The University of Nottingham

Tim Grandage was a hopeless student at The University of Nottingham. He’s the first to admit it. But as he accepted an Alumni Laureate Award this year you wouldn’t have known it.

“Life is a funny old thing. People have huge plans for themselves when they’re a student but for me none of those plans worked out. Instead, it was plans which were absolutely crazy but which I was passionate about that came to fruition,” said Tim.

“I had always wanted to be a doctor but didn’t get the grades and so came to study Social Administration at Nottingham — Bill Silburn was a great inspiration and I had a great time here. After that I worked for a short time with the Save the Children Fund before joining HSBC. I didn’t really want to be a banker but I liked the idea of somebody paying me a good salary and sending me to a fascinating part of the world.

“Eventually, I ended up in Kolkata, India, as a very naive 29-year-old and at that time there were literally hundreds of thousands of kids on the streets. After one particularly late night I got back to my car to find it surrounded by street people, mainly children and women. They were not aggressive but they were intense. They didn’t want money but did want to look after my car.

“Over the next six months I got to know this group quite well. One day a little boy was missing from the group. He was not far away when they took me to him but he was delirious and with a very high temperature and I realised I could help. I contacted a client, Dr Jamunesh Chatterjee, who was a doctor and he treated the child until he got better. Dr Chatterjee had always wanted to help the street children and said he was willing to give free medicine to others.

“Incredibly stupidly, I told the child who had been sick ‘if you’ve got any mates who are sick I know a doctor who will give you free medical treatment’. Within a week I had 20 children a day coming to my branch office, knocking on my air-conditioned glass and waving at me. It got totally out of control.

“First my chief clerk took in 10 children, then my two-bedroom flat became available and I took in a further 35 children. These children desperately needed help and in India there are things you can do. I funded it through my salary at first and then HSBC thought I’d got too emotionally involved and posted me to Hong Kong and although I managed to commute to and from Kolkata at weekends I knew I had an important decision to make.

“Resigning from HSBC was the most difficult decision I ever made and it was the craziest risk I’ve ever taken but suddenly in India there was something I could do which could make a huge difference: I could change the lives of children.”

Twenty-five years ago Tim established

— an amazing success story, a charity providing eight homes for Kolkata’s street children, many of whom are flourishing and being educated in Future Hope’s school. Many children have gone on to study at universities, are living fulfilling lives and others have stayed on to mentor each new generation.

“It was obvious that children’s homes were the answer. Originally I thought street children needed, food, clothing and education. That’s rubbish. The most important thing they need is a home, somewhere they can go to bed on time, sleep safely, where they can have regular meals and grow up as happy youngsters, looked after by responsible adults. That’s the fundamental basis of Future Hope.

“After the security though we have to give them opportunity and that’s much more difficult. You can look after a child you’ve taken off the street until he’s 18 but then you’ve really got to do something more to give them a chance in life, to find their talents and push them to use those talents. You want them to keep the independence they had on the streets but at a much higher level and that’s a huge challenge.”

Visit: www.futurehope.net.