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This is the last blog on a Canadian topic – promise! It was equally hot in Nova Scotia as it was here in late July and early August, with Government health warnings issued that reminded people about the need for shade and water, and not over exerting. Fortunately we were never far from the coast, where there was a bit of a breeze. The only time we put on sweaters was when we went whale watching, and what an experience that was. Four humpback whales ducking and diving and waving their dorsal fins high in the air, all within feet of the comparatively tiny boat. Two previous whale watching cruises in Iceland had only produced distant grey lumps that we were assured were Minke whales, but this time it was the real thing as the four leviathans circled the boat, raising their huge jaws out of the water and splashing the unwary onlookers. It was an unforgettable sight. In the middle of this 20 minute display, I was suddenly struck with the thought about what might happen if a whale struck the boat as they come so close, and so whilst holding on for dear life as the boat pitched and rolled, I asked the guide. She said the adults never do, and that their guidance systems are so good that they can come very close and then suddenly slip under the boat only to re-appear feet away on the other side. Readers, I guess that you are by now thinking ‘so where’s the safeguarding link here?’ So it’s about near misses. What hospitals sometimes call ‘should never happen’ moments, when a critical error or a major incident threatens organisational stability and pushes you off course. When the circumstances appear about to overwhelm you, and you can’t rely on any superior radar guidance system on the part of what’s coming your way to help you out by avoiding the seeming inevitable collision. The safeguarding landscape is littered with reports about what has gone wrong in the past, resulting in the deaths of children whose names we may recall and vulnerable adults who are often more anonymous to us. For each of these there are also many less publicised learning reports about where a personal tragedy or other critical incident was averted sometimes at the last moment, when someone realised what was going on and took action. Our job as safeguarders is to be ever alert to the potentially unstoppable force that may be heading our way.

Canada’s Museum of Immigration would make a great trip out for the London District ‘Moving Stories’ team – were it not so far away in Halifax Nova Scotia, which is really the point. Although Halifax is the nearest mainland America deep water harbour to Europe it’s still a choppy 2,700 sea miles away. But because of its relative proximity, Halifax became the chief entry point in the early and middle years of the last century for thousands of immigrants from all over Europe seeking a better life in Canada. The museum is based in the original dockside buildings that immigrants would have passed through and it tells their stories of push and pull – the pushes of poverty, persecution and land clearances that encouraged migration, and the pulls of wide open spaces, freedom and offers of employment or land. Individual stories are presented as examples and if you have a relative who was processed through the system, you can access the records that tell what happened next. You can sit on the benches that waiting immigrants would have sat on waiting to show their papers, and learn about the comfort foods from home that were confiscated on arrival. Churches were very evident in providing volunteers to offer advice and guidance to the newcomers and also ran a crèche for the children. Two aspects really stood out. Bang up to date, the museum tells the story of the people who now risk their lives in rubber boats to cross the Mediterranean, and reflects on the fact that the push and pull factors that earlier generations experienced are still very much alive and, in terms of push, sadly kicking. Closer to Canadian home were pictures and stories of migrants crossing the land border with the USA on foot, in response to the hostile environment developing below the 49th parallel. The other sobering section described in unflinching detail how unaccompanied child migrants from the UK, some as young as four, were shipped out by organisations such as Barnardos and some religious orders, often to a life of hard toil, misery and in some cases abuse. Whether orphaned or removed from their families for whatever reason, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is surely right to devote time and energy to understanding what happened and why, and who might be found accountable. This was a hard hitting and moving museum that did not shy away from graphic images nor calling out oppressive regimes. However it also provided a real sense of hope that something better can be achieved and for every heart breaking story there was another that showed that moving can be a real success, which benefits the individual, their community and wider society. ‘Moving Stories’ remains a vital part of our own District story as we call to mind those who have moved across the world as well as those who’ve just moved down the road, to be part of our serving and worshipping community.

