PRESS RELEASE – for immediate release

20 March 2015

Local Salford resident attends Queen’s Reception at Buckingham Palace, to mark

the 50 th anniversary of The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust

Professor Andrew Rowland, Consultant in Paediatric Emergency Medicine at North Manchester General Hospital (part

of The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust) and Honorary Professor at the University of Salford, attended a Reception

at Buckingham Palace, hosted by Her Majesty The Queen on Wednesday 18th March 2015.

The Queen, who is patron of The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (“The Trust”), hosted the event to mark its 50 th

anniversary as Sir Winston Churchill’s living legacy. Professor Rowland was introduced to Her Majesty the Queen, His

Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh and His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent as well as to one of Sir Winston

Churchill’s Grandsons and members of the House of Lords who were in attendance at the Reception.

Professor Rowland said, “Being invited to Buckingham Palace and having the opportunity to discuss my Living on a

Railway Line report with Her Majesty the Queen, His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh and His Royal Highness

Prince Michael of Kent was a great honour and a truly wonderful experience that I will never forget.

“My report is aimed at improving the protection of children in the UK and beyond. Coincidentally, the Reception

was held on National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Day1 and this is a good opportunity for us all to

remember that it is communities that are best able to protect children from exploitation and other forms of abuse.

We can all do more to protect the most vulnerable members of our society.

“Children are the future of our global society and that society will only prosper in the future if the children of today

are better protected. Every child should have every chance of good health, every chance of happiness and every

chance of protection from harm.

“As Sir Winston Churchill, himself, said, ‘what is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make

this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone?’

“That is the challenge that I set to you – what is it that you will do to better protect children and young people in

the future?”

1 http://www.nwgnetwork.org/news?n=447

Since 1965, over 5000 British citizens have been awarded Churchill Fellowships, from over 100 000 applicants, to

travel overseas to study areas of topical and personal interest. The knowledge and innovative ideas they bring back

are shared, for the benefit of their profession, their community, and, in lots of cases, the nation.

For many people, a Churchill Fellowship proves transformational, and they go on to achieve great things - effecting

positive change within society.

Andrew’s Fellowship Report (Living on a Railway Line2) was launched by the University of Salford at an event at

MediaCityUK on 20th October 2014 in advance of the 25th anniversary of the signing of the UN Convention on the

Rights of the Child. A quarter of a century later, Andrew believes that there are still laws policies and procedures in the

UK and internationally which fall way short of properly protecting children.

Andrew's Fellowship journey took him to Texas, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and

Cambodia. It was whilst undertaking a mobile health clinic beside a railway line in Sihanoukville, Cambodia that he was

inspired to give his report the title Living on a Railway Line. He flew 35 043 miles, spent 10 weeks away from home,

and visited nine cities in five different countries - meeting an outstanding group of enthusiastic and dedicated child

protection specialists from around the world.

His report contains ten key recommendations for the UK designed to build strong and healthy communities with

children at their hearts. Themes that are covered in his report include better training to recognise and respond to

cases of potential child sexual exploitation, the need to prohibit physical punishment of children, advocating on behalf

of children and young people and mandatory reporting of child abuse.

Andrew’s recommendations surrounding professional education about child abuse and neglect have already resulted

in an event, co-hosted by Andrew and a Member of Parliament, aimed at empowering practice and inspiring

innovation amongst front-line practitioners which he hopes will result in better identification of children at risk of child

sexual exploitation.

Last week Andrew also announced the launch of a new three-year Global Partnership3 between The Pennine Acute

Hospitals NHS Trust, the University of Salford and M’Lop Tapang4, a local non-profit organisation that works with over

4000 children and families living on the streets of Sihanoukville in Cambodia.

The main goals of the partnership are to share clinical expertise as well as knowledge of child protection, and child

health, issues between the partnership organisations so that all three can develop and learn new skills from one

another.

2 http://www.wcmt.org.uk/press-releases/living-railway-line-turning-tide-child-abuse-and-exploitation-uk-and-overseas

3 http://www.wcmt.org.uk/fellows/news/fellowship-leads-global-partnership-help-street-kids

4 http://www.mloptapang.org/

Fellows from every decade since 1965 represented the Trust at the Reception, as well as representatives from The

Winston Churchill Memorial Trust in Australia, and the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States.

To mark its semi-centennial, The Trust has just awarded a record number of 150 Travelling Fellowships – investing at

least £1.3m in British citizens. This year’s Fellows will travel to 58 countries between them, across six continents,

where they will carry out a wide range of projects.

Jamie Balfour, Director General of The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, said: “We were delighted and honoured that

the Queen hosted a reception to mark our anniversary year. Sir Winston’s legacy lives on through our Fellows –

individuals who, like him, have vision, leadership, a passion with a purpose, and a commitment to help their fellow

citizens”.

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NOTES TO EDITORS

Professor Rowland can be contacted directly via:

0161 6045459 or out of hours via 0161 6240420

For more information on Professor Rowland’s work please see:

www.drandrewrowland.wordpress.com

For further information about The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust or the Reception please contact:

The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust on 0207 799 1660

www.wcmt.org.uk

The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

The Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust serves the communities of North Manchester, Bury, Rochdale and Oldham, along

with the surrounding towns and villages. This area is collectively known as the North-East sector of Greater

Manchester and has a population of around 820,000. It is a large Trust with a total operating budget of over half a

billion pounds. Its main commissioners are NHS Bury, NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, NHS Oldham and NHS

Manchester.

The Trust provides a range of elective emergency, district general services, some specialist services and operates from

four sites:

• Fairfield General Hospital, Bury

• North Manchester General Hospital

• The Royal Oldham Hospital

• Rochdale Infirmary

Website: www.pat.nhs.uk

The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust

Since its inception in February 1965, The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust has awarded over 5,000 Travelling

Fellowships to British citizens, from over 100,000 applicants. The application process is highly competitive. The ethos

remains the same five decades on – for individuals to visit different parts of the world in pursuit of new and better

ways of tackling a wide range of social, environmental, medical and scientific issues, in order to bring back new

approaches and innovative ideas to Britain, for the benefit of their local and regional communities, and, in many cases,

the nation.

Website: www.wcmt.org.uk