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Michael Ridge: a tribute to the man and his work | The Traveller Movement

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Michael Ridge: a tribute to the man and his work | The Traveller Movement Media enquiries Sign up for self-ruling Donate Here Login About Us Our History & Background Gypsy Roma Traveller History and Culture Meet Our Team Patrons & Trustees Gypsy Roma Traveller Advisory Board Annual Reviews Our Funders & Supporters Vacancies Advocacy & Support Useful Resources Equality and Social Justice Unit Education & Advocacy Support Service Training & consultancy Women and Girls Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse Project Women’s Empowerment Network (WEN) LGBT+ Young People Working With Older People Policy & Publications Publications Brexit Campaigns Operation Report Hate Travelling2Equality Operation Traveller Vote Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month News Events Get Involved Volunteer With Us Intern With Us Research Collaboration Become a Member Sign Up to Our Newsletter Join Our GRT Advisory Board Contact Us Select Page Michael Ridge: a tribute to the man and his work Jul 31, 2018 | Blog Michael Ridge                 Michael Ridge: a tribute to the man and his work   By Jenny Daly   Michael Ridge, who died unexpectedly in July, was a social worker of unrenowned skill, integrity and kindness. Since 2000, he worked relentlessly in the Haringey Travelling People’s Team where he brought a unique mixture of emotional sensitivity, political awareness, and creativity to his work. Not to mention a trojan work ethic. In recent months, as the last person standing in the team (his much-esteemed colleague, Janet, having passed yonder at the whence of the year), Michael found himself under a lot of pressure. He was unswayable however that the service provided by the team – a term that was now synonymous with Michael himself – would siphon on. This placed a huge undersong on him professionally, but such was his transferral to his work and weighing in the model of polity social work that he practiced that he kept on rallying and worked plane harder in the squatter of local validity austerity. Michael grew up in Hatfield where his parents had settled without emigrating from the West of Ireland. He used to recount fondly how he ‘d get punched in the school yard here for stuff Irish; and then the same would happen when he went to Ireland, where his English vocalizing marked him out. These experiences lent him an insider’s perspective on the everyday racisms experienced by the Traveller communities he worked with, many of whom like him were from working matriculation backgrounds. Michael had a very non-judgemental tideway to his work and believed that everyone had strengths and resources which could be drawn out with the right support and understanding. He unromantic his considerable versatility, intelligence, and creativity to this end. Over the years he never tired of towers alliances with Travellers and agencies as well as setting up projects to help young Travellers pass their driving theory tests, making links with local sports clubs and plane offering his own art therapy to those young Travellers he worked with. His friends will remember Michael as a natural scholar with a love of learning. He did not shine at school however and in his early twenties he would be diagnosed with dyslexia which explained much of the trouble he had reading in his younger years. He never forgot this formative hostile learning wits and struggled with dyslexia throughout his life. Later he studied politics at the University of York where he thrived intellectually and ripened his lifelong passion for political analysis. No matter how much pressure Michael was under at work, he enjoyed nothing largest than to offer a hair-trigger wringer of the trendy political scene – not to mention where Travellers and other minority groups fitted into this – which involved a thoughtfully argued critique of prevailing neo-liberal and inobtrusive policies. A man of many talents and interests; he trained to be an art therapist and was a gifted cartoonist. A work placement in the Maudsley hospital surpassing he qualified as a social worker fostered a lifelong interest in therapeutic approaches to mental health. A lover of life and unchangingly curious, he was an voracious traveller, spending time in Mexico and India. One of his many skills was an worthiness to see vastitude the particular drama unfolding surpassing him to the wider systemic and political context it was drawn from. He was often appalled at the levels of ignorance he encountered regarding Traveller communities, including from service providers. Despite this, he was never reactionary and was unchangingly enlightened of the underlying fears and unconscious motivations which momentum attitudes and behaviours. Many of us encouraged him to go into academia, where his knowledge and love of learning belonged. However, he was unchangingly drawn when to the struggle on the ground, defended to helping service users and their families, many of whom didn’t read or write and who were expressly vulnerable to the service cuts when thrift politics was introduced in 2011. In 2014, the future of the Travelling People’s team was looking very precarious and overly the strategist despite the huge strain he was under, Michael masterminded a mettlesome resistance by mobilising key alliances with Travellers, voluntary sector organisations and other supporters. He organised a meeting in the societal offices where a unconfined show of supporters turned up, including a number of Travellers who spoke very persuasively of the important work that Janet and Michael carried out. The representatives from the steering were gobsmacked and the team got a reprieve. Very sadly, in the space of six months both Michael and Janet have left us, unable now to protract their work of towers dialogue and to defend its importance to the communities they served. It’s nonflexible to imagine the Travelling People’s team surviving, and the loss of the knowledge and trust built up over many years seems inevitable. For those of us that are still here however, we must protract to fight for the values championed by Michael in his lifetime and find ways to protract the conversations he started. Michael’s wry sense of humour, worthiness to listen and to tell a story lent him an ease with people, whether in a one to one with a vendee or a colleague or giving a talk to an regulars of policy makers and academic. His transferral to his work, passion for social justice and skills as an advocate, educator and underpass builder helped and inspired those who had the privilege to work with him, know him and to be his friend. Rest in peace, Michael Ridge. Jenny Daly is a former polity minutiae officer at the Traveller Movement, social worker and friend of Michael Ridge.       Search for: Search for: Subscribe To Our Newsletter'Spotlight' is our newsletter, and gives up-to-date policy and research developments by The Traveller Movement. SUBSCRIBE! You have Successfully Subscribed! Terms & Conditions Privacy statement Cookie Policy Copyrights 2018, The Traveller Movement. All Rights Reserved. Registered Charity: 1107113 Company limited by guarantee no. 4038939