpool’s RMS Lusitania, saw terrible loss of life.
To these events Alan West brings the eye of a historian and the professional steel and insights of a former First Sea Lord and, in Gordon Brown’s Government, the Minister for Security and Counter Terrorism. He began his naval life in 1965 when, during the Nigerian Civil War , he served on HMS Albion, circumnavigating the globe. Whether, through active service in the Falklands and Iraq or, in presenting his Radio Four series “Britain at Sea” ; in leading the Trafalgar anniversary celebrations; or, in challenging the Defence Spending Review, his knowledge, passion, and love of the Navy is unequalled.
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The Most Rev Malcolm McMahon gave his Roscoe Lecture at the Britannia Adelphi Hotel on Wednesday October 28th at 5.00pm: To listen to it go to: https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/roscoe-lecture-series/audio-downloads
The Most.Revd.Macolm McMahon O.P. : “The Common Good”
When, in 1957, John Heenan – later Cardinal Heenan – became Archbishop of Liverpool he told the assembled Liverpudlians that when Cardinal Hinsley was Archbishop of Westminster , Hinsley had once said to him “young man when you wear a mitre, you will discover that it’s a crown of thorns.” That became the title of Heenan’s celebrated autobiography.
In 2014, following in the footsteps of men like Heenan and Derek Worlock, Malcolm McMahon was chosen by Pope Francis to be the ninth Archbishop of Liverpool serving the 574,000 baptised Catholics living in the Liverpool Archdiocese. When he delivers the 134th Roscoe Lecture, on October 28th, we will have the chance to hear first-hand about some of the challenges represented by the crown of thorns which has now been passed to him.
His Roscoe Lecture is entitled “The Common Good” and will examine some of the contemporary ills of society and consider how religious faith and political will can be combined to create a fairer, just, and more equitable society.
The idea of the common good has its roots in the Gospel but also in the writings of Augustine and Aquinas, a Dominican like Malcolm McMahon, and whose words he chose as his episcopal motto (non nisi te – only You [Lord]). Today, “the common good” is a term which is increasingly used in politics, too, with Chuka Umunna and Tristram Hunt recently founding the group “Labour for the Common Good.” Earlier in the year, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury gave a very well received Roscoe Lecture and Malcolm McMahon’s chosen theme will build on that.
It will also build on Malcolm McMahon’s own experiences and his very good understanding of what makes ordinary people, their lives, and their communities tick.
He studied Mechanical Engineering in Manchester before working for London Transport. At College he was a student activist, joining the Young Christian Students movement.
On discerning a vocation to the Order of Preachers, the Dominicans, whose motto is veritas – truth – , he studied philosophy and theology and, in 1982,was ordained by Cardinal Basil Hume. He has a been a students’ chaplain; a parish priest in tough parishes in London and Newcastle; Bishop of Nottingham and, in the UK, is President of Pax Christi, the international Catholic peace movement. He is also Chair of the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales– which oversees 2,200 Catholic school which educate three quarters of a million children.
Building on the ecumenical partnership, of David Sheppard and Derek Worlock, Malcolm McMahon has emphasized the importance of differing denominations and faith working with one another in mutual respect and tolerance. On the day of his appointment he said he was looking forward to:
“working with people from all religious traditions, and civic and political leaders, building up the good relationships which already exist between us, in our endeavour to serve the common good.”
Archbishop McMahon is well known for his kind personality, good sense of humour, his commitment to social justice, and for the emphasis he places on deepening our personal search for truth and definition in our lives. Liverpool John Moores University’s Roscoe Foundation for Citizenship is delighted to be able to host his Roscoe Lecture.
https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/roscoe-lecture-series/audio-downloads
Roscoe Lecture – Michael Morpurgo OBE – Two Initiatives Worthy of Support
At Michael Murpurgo’s Roscoe Lecture – with a capacity audience of over 1,000 people – focus was given to the work of the Reader Organisation – whose work I recently saw first hand during a visit to their offices in Liverpool’s Calderstones Park. Reader is a charitable social enterprise working to bring people and literature together through shared reading groups. See http://www.thereader.org.uk/
In 2014 Reader signed a lease for the use of Calderstones Mansion for 125 years and began transforming the buildings into an international flagship project for shared Reading. Both for those doing the reading, and for those joining the reading groups, this is a transformative and imaginative way of promoting literacy, tackling loneliness, encouraging friendships and breaking down barriers. C.S.Lewis once said “We read to know we are not alone” and with about 1 million people said not to see a friend or a relative during an average week, Reader can make a particular impact on the toxic disease of loneliness.
Michael Morpurgo, is a supporter of Reader and wrote the foreword to the book “A Little, Aloud for Children” – the proceeds of which are donated entirely to Reader. It is an anthology of prose and poetry for reading aloud by Angela Macmillan – and has illustrations by students of Liverpool John Moores University’s School of Art and Design.
Michael says:
“One of my first memories is of being read top by my mother…those are the stories that I remember best and love the most to this day. It is never too early or too late to start. After providing food and shelter, reading to our children and encouraging their own reading is probably the very best thing we can do for them.”
