Tears shed as ambassadors bid farewell

Tears were shed as the ambassadors programme came to a close last night in the company of civil society minister Nick Hurd.

Hurd used the evening at London social enterprise Coin Street to show his appreciation to the ambassadors and to talk about Big Society.

He said: ‘I would like to thank everyone involved. I keep hearing the word “inspire” here tonight and to be in a position to be inspirational is a great thing.’

Hurd, who spoke for ten minutes at the end of the event in a barely audible voice, said that even though the former government, which he referred to as ‘the other lot’, started the programme, he recognised all the good it has done over the three years.

He also joked about receiving free chocolate and condoms at social enterprise events and said that the former had a shorter shelf life for him.

Hurd claimed the Big Society concept was leading people to start social enterprises and that government was encouraging civil servants to go out and see more civil service in action.

‘You might disagree with us on it [Big Society], but it has got the debate going on what people can do for their communities. The debate is alive and well and people are engaged and this is leading them to set up social enterprises,’ he said.

However, former ambassador Liam Black, founder of Wavelength and Social Enterprise commentator, sent a Twitter message to Hurd this morning saying his speech was ‘shallow and cliché-ridden’.

The Social Enterprise Ambassadors programme, launched by the government’s Office of the Third Sector and run by the Social Enterprise Coalition, began in the summer of 2007 and saw 30 plus social enterprise business leaders give unpaid time to developing the social enterprise movement.

The farewell evening, presented by ambassador Saeeda Ahmed, who joked she was given the role as a ‘cost-cutting exercise’, saw tears shed by a number of the ambassadors who vowed to keep the programme going ‘in spirit’.