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Five years ago I started to write this blog for London District. The idea was to provide a two or three minute easy read to share safeguarding news, policy updates, details of training opportunities and commentary on national news items through a safeguarding lens. It became a feature of the Weekly News. In this way the topic could be kept in the public, well, Methodist, eye. Over the years I’ve added summaries of research, offered best practice tips, quoted survivor insights and if I’ve mentioned our obligation to ‘recognise and respond’ once, I’ve mentioned it dozens of times. Now over 200 pieces later, I am about to retire (again), this time from my Connexional Safeguarding Team post and so it makes sense to take stock and possibly think about a fresh approach. I will still retain strong links with Methodist safeguarding nationally and in London, but over the summer, when the blog traditionally has a holiday, I’ll give some thought to a possibly different format and frequency. The blog, as regular readers will know, has from time to time wandered off into more esoteric areas such as offering cultural and safeguarding insights from the lyrics of obscure 1960s music groups, as well as updating you on the travails of Crystal Palace Football Club. Patchwork quilts, art exhibitions and the deeper meanings of Paw Patrol have also featured. Safeguarding is sometimes badged, dryly, as simply a health and safety matter, but the blogs have tried to show that it is far more than that, an absolutely integral part of being church and saying clearly who we are and what we stand for. The hopefully, sometimes humorous, excursions have been attempts to bring it to life, giving it vibrancy and colour. I’d hesitate to say the blog is syndicated in any way but it can be accessed via a button on the Church’s safeguarding pages, and I’ve seen it linked to church newsletters in all parts of the country. My own church adds it to the weekly ‘Take Note’ So hopefully some of the key messages have reached a wide audience. It’s been a privilege to write on such a regular basis, and I do plan to continue writing from September. So this is au revoir for the summer, definitely not goodbye, Thanks for loyal reading, if you have been, and enjoy the summer, especially if you are flying, travelling by train or crossing to France from Dover. And guess what, Palace are playing Arsenal on Friday week, so the weekly angst will return. Everything comes around again so quickly.

It’s hard to ignore the main news story this week, so I trust, if the forecast is to be believed, that by the time this is published cooler weather is well on its way. Advice and guidance seems plentiful and with an emphasis on hydration, keeping the curtains closed and staying out of the sun, hopefully all will be as well as can be expected. Red is not my favourite colour. There are a number of reasons for this that I won’t share here for fear of causing offence in some footballing circles! But a red light or flag is the obvious way of attracting attention and telling us to stop right where we are or whatever we are doing. We ignore it at our, or someone else’s, peril. But the red flag is also a message that tells us that we might need to do something straightaway. This week it’s checking on the vulnerable, whether young or old, and paying attention to pets and other wildlife. So when we receive a receive a report about an individual’s concerning behaviour that warns of danger, or sadly tells us about something that may have already happened, there is no time to waste. Something has to happen as soon as possible to prevent potential or further abuse. As this column often reminds church communities, recognition that something is amiss should be the red flag which makes us respond. Our Foundation level training promotes the ‘4 Rs’ mantra that goes on to include refer and record. It also stresses that the first person who learns about a concern is not solely responsible for what happens next. A team approach is vital, but seeing that first red flag and acting upon it is the key to a successful safeguarding plan. The red alert published by the Met Office this week is unprecedented and commentators seem to suggest that more such episodes are likely in the coming years. It has made us all sit up and take notice. In our safeguarding world though, taking notice is not a once in a lifetime event. Keeping an eye open for red flags, that might start out as amber, is what we are about.

In 1964, Harold Wilson once said, reportedly, ‘a week is a long time in politics’. Last week’s momentous events would seem to confirm that maxim. In the space of 7 days, the Prime Minister received the resignation of his deputy chief whip, believed for a couple of days that he had weathered the subsequent storm, before resigning himself on 7th July. For some, the Prime Minister’s demise had been on the cards for some time, whilst for others there was still optimism that he would carry on. How far the allegations about Chris Pincher’s behaviour at the Carlton Club were the final tipping point is debatable, but it is clear that it was the final issue of substance that aroused censure before the Prime Minister himself agreed to stand aside. For safeguarders, it is instructive to follow the sequence of these events, as it holds clues as to how responses to allegations about abusive behaviour can be viewed on a continuum – from prompt resignation, minimisation and aiming to move on quickly to proper investigation and holding to account. Press reports have also focussed on what was already known in government circles and how Pincher came to be appointed to such a key post concerned with party discipline. Survivors of church-based abuse, sadly, can often point to situations where there was already intelligence about concerning behaviour, and yet the alleged perpetrator’s actions were downplayed or contextualised in in an unhelpful way. They may not have been promoted, but were often moved away with no obvious consequence. Arguably, the people who make decisions about what to do next on first learning about a worrying matter, carry a great weight of responsibility. It will not always be obvious what to do and many factors will impact on their choice of direction. But act they must, and with a survivor first and zero tolerance policy, it should be possible to come to a defensible decision that will be broadly understood by all parties. A quick response suggesting that a resignation is the end of the matter will just not do. Harold Macmillan once claimed that events blew his premiership off course. No doubt other events will take place during the coming (hot) week. We wait and see.

