Launching a Bold New Chapter for Oxfordshire’s Young People

This morning, I had the great pleasure of joining Oxfordshire Youth for the launch of our Business Guardians Council—a ground-breaking new initiative bringing together some of Oxfordshire’s most forward-thinking companies to support young people who need us most.

We gathered in the Youth Innovation Centre, part of Oxfordshire Youth’s inspiring new base at the ARC Oxford business park. The space was alive with energy, ambition and heart—and filled with people who believe, as I do, that when we invest in young people with intention and care, we unlock something extraordinary.

As Chair of Trustees, and this year also serving as His Majesty’s High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, I was proud to stand alongside our team and our partners to help launch this important new chapter.

Our Business Guardians are not simply funders—they are mentors, role models, and collaborators. They are offering their time, their talent, and their networks to help create real pathways into employment, confidence and connection for young people who may otherwise be overlooked. These businesses are choosing to look beyond short-term gain and towards long-term change—and that’s the kind of leadership our county needs.

And I have to say, the name guardian resonates deeply with me. A guardian is not just someone who protects. A guardian is someone who chooses to stand watch. Someone who steps forward, often quietly, to walk alongside another person with care and resolve. Guardians are not saviours—they are steady, compassionate presences, offering strength when it’s needed most. That is exactly what these businesses are doing—not only for Oxfordshire Youth, but for the thousands of young people whose lives will be changed because of their belief and action.

We heard from a number of these brilliant businesses today—ARC Oxford, David Lloyds, Freeths, and BMW Mini Plant among them—sharing not only their support but their genuine commitment to shaping a more inclusive future. And we were reminded of the legacy of partners like Lucy Group, who’ve backed Oxfordshire Youth for over a decade, and Blenheim, whose five-year partnership model continues to inspire.

The coffee, I should add, was excellent too! Courtesy of Jericho Coffee Traders, who have just launched a new blend—Fountain of Youth—with donations from every bag going directly to Oxfordshire Youth. Do buy a bag. Or two.

One of the most powerful moments of the morning came from our keynote speaker, Professor Danny Dorling, who challenged us to look hard at the state of the nation through the lens of his latest book, Seven Children.

The book is a deeply original and affecting study of inequality and hope in modern Britain. Dorling constructs seven fictional but data-grounded children, each born into a different parental income bracket in 2018—representing the full range of our society. By the time they turned five, they were growing up in a country grappling with a cost-of-living crisis and facing the fastest-rising child poverty rates in Europe.

His message was clear and urgent: none of these children—not even the most affluent—are doing as well as they should. Our societal structures are leaving all children worse off than their parents. And the greatest tragedy? That too often we focus only on the extremes, missing the millions of children in the middle—those whose aspirations are just as strong, whose needs are just as urgent, and whose futures hang in the balance.

Danny’s address was a call to action—to those of us in business, public service, and the voluntary sector—to work together in new ways to reverse these damaging trends and build a country, and a county, that truly gives every child a fair chance.

That’s exactly what today was about.

It was not just a launch. It was a declaration. That Oxfordshire will not leave its young people behind. That we will believe in them, invest in them, and stand beside them. And I, for one, am honoured to play my part.