Connect and Inspire 2024: Welcoming our Fellows
Hot on the heels of announcing our wonderful new cohort of 134 new Churchill Fellows for 2024, it was our absolute pleasure to host our Connect & Inspire event where our new Fellows were able to come together for the first time.
The aim of the event is really what it says on the tin – to connect and inspire these incredible individuals who are about to set off on their Fellowship journey. As well as the cohort of 2024 Fellows, we were pleased to welcome several Fellows awarded in previous years, our partners, members of our Advisory Council and Trustee board, as well as our staff team.
This gathering provided an excellent platform for forging connections and learning more about the Fellowship experience from those who have gone before.
Our Chief Executive, Julia Weston, opened proceedings by welcoming everyone and highlighting the potential that lay ahead. Her message was to aim high, be ambitious, make connections and to remember that a Fellowship is for life.
We then heard from four previous Fellows: Christina Taylor, Tony Wright, Lucy Potter and Zara Todd. They were all very generous in sharing their individual experiences and insights, some wonderful anecdotes as well as practical advice on how to make the very best of the time ahead.
Tony Wright perfectly encapsulated the essence of what we hope the Fellowship provides, concluding his talk with: "Every now and then, in life we need someone to walk along beside us, put their hand on our shoulder and say I believe in you. If you are sat in this room today, then this fantastic institution has done just that!"
Following on from the main session, the new Fellows took part in workshops related to the theme of their projects. Facilitated by previous Fellows, Trustees, partners and members from our Working Groups who support our themes, this provided the space to ask questions, share knowledge and dig a bit deeper into their fields of work.
New Fellow Cath Snow shared her reflections on the day, saying, "It was truly wonderful to meet others in my cohort of Churchill Fellows at the Connect & Inspire event. I am so pleased to know that the Fellows I connected with will become a source of peer-support that each of us will be able to access when planning and delivering our respective projects."
And Robbie Macpherson added, "I now feel more confident about how I can maximise my Fellowship, from the travel aspect to creating change when I'm back in the UK. Networking with everyone made me realise just how awesome the Fellowship community is."
The day concluded with a networking reception, allowing the entire group to mingle and forge connections. We are grateful to Lucy Parker, Churchill Fellowship Trustee and Chair of our Advisory Council, for wrapping up the event and wishing all new Fellows the very best as they begin their journey.
You can find out more about the amazing cohort of 2024 here.