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Moose at the
Community Care Awards
"On Thursday (14th
December 2006), Rachel, Jean, Gerald, Stuart
& I went off to the Community Care
Awards in London, to see whether our
short-listing could translate into an
award… no luck I’m afraid, but we had a
good, if exhausting day…
We
met up & caught the 7am airport bus. The
flight was uneventful, & we escaped the
airport clutches on the Heathrow
Express, which hurled us into Paddington
in a mere 15 minutes (a small miracle if
you have ever taken the same journey by
tube, but be warned it costs £27 return,
which seems steep even by London
rates!).
We then had a leisurely walk to
Grosvenor Square, ably guided by Gerald,
from the smallest map I have ever seen.
The Marriott Hotel
was as expected, pretty swanky. We were
met with drinks, & then went into a
corporate style lunch. We had a good
lunch, the best bits being a yummy
pudding & beautiful unoaked chardonnay.
The event proper
got underway after lunch & was expertly
compared by Tony Robinson of Baldrick
fame. The ‘Older People’ category (ours)
was won by HOMEsafe, which aims to
provide an all inclusive service to
anyone over 60 to improve safety &
quality of life at home. It looks like a
really good project.
The overall prize
went to the winner of the ‘Supporting
Children & Families’ category, a
Partners of Prisoners & Families Support
Group, which has the added dimension of
arranging ‘Family Days’, the aim being:
‘to develop a service that enables
families & offenders to spend quality
time together, take part in fun
activities with their children,
strengthen bonds & develop a role &
responsibility within the family for the
offender to return to.’ A very
worthwhile project.
I think it’s
important to acknowledge that these
awards cover the whole spectrum of
social care in all it’s diversity
throughout Britain, & that hundreds of
projects apply, so to have got through
to the final was an fantastic
achievement. Well done to all of you who
have made it happen, & special thanks to
Jenny & Rachel for setting the ball
rolling, & to Rachel for applying for
the award." |