Driving in Canada is not difficult once you have mastered some aspects of directional signage. Having just returned from travelling Nova Scotia’s relatively deserted roads for just under two weeks, it was a culture shock today to edge out even into non rush-hour traffic here in southwest London. Add to this the sudden recall that your own car is not an automatic as you stop with a stall. I fear, readers, that you are in for a bunch of Canadian themed blogs over the next two or three weeks and it’s a series of road signs that grabbed my attention this week. Approaching isolated houses along the highway we saw several yellow diamond shaped signs warning of the presence of a visually or hearing impaired child. No warning to go slow or take care, simply a statement presumably about the fact that a child with a disability lives nearby. These yellow diamonds were permanently mounted on metal posts and had a uniform municipal font, so clearly weren’t put up by anxious parents themselves. We have disabled parking bays marked on our roads, and warnings about driving slow near schools but generally nothing that tells us about the presence of a disabled child at a particular address or identifying a particular disability. I wasn’t sure what to make of the signs, and of course had no chance without being really intrusive, to ask families and the children themselves what they thought of the signs, their purpose and effectiveness. A characteristic of strung out Canadian villages is that there are rarely fences between properties and no gates on the gravel tracks that lead to them, so a warning that a child whose senses may be impaired lives around the corner and who may suddenly rush out into the road may be a very helpful protective measure. But able bodied children with all their senses are perhaps just as likely to run into the road chasing a ball or one another. I think it was the overt drawing attention to the close presence of a vulnerable child that I found a bit worrying. We know that groomers target families that are themselves vulnerable and that disabled children are particularly at risk of abuse often because of their relative inability to tell a trusted adult what is happening to them. I have a dreadful image of my own road, where a special educational needs school transport bus stops twice each day, bedecked with signs telling the world that disabled children live at these addresses. Match this with a picture of predatory potential abusers cruising the streets on the look out for yellow signs and you begin to think the risks of harm outweigh the protective measures intended by the signs. But is this just my safeguarding mind set going into overdrive and looking for issues that aren’t really there?

Being confident about your role as a church or circuit safeguarding officer is a real asset, as you may be the key person whose job it is to convince others in the church about the value and benefits of operating a robust safeguarding policy. It’s a bit like delivering a successful sales and marketing strategy, which convinces you about a product and its quality, why you need it both now and in the future and the wide ranging benefits that will accrue as a consequence. I spent last weekend in Spain with two old school friends. We had not been together for 31 years and it was great catching up with all that had happened to each of us. Both my friends are former senior international marketing managers and on a Sunday morning ramble high above the Mediterranean I asked them each for one key piece of advice that they would give to those trying to sell products. One immediately said about believing in yourself and the product, whilst the other spoke about an approach that emphasised future benefits to potential consumers. This caused me to reflect on how we strive locally to make sure that the leaders in all our churches really get the benefits for all that are derived from good practice and widely accepted and understood policy. Perhaps, then, there is something we can learn from marketing theory that we can apply to make sure the safeguarding product is understood. So how can we enhance our own belief in good safeguarding practice, and convince others that this is something they can’t do without? The Past Cases Review showed us the historic consequence of not getting things right in the past, and so provides evidence of the path we want to avoid. Our new policies are the tools we have at our disposal. The stories of survivors and how some churches have taken positive steps to address concerns they have identified can be the inspiration that reminds us of the importance and privilege of what we do. We are not about selling baked beans or luxury cars. We are however about taking pride in what we do to keep our churches safe, letting everyone else know that in the long run safeguarding is a product we can all trust to bring benefits to all.

The 2014 Care Act introduced the idea that when trying to protect adults at risk, agencies should work directly with the person involved and within a structure that 'makes safeguarding personal'. It's the sort of concept to which we can all nod our agreement. But what does it mean in practice? It's about putting the person who is the victim at the heart of what is done to remedy the situation and working with them to achieve the outcome they most desire from the situation they are experiencing. In this way, it can be empowering and make a real difference to their wellbeing, but it only really works if we can be sure that the person is safe and not likely to suffer any further abuse from their perpetrator. Quite often however, we learn from victims, especially but not only the elderly, that they are reluctant to report what's been happening and when they do, they may not want any action taken. This is because they might have a dependent close relationship with the perpetrator, and in some cases welcome the personal contact that results from it, despite the anguish it may cause. This is often the case when it comes to a report of financial abuse perhaps by a relative or family friend, or emotional abuse from these same people through hurtful words and actions. If we believe that the victim is able to make an informed choice about what they want or don't want to happen, and we respect that wish, then is just leaving it the same thing as making safeguarding personal? The simple answer at first glance may be yes, but a more robust and safer answer is no, and to get to that position, we need to learn to ask the right questions, reflect on what we have learnt with a more experienced colleague and if we can, find out about what has happened to other people in similar situations in other places. Then we can come to an informed view of whether we have really made a wise decision about supporting victim abuse to make their safeguarding solution personal.