4th of July. Independence Day in the USA, and the country seems split by several key issues that polarise political and public opinion, whether it’s gun ownership or abortion rights. Students of history will recall the split that took place after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and the civil war that broke out in the following April. The union was divided then by the issue of slavery compounded by the ongoing debate about states’ rights and the power of the federal government. With some states immediately banning abortion after the Supreme Court judgement, and other states actively seeking to protect it, there are again echoes of these old arguments, which have never really gone away from the time the new nation was formed in the 1780s. Here, the law runs writ across the whole country, with some variations across the UK nations. Legislation affecting the welfare of children and adults in need of protection in each of the nations is always backed up by (usually) statutory guidance and from time to time particular aspects of the law are tested by legal processes. But there is an absolute expectation that the provisions of the law and the consequent practice requirements will be fulfilled everywhere without exception. One county or London borough cannot decide not to apply the law. So, the question must remain: how is it that some local authorities perform much better than others and some suffer catastrophic failures that have put lives at risk? Sadly in a few places such failures have also contributed to fatalities as we have recently seen. Ofsted reports often single out inadequate leadership, lack of resources, poor communication and decision-making, and low morale as contributory factors when learning the lessons from serious case reviews that take place after a child care tragedy. So despite the law being equally applied, there is considerable scope for variation in the quality of service delivery. Our ambition as a Connexional Church must always be to strive for consistency in our safeguarding work so that whatever happens, and wherever, the quality of response to a concern never varies. The Conference last week received a memorial the intention of which was to further consolidate the progress made in this area by first establishing a casework supervision team in 2018. The drive for a high quality safeguarding service stretching from Shetland to the Scilly Isles is well recognised, such that no one area can pay less attention or even worse fail to comply. The USA looks set for further legal battles ahead. We may not have the same constitutional challenges in our country, nor in the Church, but we must always be alert to the myriad factors that have the scope to derail our agreed goals of maintaining our churches as safe spaces.

How does Sir Paul McCartney keep looking so fit and well? Is it the vegetarian diet? Exercise or affluence? Whatever he does, I’d like some please. In the middle of his marathon set at Glastonbury on Saturday night, was the inclusion of a film clip featuring Johnny Depp. Was this quite the right thing to do? ‘Fans are divided’ say the popular press with those in the know quoted as suggesting it was a strategic move to start a ‘process of redemption’. Two court cases in two countries, one won and one lost, focussing on Depp’s relationship with Amber Heard and referenced earlier in this column, so take your choice. Speaking theologically, and in the context of safeguarding, grappling with the concept of redemption can be tricky. One dictionary defines redemption as ‘the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil’. So how do we know with assurance that someone with a history of inappropriate behaviour has completed the process of redemption and is redeemed sufficiently not to pose a risk or threat? What test do they need to pass and are there grades of pass and failure? I feel I am in danger of getting above my theological pay grade here, but these are real questions that the Church at almost every level has to address when faced with the life stories of individuals that suggest they have made every effort to change their ways. A couple of questions we often ask though is ‘do they really get it?’ and ‘how do we know?’ The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) is nearing its final report’s publication date. One early and key message from the impending report is that in future all ‘child protection work should be victim focussed’, in a sense implying that the perpetrator’s journey of redemption or restoration , however successful, is of less importance. In its response to the interim IICSA report published in 2021 that focussed on safeguarding in faith communities, the Methodist Church welcomed this emphasis on victims’ needs having primacy. Last year, Conference approved a report on the ‘Theology of Safeguarding’ and plans are now in hand to publish training and other materials to support the Church’s engagement with and learning about this topic. A deeper understanding of forgiveness and redemption with relation to safeguarding, and paying due attention to the new provisions in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 that now identifies leaders of religious activities as being in legal positions of trust with regards to young people, means that the bar is now set higher.

