Honourable Dr Stuart Lawrence chats to the Express & Star during his visit to St Edmund's Catholic Academy, Wolverhampton.

Express & Star

Honourable Dr Stuart Lawrence, brother of Stephen Lawrence who was murdered in a racially motivated attack in 1993, chats to the Express & Star during his visit to St Edmund's Catholic Academy, Wolverhampton.

Transcript

00:00 Tell me what is it that brings you to Sir Edmund's Academy today? So I'm here to celebrate the

00:04 STARS program that they have at this school to celebrate their success and hopefully give them

00:09 some words of inspiration to continue to do the good work that they're doing. Without giving too

00:13 much away because obviously the speech is for the kids, what is it you're going to be speaking about

00:16 today? What's the central theme of the speech? Integrity, that's my word of 2024 and I'm hoping

00:24 that these are some students who have got integrity already but understand that it's a journey that

00:29 sometimes we sometimes fall off that path and we have to find our way back on to and even as an

00:34 adult it's a difficult thing to keep on doing the right thing all the time. So obviously it's about

00:38 suppose if things go wrong picking yourself up and being able to move on? 100% 100% and also

00:43 goal setting you know we're coming towards the end of the year starting a new year as well so

00:46 hopefully going to give them some points about setting some some goals some short-term, medium

00:50 and some long-term goals themselves as well. Is this something that you do a lot do a lot of

00:54 motivational speaking for children? Yeah yeah definitely we've done over 50 schools this year

00:58 spoken to over thousands and thousands of kids and yeah hopefully that's all I'm trying to do

01:03 is trying to give them some hope and some understanding that wherever they start in

01:06 their life doesn't have to be the end of it and if they keep on pushing through and working really

01:10 hard then everything's possible for them to achieve. Obviously I know that it's 30 years

01:15 on since the tragic loss of your brother, I mean how much of his life formulates what you talk about?

01:21 All the time so Stephen was a great role model for me and as an older brother that's what he did,

01:26 he was a pathfinder that set the bar really really high and that's what I'm trying to do for these

01:31 young people as well which explains to them that you know it isn't easy to be good all the time and

01:35 to do the right thing but with perseverance and trying hard they can get there. It does say

01:40 something 30 years on Stephen is very much spoken about he's in the public's memory isn't he? 100%

01:45 and he's also in part of the school curriculum as well and hopefully with Stephen Lawrence Foundation

01:49 we can be part of communities as well and that's all that we're trying to do as a family now trying

01:53 to keep the legacy going and hopefully bring some positivity into young people's lives.

01:58 And if you could have one thing that the kids could take away from today what would you like

02:02 it to be and what do you think it could be? One thing I'd like them to take away that,

02:06 so I have a saying say that says talent works, sorry hard work beats talent when talent doesn't

02:12 work hard and I just want them to understand that as long as they work hard, get their heads down

02:17 and try their best then every single day they can achieve great things. And finally what would you

02:22 like to say to all of the readers of the Express and Star to wish them a Merry Christmas? Definitely

02:27 I'd like to say to all you guys out there happy holidays, happy Christmas and looking forward to

02:32 whatever 2024 brings and let's hope it's a good one for everyone. Dr Lawrence thank you very much

02:38 and Merry Merry Christmas yourself. Thank you very much, thank you.

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