It’s the season for outdoor music festivals and Sunday last saw us at Folk by the Oak – a leisurely day long folk festival in Hertfordshire described as ‘boutique’ for those who can’t face the three day extravaganzas of larger events. On this baking day, I was struck by the sea of straw hats that stretched out in front, behind and alongside us some of which were in pristine condition, perhaps newly purchased, whilst other showed signs of many earlier summer campaigns. Billy Bragg, well known for his left wing views, was in the next to top slot (Amy McDonald if you ask) and the news from the previous week and President Trump’s visit provided him with ample material for his between songs musings. He was speaking by and large to a pretty receptive crowd and at the end of his set the straw hats rose up like a broad squashed haystack to offer their applause. Billy spoke about cynicism being the great enemy of progress and that this was a people’s construct, not entirely the product of the media, and he challenged his audience to become activists and organisers to change things for the better. His sang Between the Wars and Power in a Union from his back catalogue with their emphasis on working together and fairness, and described his day at the Durham Miners’ Gala the day before. The thing here is the inspiration that such obvious passion and commitment can engender. Standing up for justice against the odds needs that extra sense of emotional engagement that’s born of experience and learning. So if your church is passionate about social justice issues, for example, can you apply that enthusiasm equally to safeguarding? It’s clear that some find the agenda a challenge and suggest that it takes away the energy for doing other things. But we can change the mood music if enough people take a stand and become activists in their own churches, believing in and living out through what they do, to make our churches keep their hard won safe spaces. Your straw hat may have seen better days, but hats were definitely the order of the day. They help us to keep cool and avoid getting sunburnt, but a measure of appreciation and eagerness is when you throw your hat in the air! Can we count on your hat in the air to show your commitment to active and well organised safeguarding?

So hands up who thought that this week’s piece would perhaps have a football focus? Or perhaps a reference to heat? Well with a passing reference to both, I was delivering an Advanced Level course in a rather warm church in south west London on Saturday last , as Harry Maguire headed home, and we had a sense of victory from the neighbourhood roar which swept through the open doors and windows, as Alli scored the second goal. No. This week is about completing cryptic crosswords. (I actually won a prize last week at the umpteenth time of sending in the Guardian Saturday prize crossword – it’s a book of mathematical puzzles so a bit lost on me but entering and winning was the important thing!) Cryptic crosswords are often about deciphering word play – when a word has two distinct meanings and you have to think which meaning is being invoked in the clue. So on Saturday one clue included the word ‘divine’ – did this refer to the adjective god-like or heavenly, or to the verb meaning to guess or surmise? Or ‘stalk’ – the part of a plant that stands upright or the act of following someone for potentially harmful purposes? We place a lot of emphasis in safeguarding practice on good recording and making sure we use the right words to describe what we have seen or heard or learnt about. Are we speaking the same language when we describe an event and is there any scope for ambivalence? A casually written word can minimise or exaggerate, or require further qualification to define the true meaning of what is being conveyed. The continuum from being described as being close to someone, to having a close relationship for example is one with a set of deeper meanings that in safeguarding practice needs to be nailed down. Even more complex is when we try to define risk. Taking a risk can be defined as adventurous, taking a chance with a significant payoff if successful. Our church risk assessment processes are however about managing and deterring people who may be harmful to others. We want to limit their capacity and opportunity to embark on their own adventure at the expense of children or vulnerable adults. Clarity in our use of words, reading the clues with care to get the right meaning, solving the puzzle to reach the correct solution are all part of the crossword solvers lexicon. It’s a solid approach to analysing and assessing safeguarding situations as they occur.