Last week it was turn of gymnastics to find itself in the glare of the safeguarding spotlight. The Whyte review, commissioned by the sport’s governing body, published grisly details of ‘desperately hungry gymnasts’, ‘overstretched’ young bodies and their being strapped to bars as punishments by coaches. The review estimated that between 2008 and 2020, 3,500 complaints were made to British Gymnastics. Yet it took a whistle-blower and investigative journalism to uncover what had been going on, making the sport really take notice, with some commentators now beginning to question whether the 16 medals won at the 2012 Olympics were worth it, given the human cost. This column has periodically shared published details of major inquiries into abusive behaviour in sports organisations, as well as churches. Another recent inquiry has been into accounts of racism at Yorkshire Cricket Club. What seems to characterise most of these developments is the initial bravery of one or two people coming forward to tell their story publicly, followed up by detailed and painstaking independent investigation to amass a wealth of information that the relevant authorities can no longer ignore. It’s then that a more formal review is commissioned, perhaps followed by an apology and an action plan that promises to do better. So the questions remain; why does it take journalists and others to uncover what has been going wrong in organisations? Why can’t the organisation itself see for itself what is happening on its own watch? The answers are not likely to be straightforward with reputational protection, concern about a draining away of public and financial support, minimisation of what’s been observed and bureaucratic inertia all having a part to play. All organisations, the Church included, would do well to continue to take a hard look at themselves when a single report of a safeguarding concern is made. The personal, emotional cost to the individual victim who comes forward will have been immense, but the organisation itself stands to lose public trust, credibility and its reputation if later it’s exposed for not having responded promptly and appropriately, especially if the single instance then became a regular stream. Failure to do so could also hit it where it really hurts – in its bank account.

The opening scenes of last night’s new BBC drama series, Sherwood, evoked a whirlwind of memories from 1984. Wherever you stood, or still stand, on the question of mid-eighties industrial relations, the equally strident tones of Arthur Scargill and Margaret Thatcher recalled a highly divisive era that provides the context for Sherwood’s plotline, set thirty years or so after the miners’ strike. I guess now you have to be at least 50 years old to remember the violence and despair shown in contemporary news reports. If you ever travelled by car through Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire at the time, you may also remember canyons of police vans parked near major road junctions on the A1, creating quite an unsettling atmosphere. Sherwood’s premise is that memories run deep in a community scarred by division and, in this case, have current consequences. But evoking memories can also be a positive and powerful tool enabling more elderly people in particular to recall the good times (and possibly the bad ones too) as part of a spectrum of approaches that can support them to feel and keep safe. Over the last year, the Connexional Safeguarding Team has launched a short series of webinars designed to encourage and support churches to develop initiatives that demonstrate that they are dementia friendly, as part of an overall preventive safeguarding plan. The webinars also described where to get advice and information from more specialist organisations that can help churches with this. Some of the suggested measures are very practical and relate to building safety whilst others are linked to making worship accessible and relevant. Some churches have also developed memory cafes, that offer a variety of activities that stimulate discussion and socialisation. Collective, community or individual memories are often stirred through active participation in, for example, craft projects, supported by displaying objects, playing age-relevant popular music or story-telling. This is a very helpful and supportive approach, that also provides an informal setting to share information, advice and guidance to carers and families. It’s a bit noticeable just now that in conversation we often recall what we were doing, or planned to do, in mid-March 2020 before Covid really struck and confined us to a lockdown experience we probably won’t forget in our lifetimes. So it’s worth noting that on 24th March 2020, at a really challenging time, the national charity Action on Elder Abuse changed its name to ‘Hourglass’. The metaphor of time running out or conversely filling with opportunity can be taken either way, but if you want to find out more about what Hourglass does, here’s a link; https://wearehourglass.org Tonight I’ll be catching up with part 2 of Sherwood. My sense is that it will be difficult to put a lid on the community memories.

