HRH The Princess Royal and Patron of Shaftesbury hosted the charity at St James’s Palace last night. A prestigious event that formed part of Shaftesbury’s tenth anniversary year, the evening was attended by special guests and supporters.
Dave Webber delivers his speech. The Shaftesbury 10th Anniversary Dinner in the presence of HRH The Princess Royal at St James’s Palace, London. 16th May 2017.
Hearing from HRH The Princess Royal about her support for Shaftesbury, CEO Dave Webber also shared about Shaftesbury’s work and future direction.
Adam Bonner, Executive Director for Public Engagement gave updates about important work that Shaftesbury are doing with and alongside Shaftesbury – Ashley Place, a care home in Bognor Regis.
Interviewing Trudy Lockyer (Care Home Manager) and Corin Pilling (Assistant Director of Community Engagement), the team outlined ambitious plans Shaftesbury to develop more community connections in the area.
Extending community opportunities for the people we support and creating supportive networks between local partners, churches and volunteers, is a big priority for Shaftesbury. Research shows that by creating good community connections, much can be done to enhance people’s lives, wellbeing and health outcomes.
For that reason, the charity are now launching an appeal to fund vital Community Connector roles, with the first of the roles being earmarked for Bognor Regis.
The people who live at Shaftesbury’s Bognor Regis care home – Ashley Place – have recently seen the benefit that community connections can bring through a weekly art class called ‘Art By The Sea’.
The class includes Shaftesbury Ashley Place residents, local volunteers, staff and art specialists. The group often works to a theme and has explored techniques including printing and collage.
By funding Community Connectors, Shaftesbury can run more projects like ‘Art By The Sea’ that benefit the people that use our services.
Shaftesbury can also create opportunities to tackle social isolation in the area, by creating wider community networks of support and care.
2017 is Shaftesbury’s tenth anniversary year. Formed by a merger of our founding charities The Shaftesbury Society and John Grooms, we are proud to continue building on a rich heritage of social reform and disability care. Shaftesbury thanks our Patron HRH The Princess Royal and St James’s Palace for a wonderful evening.