Details of Reader are available at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall this evening. Their website is www.thereader.org.uk you can learn more about their work by visiting the Mansion House at Calderstones Park.
Michael and his wife Clare also have their own wonderful charity, Farms for City Children, which they founded at Nethercott House in Devon in 1976.
The charity offers urban children from all over the UK a unique opportunity to live and work together for a week at a time on a real farm in the heart of the countryside. The charity aims to encourage learning, to raise self-esteem, and to enrich young lives .It is an intense, ‘learning through doing’ experience of a different life – for children who may not know where their food comes from and have limited opportunities to explore the outside world.
They now have three working farms – Nethercott, Wick Court and Lower Treginnis, where they welcome around 3,000 children and 400 teachers a year.
Their main objectives are to promote:
- An understanding of farming, the countryside and food production.
- Social and emotional development through teamwork.
- Immersion and total involvement through a whole seven-day stay a ‘world away’.
- Celebrating success and building self-worth through work and the completion of tasks.
- Learning about healthy eating.
- Using practical, hands-on learning outside the classroom to enhancing the requirements of the national curriculum.
- Drawing on the farm experience and the charity’s literary heritage to promote literacy and storytelling.
- Building and developing relationships.
- Addressing poverty of experience arising not just from economic and social deprivation, but also from the effects of increasing materialism.
For 40 years of dedicated work in establishing and developing Farms for City Children, Clare Morpurgo MBE has been listed for a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Council for Learning outside the Classroom. Voting closes at www.lotc.org.uk on November 13th . The Farms for City Children web site is http://farmsforcitychildren.org/
Michael Morpurgoe – former Children’s Laureate, gave the 132nd Roscoe Lecture entitled “War Boy to War Horse” – which can be downloaded and listened to at:
https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/roscoe-lecture-series/audio-downloads
Michael Morpurgo – acclaimed writer of children’s fiction
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Other Roscoe Lectures being held in Liverpool this autumn:
All lectures are free but please reserve your place in advance via http://roscoelectures.eventbrite.com
Contact LJMU Corporate Events and Engagement team on 0151 231 3668 or email [email protected].
Thursday October 15th at 2.00pm: writer and human rights activist, founder of Waging Peace, Rebecca Tinsley “Monsters and Angels: is genocide part of human nature?”
Black History Month Lecture
The Roscoe Lecture by Rebecca Tinsley Monsters and Angels: Is genocide part of human nature? may be listened to at:
https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/roscoe-lecture-series/audio-downloads
Rebecca Tinsley – Writer and Founder of Waging Peace
Wednesday October 28th at 5.00pm: Archbishop of Liverpool and Dominican, the Rt.Revd.Malcolm McMahon “The Common Good”
Rt.Revd.Malcolm McMahon OP – Archbishop of Liverpool
Browse the archive of lecture recordings and download them for free – click to play in your browser or right-click and select ‘Save target as…’ to download or go to:
https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/roscoe-lecture-series/audio-downloads
Most Revd. Justin Welby – Archbishop of Canterbury
(Baroness) Helena Kennedy QC – human rights lawyer
(Baroness) Valerie Amos – United Nations’ Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Under Secretary,
The late Rt.Hon.Charles Kennedy – former leader of the Liberal Democrats
| Eighteenth Series | ||
| The Most Reverend Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury | The abolition of the global – learning to live in the world in one city | Download audio |
| Professor Brian Schmidt, astronomer | The Universe from Beginning to End | Download audio |
| Professor the Lord Peter Hennessy, author and academic | Watching Prime Ministers | Download audio |
| Seventeenth Series | ||
| Mr Christopher Graham, UK Information Commissioner | The Role of the Information Commissioner | Download audio |
| Baroness Helena Kennedy QC | The Search for Justice in an Unjust World | Download audio |
| Bill Sergeant and Tony Wainwright | Two Stories of Heroism – Chavasse and the Liverpool PALS | Download audio |
| Baroness Valerie Amos | The role of the United Nations in a world riven by conflict, poverty and hunger | Download audio |
| John Fleming, Executive Vice President Europe, Ford Motor Company | Henry Ford once said ‘An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous’ – How does that apply in the 21st Century? | Download audio |
| Ken Medlock | Untitled | Download audio |
| The Rt Hon Charles Kennedy MP | The Case Against Scottish Independence | Download audio |
| His Excellency Diego Gomez Pickering | Meet the Ambassador | Download audio |
| Professor Sheila the Baroness Hollins | Talking about Mental Health | Download audio |
| Sixteenth Series | ||
| Ms Diane Lees, Director General, Imperial War Museum | 1914: Why Remembering the Great War Matters | Download audio |
| Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE | Overcoming Disability and Adversity | Download audio |
| Vava Tampa, CEO, Save the Congo | The Challenges Facing the Congo Today, and the Historic Role of Liverpool & E D Morel | Download audio |
| Mayors and their Cities | The Challenges and Opportunities Joe Anderson OBE, Mayor of Liverpool | Download audio |
| Paul Farley | The Mersey Sound | Download audio |
| John Bird MBE | The Necessity of Poverty | Download audio |
| Fifteenth Series | ||
| Will Hutton | The World We’re In | Download audio |
| Claire Tomalin | In Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens | Download audio |
| Frank Cottrell Boyce | What I Learnt from the Olympics | Download audio |
| Dr Bill McGuire | Waking the Giant: How a Changing Climate Triggers Earthquakes, Tsunamis & Volcanoes | Download audio |
| Dr Farah Faizal | The struggles for human rights and democracy in the Maldives and the price which one man has paid | Download audio |
| Professor David Hilmers MD, former astronaut | 4 Times in Space, An Astronaut Returns to Earth to Grapple with its Challenge | Download audio |
| Rt Hon Alex Salmond MSP | The Case for an Independent Scotland | Download audio |
| Fourteenth Series | ||
| Mr Philip Green, Former CEO United Utilities | Leadership, Philanthropy & Business | Download audio |
| Baroness Ilora Finlay | Cancer, Compassion & Care | Download audio |
| Professor Michael Brown CBE DL | What are Modern Universities Really For? | Download audio |
| Shami Chakrabarti CBE | The Balance Between Human Rights and Security | Download audio |
| Jon Cruddas MP | John Tressell, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists | Download audio |
| Jonny Ball | Past Imperfect – Future Fantastic | Download audio |
| Thirteenth Series | ||
| Lord Justice Sir Brian Leveson | Criminal Justice in the 21st Century | Download audio |
| Lord Mark Malloch-Brown The Changing Face of Africa | The Territorial Army and the Volunteer Ethos | Download audio |
| Baroness Greenfield | TV Brains v Cyberbrains: Which Generation Thinks Best Outside the Box? | Download audio |
| Twelfth Series | ||
| General Sir Mike Jackson, former Head of the British Army | Challenge for the New Model Army | Download audio |
| Richard Stilgoe OBE, Musician & Songwriter | Music and citizenship | Download audio |
| Professor the Lord Alton of Liverpool | Gladstone, son of Liverpool, scourge of tyrants | Download audio |
| Colin Parry, Founder, Warrington Peace Centre | Tyranny and terrorism, how it was defeated in Northern Ireland | Download audio |
| Anne Applebaum, Author and Journalist | Hitler and Stalin: the 20th Century’s cruellest tyrants? | Download audio |
| Eleventh Series | ||
| Roger McGough, Poet | In conversation with… | Download audio |
| Dr Brian Jacques, Author | Liverpool, city of literature | Download audio |
| Loyd Grossman, Chairman, National Museums Liverpool | Dealing with the heritage dilemma | Download audio |
| Professor the Lord Rees of Ludlow | A cosmic perspective on 21st Century challenges | Download audio |
| Peter Sissons, Broadcaster | Liverpool, city of media | Download audio |
| Rt Revd Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York | Liverpool: Where religious faith is part of the solution, not the problem | Download audio |
| Lord Heseltine of Thenford Liverpool | Reflections and changes | Download audio |
| Senator George Mitchell, Architect of the Good Friday Agreement | The challenges facing Western democracies in the 21st Century | Download audio |
| Professor Ian Tracey, City Organist | Liverpool, city of music | Download audio |
| Stephen Broadbent, Sculptor | Liverpool, city of sculpture | Download audio |
| Clive Tyldesley, Sports Commentator | Liverpool, city of sport | Download audio |
| Pascal Khoo Thwe | Survivors: Holocaust, genocide and crimes against humanity Burma | Download audio |
| Philomene Uwamaliya | Survivors: Holocaust, genocide and crimes against humanity Rwanda | Download audio |
| Trude Levi | Survivors: Holocaust, genocide and crimes against humanity Nazi Germany | Download audio |
| Peter Moloney | Liverpool: City of friendship, fellowship, faith, family and football | Download audio |
| Joe Riley | Does Liverpool deserve to be Capital of Culture? | Download audio |
| Paul Robeson Jnr | My father and pioneering the civil rights agenda in the USA | Download audio |
| Tenth Series | ||
| Ms Esther Rantzen, Broadcaster & children’s rights campaigner | The Protection Society needs to provide to prevent vulnerable children from exploitation and abuse | Download audio |
| Mr George Alagiah, Patron of Fairtrade, BBC News Presenter | Multiculturalism | Download audio |
| Peter Sutherland, Chairman of BP | Citizenship, globalisation, free trade and fair trade the role of the multi-nationals | Download audio |
| Mr Adam Hochschild, University of California, author of “Bury the Chains” | The history of the Slave Trade | Download audio |
| Lord Goldsmith, HM Attorney General | How the law holds together a civil society | Download audio |
| Professor John Barrow, Cambridge University, Winner of The Templeton Prize 2006 | Our place in the universe | Download audio |
| Mr Trevor Phillips, Chair Commission for Equality & Human Rights | Understanding the lessons of the killing of Anthony Walker | Download audio |
| Ms Cherie Booth QC | Human rights and the protection of the citizen | Download audio |