En route to Micky’s and Bala’s inductions at the Conference on Saturday in Nottingham, most conference attendees would have had to pass through a sea of young people and their parents who were visiting the university campus to check if this was the right place to apply to next year. The Open Day seemed to have been planned with meticulous attention to detail including the provision of car parks on playing fields reminiscent of the acres of scorching metal that you experience at summer music festivals. The parking is never problematic. It’s the getting out at the end when all are trying to leave at the same time that can take the edge off the buzz of the event. To reach the Conference venue from the tram stop you walk past Florence Boot Hall, a hall of residence with a well-known Nottingham family name. Sadly at the end of May this year this hall came to public attention after a note was found left in a shared bathroom saying ‘uni girls love rape’. The outrage that followed led to a university investigation, but reports from other universities quoted in the press suggest a worrying increase in sexual violence at other universities as well. Earlier in May, a student at another university in Nottingham also recorded racist chanting outside her room. This too led to an investigation and two arrests. So the places where many young people plan to go to achieve a successful transition to adult life in the company of like-minded students suddenly start to look a little unsafe. As the young people, their parents and in some cases, siblings, made a day of it, and took a good look at all that was on offer, I wondered if personal safety was high on their agenda? Parents will no doubt have a concern about the often riotous behaviour of freshers’ week played out in city centre streets, but will assume that the accommodation offered by a university would be a safe space to come home to. Not a place of fear and hatred. The solution is not at all clear, but there is arguably an emerging sense of unease from social media comments about these incidents, that accepted values of mutual respect are fraying at the edges, in places where you might least expect it. So the contrast to when I visited Leeds University on a wet November afternoon in 1971 for my interview, and a cursory one hour tour of the university, majoring on the bars and nearby pubs, was striking. But concerns about personal safety, and building safe relationships were present then too. Today we learn in minutes and seconds about a range of worrying incidents and the authorities race to catch up. Zero tolerance is the mantra, but winning hearts and minds and placing a priority on safe spaces as Micky and Bala stressed in their addresses remains the key.

‘Moses, Moses the Red Sea closes over you when you least expect it to.’ Enigmatic words penned by Jefferson Airplane, the celebrated US West Coast late 1960’s psychedelic band. They come from a song entitled ‘When the earth moves again’ which includes references to Hannibal crossing the Alps and finding no one at home in Rome, along with the religion of ancient Egyptian kings. A fascinating collation of images, no doubt helped along by generous helpings of LSD. Song lyrics often speak to us in unexpected ways. Sometimes a few words from a hymn will catch your throat as you sing at a wedding or funeral. You may have to work harder with modern song writers and maybe know something of what’s happening for them at the time of writing before you can appreciate their meaning. Our safeguarding training emphasises how words and symbols in our worship can evoke strong memories and so there is arguably and equally some responsibility on worship leaders to know what’s happened or is still happening for people in the congregation before choosing a particular hymn or song. However it may be difficult to be always sensitive about the words we sing and troubling references may be hidden deep down in an individual’s inner world. That moment when you are unexpectedly overcome with whatever emotion, may well be the first time that the strong feelings have surfaced. So the reference to Moses? I think it’s a reminder that whenever things seem to be going well, the sea opening up to let the Israelite's pass, or the Egyptian armies threatened by their own deluge, there is always the capacity for the unexpected to happen. It wasn’t part of the plan. Your defences are up and you think you are safe. It can change your world in an instant as the earth moves again. Keep a watch out for the earthquake as you sing.

