HRH The Princess Royal officially opens Northamptonshire Carers’ Centre
HRH The Princess Royal attended an event to officially open The Princess Royal Trust Northamptonshire Carers’ Centre, 7 Regent Park, Booth Drive, Park Farm South, Wellingborough on Friday 18th November 2011 where Mrs Carole Cochrane, Ambassador, The Princess Royal Trust for Carers presented the Chairperson, Mrs Anne Goodman, MBE, DL and Director, Mr Mark Major.
Accompanied by Mrs Goodman and Mr Major, HRH met trustees, carers and staff, including the team who run the Carers’ Support Line and saw their work in operation. There was an opportunity for her to view the organisation’s display on holiday provision for carers and meet a number of carers supported by Northamptonshire Carers’, some of whom were taking part in Carers’ Café and others in a group work activity.
During her visit, HRH also visited the Young Carers Activity Room, which has been refurbished from funds donated by Barclaycard. She met some of the young carers who were taking part in an art and craft workshop, together with members of the Young Carers support team and representatives from Barclaycard – Mrs Shelley Malton, Site Head for Northampton and Mrs Tricia Gilbert, Member of the Barclaycard Citizenship Team.
Before her departure, Princess Anne unveiled a plaque to commemorate her visit and presented a prize to the Young Carer who won a competition to provide artwork for the new premises.
Mrs Anne Goodman, MBE DL, said ” We were delighted to welcome Her Royal Highness to open our new Carers Centre and to view some of the activities that take place there, as well as hearing about some of the excellent partnership work which is happening in Northamptonshire.”
Shelley Malton, Site Head for Northampton at Barclaycard added, “Northamptonshire Young Carers has been our nominated local charity since the beginning of 2010. It is important that we support causes in the areas in which we operate and we are delighted to have helped make the centre as inviting as possible for people who dedicate so much of their time to others. This is a charity that is close to many of our employees’ hearts and as well as helping to renovate the Activity Centre we have also been arranging fun days for the young carers, which has been a really eye-opening experience.”
HRH was accompanied by the Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire, Lady Juliet Townsend. During her visit she also met Councillor Bhupendra Patel, The Worshipful Mayor of Wellingborough; Mayoress Mrs Meena Patel, Mr Jim Harker, Leader of the County Council; Councillor Robin Brown, Cabinet Member for Health & Adult Social Services; Mr Charlie McNally, Director of Adult and Children’s Services NCC; Mrs Julie Passmore, Director of Integrated Care, Nene Commissioning, Mrs Lesley James, Senior Locality Manager, Nene Commissioning, Mr Andrew Jepps, Assistant Director Adult and Children’s Commissioning; Mrs Lynne Jones, Service Manager, Adult & Children’s Commissioning NCC; Miss Sarahlee Richards, Carers’ Service Development Manager NCC; Mrs Jan Norman, Director of Quality and Safeguarding PCT; Miss Sharon Benford, Development Manager, Carers PCT; Mr Tony Barney, Lifestyle Living; Mr George White, Lifestyle Living; Mrs Ann Hiles, Head of Service Improvement NHfT; Mrs Gina Ogden, County Councillor, South Northants; Mrs Maureen Jerram, Fundraiser for Northamptonshire Carers; Mr Joe Apea, Commissioning and Contract Manager; Mr Nick Petford, Vice Chancellor, University of Northampton; Mr John Archard-Jones, Vice Chairman, NHS Foundation Trust; and Mrs Maureen Phillips, Assistant Director, Safeguarding & Children’s Services.
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