No.128
A product was launched – the 12-
Week Workshop, in which a group
of students would meet with three
different couples for three sessions
with each: three different couples to
demonstrate that no two marriages
were the same; and three sessions
because the process was so radically
different to what normally took place
in the classroom.
These early trial workshops were
voted a great success by the students
and, with the help of some willing
volunteers, the product was launched
on the market. Over the next four
years, the number of client schools
slowly increased. But in 2000 came
a major blow when Government
introduced Curriculum 2000. Both
schools and students said it would be
impossible to afford the time that the
12-week workshop required.
The year 2000 was a momentous year,
for not only did Students Exploring
Marriage, as it was then called, have
to devise an entirely new product but
the trustees decided that it should
become a registered charity. A new
product that was devised, the Half-
Day Conference: the methodology
was the same, but the whole process
was compressed into half a day.
So now, 18 years on, what
conclusions can be drawn?
Over 100,000 young people have
The Trusty Servant
taken part in over 1000 workshops.
In the very early days students
had told us that they learnt about
reproduction in biology - they knew
how to put a condom on a carrot. But
where could they go to learn about
respect, trust, patience, forgiveness
and above all, love - the elements
that are so vital in forging a lasting
relationship? Personal, Social and
Health Education was part of the
National Curriculum and included
sex and relationship education,
but, whereas any half-competent
nurse could talk about sex, most
schools found relationships a bridge
too far. This is the niche that SEM
(now renamed Explore) seeks to fill:
the students in their reactions to
Explore’s workshops invariably give
them an approval rating in the order
of 90-95%. What they value above all
else is the couples’ honesty! In these
past 18 years, we have been hugely
grateful to over 200 volunteer couples,
who have been willing to share the
stories of their married lives.
In addition to our couples, Explore
has employed over 100 volunteer
facilitators, who have helped students
get the most out of their dialogues.
Of the numerous organisations
that are engaged in the business of
relationship education, Explore is
unique in being the only one that
interacts with the students face to
face. Perhaps the most surprising fact
that Explore has uncovered over the
past 18 years is that 9 out of 10 of the
young people have told us that they
expect to have a family of their own
one day (this despite all the negativity
about family breakdown in the media
week in and week out). Herein we
believe lies genuine hope for the
future.
Explore does not teach and does not
give lectures on how to succeed in
marriage. Our conviction, however,
is that as a result of the dialogues the
students have had with our couples
they will take away with them a
degree of hope that they in turn will
be able to have a family of their own
one day in the context of a lasting
relationship. Sadly, as many in this
country will be aware, our basic
building block is under enormous
pressure. As one of Explore’s patrons,
the Rt Revd Paul Butler Bishop of
Durham, put it at Explore’s 18 th
birthday celebration at the House
of Lords recently: ‘The family as we
have known it is in the midst of great
change. The course we as a society are
now on threatens not only to change
the structure of the family unit but
to move away from the stability and
security we have traditionally valued.’
If you would like to learn more, please
contact [email protected]
Vox Senum
‘Algebra Wars’ (TS127)
Snippets from voluminous correspondence:
Robin Brodhurst:
I enormously enjoyed the article by
Nick MacKinnon. I was lucky enough
to be at Marlborough when SMP
was being written and I suspect that,
although the impetus came from
Win Coll, it was jointly developed
by Winchester, Marlborough and,
I think, Charterhouse – a lot of the
equations used distances between
Godalming, Guildford and other
towns around Charterhouse! John
Manisty was legendary for his railway
knowledge: I recall him organising a
journey for me from a school climbing
trip in the Austrian Alps to meet my
family on the Loire. I had to change
17
trains somewhere at 5.30 in the
morning. ‘It’s not a scheduled stop,’
John told me, ‘but it will stop as the
drivers change there!’ Sure enough it
did stop.
Why was Harry Altham in Berlin in
1936 at the Olympic Games? He was
determined to see Sydney Wooderson
run there, but he injured his ankle