Regular readers may well have spotted this author’s passing interest in south London football. It will therefore come as little surprise that this week the blog should focus on events in Russia, especially today after England’s last gasp win last night. For the young team, simply playing in a World Cup tournament will have been a boyhood dream come true, and so to win will have been a superlative achievement that will live long in the memory. Headline news stories on Breakfast TV and on the front pages of all the newspapers confirm a national, well English, obsession with following the team’s exploits and identifying a new hero – Harry Kane, the scorer of both goals. And then. Tucked into an inside page of my paper is a report of the ongoing trial of a former coaching assistant at Newcastle United, charged with 38 counts of sexually abusing boys whom he was coaching. Boys who no doubt shared the dreams of the current England team, who really wanted to make a success of the talents they could display. Trusting the adults who were encouraging and helping them to develop their skills, and then, as shown by the verdicts in other reported trials, being hurt and betrayed, in some cases leaving indelible scars. In the current case it’s also suggested that senior people at the club delayed responding when matters were brought to their attention. Football is not unique in having these two dimensions – the glory and the sordid. The Past Cases Review and other church inquiries have shown that the Methodist Church and others have not been immune from these experiences now and in the past. Like football, we have been striving to get better so that the hopes and dreams of the young, and old, can remain untarnished in any way. Yet we, too, stand accused of sometimes delaying our responses when we learn of concerns, for a variety of reasons that at the time may seem to us like the right thing to do. So the World Cup is an occasion for joy, optimism and the realisation of ambition. There is not space this time to focus on the enormous sums of money involved and its morality – maybe that’s for another blog. But this time simply to recall that on the flipside of Captain Harry Houdini there are many previously starry eyed young men who have suffered at the hands of the very people who were employed to nurture their talent and give them hope for their futures. If it’s your bag – enjoy the games.

You can learn the most amazing facts about people at their funerals. Things that you never knew about their hobbies or interests, or the detail of what they did throughout their career that in some cases, made a real difference to the lives of others. There is that moment of regret, with a moistness in the eye, that you never got to speak to them about these things, and that the opportunity has now, in this life, been lost for ever. Whilst these recollections are generally humorous or poignant, very occasionally you learn about an issue or set of circumstances that impacted on the deceased to such an extent that you wonder how they managed to keep it all together, in the face of such adversity. How you never knew about the pain, emotional or physical, that dogged them for so long. Here the regret is about not knowing how you might have been able to help or supply advice, or offer care, even in a small way. Our safeguarding training emphasises the fact that it’s hard to tell someone else what may have happened to you. Whether as a child or adult, the process of disclosing abuse is surrounded by a complex set of familial, personal and situational factors that can make it so difficult to speak out, that the power of secrecy which infects so many abusive relationships wins out again. The Church is working hard to make the process of disclosure easier, linked to the idea of swift and easy access to advice, guidance and appropriate pastoral care. There are examples in the courts just now that illustrate how in later life, it is possible to speak about what happened in childhood and seek justice. But equally we know that many people will carry their painful secrets to the end, and these are the type of stories that will never work their way into funereal tributes. Whether it’s about enabling children to be confident about telling someone straightaway or providing space for an adult to disclose past hurt when they are feel safe and ready to do so, it’s essential for the Church to make sure the opportunity and the practical arrangements are fully in place before it’s too late.

Today, June 4th, sees the launch of an app that will help people to identify and report instances of modern slavery connected with car washes. At the London District Safeguarding Conference in March this year we learnt of plans by the Church of England to develop this scheme and they have now combined with the Catholic Church to publish it, urging people to watch out for signs of modern slavery and report their suspicions to the relevant authorities. At the conference Caroline Virgo from the Clewer Initiative, the Anglican organisation that has focused on this issue, spoke to us about concerns about car washes as well as other settings where different forms of modern slavery can occur. It was a timely reminder of how one person’s moving story can end up in misery and hardship, when the promise of hope and opportunity in a new land was quickly dashed. Our London District theme of ‘Moving Stories’ is being played out this year in many different ways and places. Even being impacted by train delays and cancellations as a result of timetable changes is a moving, although sometimes stationary, story. In contrast to the experience of those whose labour is being abused, a cancelled train is perhaps only an irritant, but if a pattern of cancellation is sustained it can begin to affect well-being. Spotting a worker in a car wash, inadequately protected against the elements, may be a fleeting observation on our part, but for that person, perhaps also living in sub-standard accommodation and in fear of what might happen if they complain about their conditions, the potential for long term poor health and well-being is startlingly clear. This new app offers a chance for us to deliver on the opportunity to look beyond our church walls in a safeguarding context, being the eye and ears of our community, and enabling us to make a difference to the lives of exploited people often hidden in very plain sight. Go online for information about the app and to download it.