Bishop of Truro the Rt Rev David Williams speaks about his involvement with the Poverty report into Cornwall's rural deprivation

Tindle News

Bishop of Truro the Rt Rev David Williams speaks about his involvement with the Poverty report into Cornwall's rural deprivation.

Transcript

00:00So we're here with the Right Reverend David Williams, the Bishop of Truro, who's

00:05played a part in this Pretty Poverty Report. So tell us a bit about it David

00:10and your involvement. Yes, thank you Lee. A little while ago the Diocese of Truro

00:15commissioned a report with the Marjohn University, really to look at six parts

00:21of Cornwall which you might say contain some vulnerable deprivation within them

00:27and to say what's really going on? How do you get to access health care? What's it

00:32like getting to your local school? What happens? What are the aspirations of your

00:36local school? What's your housing like? And actually to try to move slightly away

00:41from the national markers of deprivation and poverty and say what what does it

00:46really look like in rural Cornwall? And I'm really excited because today as we

00:50launch the report there are MPs, there are people from the University, there are

00:55people from all sorts of voluntary organisations who are wanting to help

00:59the lived experience of the most vulnerable people in Cornwall to be

01:03dramatically improved. Having said that of course the heart of it also lies in the

01:08fact that every one of those communities has its own leadership, has creativity and

01:14imagination to solve issues and so there's quite a bit going on about

01:17community resilience. So it's not, we're trying not to be binary to say well here's an

01:23area in need, actually here's an area where people are already finding solutions to the

01:27challenges they face. And so there is an irony in the title Pretty Poverty, of course

01:33part of it is because we're in, you know, almost the most beautiful part of the

01:39world aren't we? But what does it look like, what does it feel like to live in

01:45some of the most rural communities we've got here? So I love the fact it's

01:49partnership, there are all sorts of people involved in the conversation, there's a

01:52robust conversation going on around tables as we launch the report. It's going

01:57to be echoed again, it's going to be repeated in Parliament. We actually think

02:01what started in Cornwall, well what we're hoping is it won't stay as just a set of

02:07words that someone has written. We'll say look there are real issues here. How do our

02:11young people get housing? How do they, you know, what are the real political issues that

02:16we need to address around those issues, those things?

02:20So you've been down here now for five months in the Bishop role. Have you been surprised

02:27by the amount of poverty and deprivation in Cornwall? Because, you know, a lot of people

02:32who come from outside Cornwall think Cornwall's beautiful, it's money because the amount of

02:37second homes and holiday lets, but of course the reality is we all know it's not that.

02:42Well, it was really interesting, wasn't it, because I've been coming to Cornwall, I almost

02:47hesitate to say it, but I've been coming as a holiday maker for 35 years. I would come,

02:51we would try not to come with the car, we'd walk the coastal path, we'd go home feeling

02:57refreshed, renewed, almost as if, you know, we'd had a spiritual experience being in this

03:03place. But the day I was announced as Bishop last December, 10 o'clock in the morning,

03:09the Houses of Parliament, 10 Downing Street, announced I was to be the Bishop of Truer.

03:13I was in St Meridox School in Cambourne, and we were speaking online to 4,000 school children

03:21across Cornwall. Now, that for me, that first moment when, you know, the contrast between

03:2710 Downing Street and St Meridox School actually has begun to shape my time as Bishop. So we went

03:33from Cambourne to Bodmin, and these amazing young adults with, were learning how to cook,

03:40you know, they had all sorts of life experiences that were quite tough, and we ate the food,

03:45that was at lunchtime on the first day. And of course, those towns down the A30 do contain

03:52resilient communities, but they, they arguably are some of the poorest towns in Europe, not

03:58in the British Isles, in Europe. And I, I don't think you can be a religious leader, or in

04:04fact, a community leader in Cornwall without having those towns at the centre of your concern.

04:10And, and for me, that's the journey. I'm really excited by the journey. I'm, that's how we started.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended