On Saturday 14^th November, Future Foundations (FF) delivered a Leadership Development day for St John Ambulance (SJA) as part of their own residential leadership programme.  34 LINKS Volunteer Officers representing teams from all over the country attended the YHA venue in Lee Valley, North East London; marking the first event between FF and SJA.

It was a big day, starting early with an Opening Plenary led by the Programme Director, Justin Conner and continued through to 8pm with various workshops.  The first half of the day looked at the 'inner leader', with Olivia, Chris and Justin facilitating sessions on Self Leadership and Leadership Styles.  After lunch the 'inner leader' was let loose with an A&E themed game and Presenting with Pizzazz led by Justin and Chris respectively.  FF Facilitator Claire, is also a top ranking SJA volunteer, so we exploited her inside knowledge and enthusiasm to conclude the day with Sustainability of Your Student Group and Learning from Others, which put all the days learning into practice for the LINKS Officers to take back to their Regional Teams. The day finished with an incredible closing circle in which the message of service leadership came out through many heartfelt contributions.

Many thanks to St John Ambulance for inviting us to work with their LINKS Officers, to the Lee Valley YHA for being the host and to the FF Team for all their hard work.

By Olivia Flaxman (FF Coach)