The other big story of the last few days was the finale of the Amber Heard and Johnny Depp court case in Virginia. The outcome raised some difficult and painful issues about belief and court room performance, the public taking sides on social media and differences between legal systems and processes on either side of the Atlantic. If I learned anything from this case it was the new (to me) acronym of DARVO which stands for ‘Deny, attack, reverse victim and offender’, which seemed to be the strategy of Depp’s legal team as far as I could see. Although I think both teams seemed to play the game. Wikipedia suggests that DARVO is a ‘common manipulation strategy used by psychological abusers’ in particular. But we can also see it as a well-established means by which sexual abusers try to turn the tables on their accusers. Evidence from court cases shows how defence lawyers can use this technique to a lesser or greater extent, making victims re-live traumatic events, vigorously challenging their testimony, and, in so doing, potentially impact negatively on their wellbeing. Courtroom TV drama often presents this approach quite starkly to make the point. The main concern arising from the Heard-Depp outcome is the likelihood that some victims will now be even more wary of reporting abuse, making allegations and following cases through to trial. Sadly this is not really new – we know this already. Characteristically, it is normally a female accuser who is portrayed badly by the system, and this fact can also reinforce any entrenched misogyny. Support is offered to victims/survivors coming forward, but can it ever be enough to challenge the combination of a highly adversarial legal approach, the weight of social media interest (and not just in high profile cases) and the personal emotional toll? ‘Courage, Cost and Hope’ was the title of the Methodist Church’s Past Cases Review report published in 2015. It was so entitled because the report’s author began to appreciate how these three qualities when brought together could start to make a real difference to those who had experienced abuse in the Church and had come forward to tell their stories. One respondent stressed how the process of the review had allowed a glimmer of light into her darkened life. A lit candle is a motif that now runs throughout our training material. As the late Leonard Cohen also wrote, ‘there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in’. The Church’s job here is to nurture that sense of hope, often starting in a dark corner. Spotting the cracks and imperfections may be one way to start to seek justice.

Depeche Mode were never one of my favourite bands, I’ll admit. I never really got the post punk electronica melange that also seemed to herald the way for the New Romantics. I stuck with loud guitars, as I still do. On Friday last it was announced that Andy Fletcher, Depeche Mode’s keyboard player had died suddenly, aged 60. An obituary in my newspaper revealed something about his early Christian faith and that he had been a member of the Boys Brigade all through his childhood until he was 18, just as the band was taking shape in 1980. As so often happens, it’s only in death that we learn so much more about the person we have lost. Parked opposite our church on Sunday was a large, black SUV. Very shiny and clearly new from its registration plate, with tyres that did not look as if they had graced much tarmac, let alone a muddy off road trail. It attracted a lot of interest principally because of a bright yellow DVLA wheel clamp attached to one of its wheels, and a legal notice stuffed beneath the windscreen wipers. Typically this would be because of unpaid road tax, but who knows? As we drove home, we noticed two more clamped, but much older, cars. Perhaps it was our neighbourhood’s turn for the clampers. That the clamped SUV was clearly an expensive and recent model, made me, and others I guess, wonder about the back story. Why was it parked here? Did it belong to people who lived close by? Had it been there before? It was all a mystery as we could only speculate. By the time I got home, I’d quite forgotten about the SUV and stopped wondering about its history. But the back story of Andy Fletcher’s life revealed, at least to me, a new aspect which was of relevant interest given the Methodist Church’s close relationship with the Boys Brigade. Positive formative childhood experiences, often forged in teamwork, can help shape adult life, and it was clear that Fletcher had a peacemaker or ‘tiebreaker’ role in the band, holding it together when the two other, probably more front-facing, band members were in dispute with each other. Perhaps the embedded Boys Brigade influence helped along the way? In our safeguarding work, we do well to pay attention to the detail of the back story, the life episodes and experiences that have shaped the present and how people act. Some stories lie deeply hidden and only emerge at critical times. But as with the SUV, it’s thinking about the right questions to ask and making good connections that will help draw them out. I wonder if it will still be there next Sunday?

In deference to a couple of friends and colleagues, I won’t go into detail about the events of last Sunday afternoon that took place at a football stadium in London SE25. But how often do we try to obliterate from our memories events that we would rather not recall such as bad days at the office, a holiday disaster or in some cases a whole football season? Or in the words of one headline this week, aim to adopt a ‘Move on; nothing to see here’ approach. However we may not be totally successful in expunging all those unpleasant recollections, and they can become part of our personal history whether we like it or not. You can probably see where I am going with this week’s piece. However much we may try it’s not easy to ignore unwelcome events, pretend they didn’t happen or imagine they took place in a bleak dream sequence. Sometimes this can actually be more harmful as keeping the lid on or hoping everything will go away creates a pressure cooker effect. At the same time though, we need a time and space when we can reflect, maybe at first privately, and then move on to share our story and feelings with someone we really trust, or a group of likeminded people who’ve experienced something similar. If we have been hurt by the actions of another, having those opportunities are really important as the start of a healing process. If the events happened in a church context, this provides the church with an opportunity to demonstrate high quality pastoral care, whilst equally carrying the threat of getting it wrong if it doesn’t listen and respond well. Again I commend the study guide published last year entitled ‘Reflect and Respond’ that has been written by a group of survivors of abuse for a church that aims to do better. Here is a link to the guide and associated notes to help study group leaders. safeguarding-reflect-and-respond-study-guide-0121.pdf (methodist.org.uk) 3571-reflect-and-respond-leaders-guide-final.pdf (methodist.org.uk) For football fans, there is always next season, even if your team is relegated. New leadership, new players and new tactics may make that little bit of difference that spells the difference between glory and further pain. How successfully the church achieves its goal of continual improvement in the way it engages and supports survivors will be key to enabling them not to suffer in silence.

