Virgin Unite at The Elders
- By Jack Preston -
- Jul 06, 2012
The Elders this week enjoyed their five year anniversary, with Virgin Unite there to help them celebrate. Jon Snow was joined at London’s Barbican by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Jimmy Carter and former President or Ireland Mary Robinson for an evening of lively debate, with Unite’s grand prize winners also in attendance.
In the build-up to the debate Unite asked twitter users “what three qualities do you think a member of the Elders should have?” A fantastic response saw the most popular answers include; comparison, integrity, wisdom, courage, vision, experience, humility, empathy, love and patience.
The overall winning suggestion came from Jan Carlyle, with compassion, integrity and determination topping her list. Carlyle joined staff from around the Virgin Group at the Elders debate, where the audience were enthralled by an evening of varied discussion.
“I thought it was a great evening and particularly to see so many young people, especially as that was a strong element of the message from the Elders with regard to hope from the future. Fantastic to be there in the presence of the Elders, so eloquent and bright despite their advanced years,” explained Malcolm Quigley, Senior Design at Virgin Atlantic.
Meanwhile Shabana Janjua of Virgin Care was also keen to voice her delight at being able to attend the evening: ”I found the evening truly inspirational and enlightening. It sometimes feels like we live in a box, cut off from the rest of the world as it’s so easy to get consumed with our own daily routines and lose sight of the bigger picture.”
“Just the few hours that I was in the presence of the Elders really reminded me that we are part of something so much bigger and can all make a difference in our own way, no matter how big or small!”
If you’d like to read more about the evening, you can do so in this report. Alternatively, head over to The Elders website to find out more about their work.
By Jack Preston. Content Executive. Tweets at @JackPressedOn
