Karen Hill, Assistant Head at Queensbridge School in Moseley, arguably the most diverse school in south Birmingham, led our January combined City Women City Men lunchtime event with energy and inspiration.
Karen’s work as a PE teacher and Director of Sport has led to her engagement with Christians in Sport for more than 30 years. Locally she helped set up Birmingham-based charity ‘Sport For Life’, changing lives through the power of sport. As Careers Lead at Queensbridge School, Karen is keen to grow partnerships with businesses to help pupils prepare for working life.
Karen took us on a journey – starting with a “healthy active lifestyle” and then encouraging us to tune in to five areas, namely our physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual and social sense, working to keep a balance across all these aspects of life. Karen’s own journey has been to rebalance her own initial passion for physical/sporting/competitive engagement. Perhaps in the business community a different rebalancing might be needed: here, it’s easy to elevate the intellectual sense, sometimes at the expense of neglecting other areas. Using this framework, may be helpful to ask ourselves, “Are there any adjustments you are being called to make to get life in balance?”
Karen’s honest reflection, including navigating the curveball of unexpected health issues in her own life, gave space for all of us to engage with the continuing work in progress of balancing body, mind and spirit.
Karen explained, succinctly and clearly, the importance of Queensbridge School connecting with the business community, so that their students have encounters with employers and employees, as well as experiences of workplaces, to help them to be prepare for the work environment after they leave school. Particularly after the pandemic, it is so important to give students experiences of “the community” of the world of work. Karen brought a group of Queensbridge studentsto assist with hosting and serving refreshments at our December “Carols for the Business Community” in Birmingham Cathedral. At ChaplaincyPlus, one of our core values recognises that “Caring for the welfare of people in the business community enhances the welfare of Birmingham”, so city-wide connections are important to us.
If you’d like to connect with Queensbridge, in any of the ways listed below, email sarah.thorpe@chaplaincyplus.org.uk and we’ll gladly put you in touch with Karen Hill.
Feedback from the event valued, “An opportunity to meet other Christians who work in the city and to hear how a Christian professional balances her faith with her love of sport.” and the “Opportunity to learn some helpful thoughts on faith and healthy lifestyles”.
Thank you, Karen, for leading our session in a way which made natural and real connections.
Thanks, too, to Shakespeare Martineau for hosting our session.
For anyone from the Birmingham business community, if it would be helpful to have a conversation on “Active Health at Work”, there’s an open invitation to meet up for: just get in touch via sarah.thorpe@chaplaincyplus.org.uk.