One Berlin Wall museum – I think there are at least two – seems to play David Bowie’s epic song ‘Heroes’ on a continuous loop at high volume. It makes a fearless soundscape against which to view grainy back and white footage of the wall’s history and more recent colour film of it tumbling down. Fittingly recorded by Bowie in West Berlin in 1977, the song tells the story of doomed lovers from either side of the wall. It’s electrifying in its repetitive, relentless intensity, and carries huge emotional heft as you stand alongside a crumbling but preserved stretch of it. In August 1991 Estonia declared its independence from the Soviet Union after four years of the ‘singing revolution.’ On one day, earlier in 1991, hundreds of thousands of Estonians joined with Latvians and Lithuanians in a long cross-border Baltic line to sing patriotic songs of protest that finally persuaded the local administrations that radical change was necessary. This was the culmination of Estonians in particular taking every opportunity to sing their songs in public places. When it really mattered thousands surrounded Soviet tanks and sang at the crews. The Tallinn city museum presents another moving musical exhibit that describes this. And so to Turin in May 2022, and Ukraine’s astonishing victory in the Eurovision Song Contest, carried along on an amazing tidal wave of public support. With a modern take on traditional tunes, the Kalush Orchestra danced, played, and sang their hearts out to a continent – plus Australia – that willed them and their country to succeed. Such is the power of song to move and inspire, and provide anthems that tell stories of heroism and ambition, but also loss and tragedy. Of course there are many other songs or pieces of music that have the same impact. Sibelius’ Finlandia and the Karelia Suite, which inspired a generation of Finns to seek their independence from Russia in the late 19th century, seem quite apposite today. Bob Marley’s Redemption Song also seems to have the power to move metaphorical mountains for many. So the soundtrack of our lives may well be punctuated by tunes that make us smile, laugh, cry, spur us into action or want to shout from the rooftops in anger. Whatever your personal favourite, let’s try to make our actions in response really count.

On location this week in deepest Shropshire close by the Welsh border and staying in a Victorian gothic conference centre complete with red-brick clock tower, circular drive and a courtyard set back half a mile from the road past a mini version of the same for a lodge. Think Midsomer Murders local stately home, but with far friendlier people. In the entrance hall there is a display about the centre’s history and how it has changed over the years. The main rooms have signs that state the original purpose of each one, such as the butler’s bedroom. During the second world war disabled children from Manchester were evacuated here. With apologies to those from my own church who read this column, who will know this already, it was our church anniversary on Sunday. The preacher had asked the congregation in advance to bring along items that said something about their relationship with the church or their own faith journey. Amongst other items there were several photos, a Life Boys badge, MAYC London weekend T-shirts and a leather bound Methodist hymn book you would need a magnifying glass to read. I spoke about a couple of objects in the church that have small memorial plaques on them, namely the reading desk and a grand piano, that celebrate the contributions of two families over the years. Firstly to the fabric of the church buildings since 1853, and secondly the ongoing musical tradition. I also mentioned the stained-glass windows that were restored in the early 1990s by means of a project led by a person whose first contact with the church was being brought along to the youth group by a friend, who later trained in stained glass restoration at Canterbury Cathedral if I recall correctly. Telling stories through objects is a useful means of describing history, tradition, progress and innovation. Showing or holding something tangible that sparks a memory or enables a conversation, bringing it to life. But pause for thought about objects or places that do not hold such positive memories nor generate a warm glow such as Sunday’s service seemed to do. A group photo that includes an adult whose behaviour was concerning but left unchecked. The dark isolated space at the back of the church building. The hymnbook or bible with a dedication to someone who harmed other people. One of the sessions at the event I am at will focus on how we should address the issue of art produced by or memorials to people whose reputations, especially after their death, have been tarnished by fresh revelations about their lives or where there has been a critical re-appraisal of their work. The histories of our churches in, say, 10 key objects may tell a story that does not always sit comfortably with the story we would like it to be. This touches on the current lively debate about statues and inscriptions. The options seem to be ‘show and explain’ or remove. Wherever one stands on this continuum, our safeguarding training reminds us that the things we do and say in church can have a powerful impact on the wellbeing of some people with lived experience of abuse. We should also pay attention to things and places if we really want to generate safe spaces.