Launch of the Scottish Gambling Education Network
22 May 2019
On the 13th of May, Fast Forward launched SGEN, hosting a showcase performance of Flutter.
It has already been 6 months since Fast Forward rolled out its national gambling education and prevention programme, the Gambling Education Hub. Monday the 13th of May marked a new milestone in the development of this unique piece of work: the launch of the Scottish Gambling Education Network (SGEN).
SGEN is a core element of the work carried out by the Hub. It provides the only platform in Scotland bringing together organisations, practitioners and groups of young people, with the aim to share best practices, offer support and help establish, sustain and expand local gambling education projects.
The launch event involved the showcase performance of Flutter, followed by a presentation by Fast Forward and GambleAware to introduce SGEN. Fast Forward was delighted to welcome representatives from the Scottish Government, Education Scotland, the Gambling Commission and various partner organisations, such as Youthlink Scotland, Action for Children and Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs.
The event included a drinks reception, with the opportunity for participants to engage in conversations with our team and discuss how SGEN can offer support in addressing gambling harms as part of existing health and education projects.
In the beautiful settings of the Scottish Storytelling Centre, in Edinburgh, the evening began with the audience taking their seats in the theatre. Hip-hop music boomed from the speakers, while the three actors were already on stage, motionless. As the lights dimmed, a young male sitting centre stage (Jack, played by Fraser MacRae) burst into life, cheering and waving a betting slip in the air.
Following the opening scene, the play goes back to ‘where it starts’ and depicts the story of Jack and his two friends (Ryan and Becky, played by Harrison MacNeill and Suzanne O’Brien respectively).
Throughout the play, Jack is exposed to various forms of gambling and is forced to make some difficult decisions, putting his relationships with family and friends at risk. The final scene ends just before the opening scene began, but instead of going through with the bet, Jack asks the audience what he should do.
When performed at schools, the tour director, Kai Peacock, would deliver a short facilitated interactive session at the end of the play, posing questions to the young audience about what they have just watched. During the showcase, however, Kai joined the actors on stage to discuss how the play had been received by pupils and teachers during the tour as well as sharing some interesting themes that had arisen during the interactive sessions.
Following Kai’s presentation, Alastair MacKinnon, Fast Forward CEO, highlighted how the charity has 30 years’ experience in working to enable young people to make informed choices about their health and wellbeing.
The education and prevention projects are developed with, by and for young people, to promote their resilience in response to a range of risk taking behaviours. This is the context in which Fast Forward has established the Gambling Education Hub, Scotland’s only national programme promoting gambling education and prevention.
Jane Rigbye, Director of Education at GambleAware, thanked the team and spoke about the support of GambleAware in funding this piece of work:
We were impressed with the results Fast Forward have already achieved while working with us over the past three years, so we are delighted to be able to scale-up their work to make a real impact across the whole of Scotland.
Project Manager Chiara Marin then offered an overview of the key elements built into the Gambling Education Hub:
The programme presents a train-the-trainers model to provide support, training and resources to practitioners working with young people and families in a variety of education settings. It is also characterised by a harm reduction approach, acknowledging that gambling is a public health issue which requires a multi-faceted approach.
Addressing gambling harms indeed requires a joined effort involving all stakeholders: the launch of SGEN provides a much needed platform to connect, strengthen and support education and prevention across Scotland.
Once the presentations had finished, guests made their way upstairs for the drinks reception and a chance to speak to the actors, production team and the project team working on the Gambling Education Hub.
The walls were decorated with hand-written feedback from the pupils that had seen Flutter over the last 3 months, and a projector illuminated some of the positive responses the project had received on Twitter.
Guests also had the opportunity to write their own reviews of the play, which gained 5 stars and enthusiastic comments:
The launch event gathered the support of many local and national organisations that expressed enthusiasm towards the Scottish Gambling Education Network. The Gambling Education Hub are looking ahead to upcoming SGEN quarterly network meetings across Scotland: the first is taking place on the 26th of June, in Glasgow – those interested in attending can register here. Membership of the network is free.
The first school tour of Flutter has now come to a close, after 60 performances in front of 12,500 pupils: stay tuned for more blog articles coming soon! The best way to keep up to date with upcoming events and news is to sign up to the monthly Gambling Education Hub Newsletter [HERE].
Read the full Twitter story of this launch event here. For any question, please contact Chiara Marin, Project Manager, at chiara@fastforward.org.uk