April Blog

On 4th April, we held a celebration of the life of our former Executive Manager, Ruth Stebbens.
It was an emotional day, when our staff, volunteers and everyone whose life was touched by Ruth's work were able to come together and remember her amazing achievements. Candles were lit for Ruth at the end of the church service before we came back to the Pastoral centre and the beautifully decorated hall. No photos were taken on the day, as it was a very personal time for remembering Ruth.
We had planned to plant a rhododendron (see photo above) in her memory on the day, but the weather was awful and as funny as Ruth would have found it to see us all getting drenched while we tried to plant it out, we decided to postpone the planting until a sunnier day.

Everyone was encouraged to take home sweet pea plants to grow in her memory and there was also art and poetry in tribute to Ruth. There was also a collection and Ruth's family have expressed their thanks for the generosity of colleagues, Trustees, friends and everyone else who donated.
Our trainers are still busy, with the first specially adapted Freedom Project course for women with Learning Disabilities completed and the second "I'm Worth It" course underway. We are accepting new referrals onto future courses to be run later in the year, so please contact us if you know someone who would benefit. Details of the courses can be found here.