REBUILDING TRUST AND FAITH - CELEBRATING WITH MIDSTREAM

On Sunday, Adrian celebrated with the Midstream organisation at its annual Open Day, presenting certificates to some of the adults with learning difficulties the organisation helps.

He gave the short speech below at the event.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends of Midstream, when Anita asked me to present certificates today at your Open Day I readily agreed because the country needs more organisations like Midstream.

Because our faith and trust in many of our institutions has been badly damaged. Our trust in the political system is at a new low, when so many Members of Parliament seem to have forgotten that their role is to serve not to be on the take and our trust in our financial and banking system has been shattered too. Trust is low and selfishness appears to be the order of the day.

We can't address the problems of our country by relying only on the state on one hand and the individual on the other, yet so much debate in this country focuses on one or the other – “The government must step in and help” versus “I have a right to do this or that”

This neglects the role of civil society that third ingredient in our society which is currently woefully overlooked. For if faith and trust are at a low ebb in politics and finance then it is in civil society that trust and faith can be restored.

For it is in civil society whether it is the family, the football team, the church or in organisations like Midstream that people learn that we all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. That we are stronger together than apart. That depending on others is a natural part of life for all of us.

Midstream exists to provide fulfilling work and training for adults with learning disabilities. Those of you who work and train here depend on others to help you, but we are all of us dependent on others.

Recently, the local Conservatives led an environmental community project in Skelmersdale. Midstream were involved and I came along to help with the tree and shrub planting. Now I've got strengths, but landscaping isn't one of them – that day I depended on you here – what I call the “Groundforce” team at Midstream to help me with the tree and shrub planting – because that is your strength.

When we are mutually dependent in this way, using the talents we have to help others and in our turn being helped where we are weak – trust and faith blossom. People do wonderful things not because they are coerced by some government law or because they have an individual right to do so, but because as a group of people the pursuit of a common purpose brings out the best in each person.

This is so obvious in many ways – when Mary Dowding founded Midstream in 1995, she did so to provide a better environment for her Down's Syndrome son. That wasn't to denigrate the day care centre, Michael Dowding attended but it is to simply underline that government provision established by law and staffed by people on a contractual basis, however professional they may be, will always struggle to achieve what Midstream provides – a true caring environment where selflessness is practiced day in day out and the worth of every member of the Midstream family is celebrated.

Fifty years ago in 1959, Jerome Lejeune, a French doctor, discovered the cause of Down's Syndrome – an extra chromosome 21. He received the John F Kennedy Prize for medicine in 1962. I had the honour of meeting Professor Lejeune in the late 1980's and he made a great impression on me. He was a man who dedicated his life to understanding and seeking a cure for chromosomal diseases such as Down's and the Jerome Lejeune Institute and Foundation in Paris continue that work to this day.

Jerome Lejeune saw in every human being a unique and unbreakable value. People were not valuable for what they could do or their financial worth, but rather for who they were and how much they loved.

His was a labour of love. On his deathbed he said of his work for those with Down's, “I don't have much you see, so I have given them my life.”

We may not have the talent of Professor Lejeune or be able to match his dedication, but we can all play our part in civil society, building the trust and relationships which are so lacking in many ways today – and our presence here today demonstrates that we are doing just that.

There are 55,000 Social enterprises such as Midstream in our country, turning over £27 billion. We need to see these social enterprises grow and more of them established because you have a vital part to play in rebuilding our society.

So thank you for all that you do here at Midstream, I'm delighted to share in your celebrations today – your work is of such quality – and that's emphasised by the achievement of another large gold award for garden design at the Southport Flower Show last month.

The staff here at Midstream can take enormous pride and satisfaction for once again putting Midstream in the spotlight. Well done to them and well done to you all – you are building lives and futures in a way that is simply impossible for government or if we act only as individuals.

Thank you for letting me share your day.

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