Ros Spearing

Founder, Ebony Horse Club

Ros Spearing, 47, is founder of Ebony Horse Club in Brixton, London. The charity works with young people with behavioural difficulties and those excluded from school, taking local 8-19-year-olds horse riding at centres in and around London. Spearing is raising funds to build the club its own riding centre on derelict land in Brixton.

What has been your most beneficial career experience to date?
When I joined the School for Social Entrepreneurs, I was able to make the break from working part-time as a learning mentor and at Ebony to running the club on a full-time basis. The school gave me the opportunity and skills to concentrate on taking the club to a new level as a social enterprise.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?
On several occasions I've been told to carry on being myself. I think I can be a bit controversial at times, so hearing that people believe in me has spurred me on to speak my mind rather than say what people want to hear.

What's the best training you've had?
It's not conventional training, but I've lived in central Brixton for 23 years and have seen the young people grow up. Here I've learned about what's going on and seen the long-term effects of the pressures on young people, such as overcrowding, school exclusion, and the consequences of the drugs trade.

What book would you recommend?
Two books that have influenced me are Soledad Brother by George Jackson and Jimmy Boyle's A Sense of Freedom. In different ways, both have helped me to understand the prison system, the role of education and people's capacity for perseverence.

What do you wish you'd known when you started out?
I keep a photographic record of Ebony, which is useful to demonstrate its development. But I wish I'd known earlier on how important it is to keep this kind of record, as I'd have taken photos when I started living in Brixton in 1984 to capture the changes.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

1983: Joins charity Medical Aid for Palestinians as information officer.

1990: Graduates from the London College of Printing with a BA in film and video; becomes documentary researcher and freelance educator in prisons.

1996: Founds Accra youth club's horse club, renamed Ebony in 2002.

2004: Graduates from the School for Social Entrepreneurs.

Interview by Helen Holtom