The October Engagement Blog is guest written by Steph Bloomer (Outreach Committee Chair and Council member).

The third week of October saw the first face-to-face Outreach committee meeting since before COVID.  We even debated whether this might be the first ever face to face committee meeting of Outreach, as Outreach members tend to see each other in person whilst volunteering, rather than in meetings.  Almost all our communication is done via Teams or via email.  This meeting was held in the central and easily accessible city of Birmingham, with a hybrid option for dialling in.  Or we thought it was easily accessible until storm Babet hit, making train journeys a bit interesting!
 
The venue, although a little tricky to locate, was a good find by Harris Associates.  Recently in the day job we have had discussions around booking meeting venues with ethics aligned to our own.  This venue, with inclusive toilets and flushes which use rainwater, I think demonstrates that we in SRP think about the best way to use our resources as a charity, even when it comes to venue booking.
 
There was a really great atmosphere, and despite struggling to fit everything we wanted to discuss into a day-long agenda, we did manage to get through everything. This included looking at our tasks under the new Strategic Plan.  There was a lot of energy in the room with some fresh faces attending their first Outreach meeting, and some stalwarts who we refuse to let retire from the Committee because they’re just too useful!  The Committee was also joined by Sue Irish and Tessa Harris from Harris Associates (photo on right shows Tessa with Sarah Hunak Engagement Director).  Harris Associates are the real driving force behind Outreach as they organise a lot of our initiatives and mobilise the 'Yellow T-shirt Team' (our pet name for those willing to don the bright yellow polo shirts and provide hands on support to Outreach; they're all volunteers who donate their time and energy to our Outreach initiatives).
 
If you’re interested in joining the 'Yellow T-shirt Team' there is no requirement to be available for all of the events and joining means you will get contacted when Outreach events are happening in your geographical area or which need a significant number of volunteers to run.

Look out for exciting initiatives coming from Outreach in 2024 including:
•       a stand at The Big Bang Fair
•       new Talking Heads videos on radiation protection careers
•       a more up-to-date and interactive careers leaflet 
•       a return of the schools show aimed at enthusing primary aged students in science, running alongside our Annual Conference in Eastbourne
•       and potentially…a very exciting new project aimed at GCSE students.

If you want to volunteer for any Outreach initiatives or to pitch your own Outreach idea please contact admin@srp-uk.org. For more detail, view the Strategic Plan.

Steph Bloomer – Outreach Committee Chair