Major General Martin White joined St Catherine’s and invited guests at an evening reception at Quay Arts on Tuesday this week.
The Lord Lieutenant spoke of his distinguished career and the importance of communication within his work and his life.
He was joined by Felicity Raines an actress and mother of Jessica, a remarkable young woman with speech and communication disabilities, and Grenville Shipley, Principal at St Catherine’s.
Prior to the presentations, guests had the opportunity to view the art display “From the Shore” by children and young people at St Catherine’s alongside the acclaimed Kurt Jackson exhibition.
The focus of the evening was to raise awareness of speech, language and communication disabilities generally speaking and the work of St Catherine’s.
Although one in ten – or 1.2 million – children have a communication disability in the UK, the challenges they face are not widely recognised and St Catherine’s, a national charity based on the Island, is working to raise awareness across the UK.
As Suzanne Hudson, Director of Development, explained
“We approached the Lord Lieutenant given his remarkable communication skills and his passion for the Island. Charities very rarely get the opportunity to work with the individual of their choice. Fortunately for St Catherine’s, he is an exception to the rule and immediately expressed an interest in assisting us to raise awareness of this spectrum of disabilities”.
The reception also provided the ideal occasion for The Rotary Club of Newport to present their donation of £2150.00 to St Catherine’s to support six of their young people to participate in the Tall Ships Challenger Fleet in July.
Grenville Shipley, Principal, added
“On behalf of everyone at St Catherine’s, we would like to thank the Lord Lieutenant and our guests for braving the challenging weather conditions to join us. Our speakers were inspirational and an active question and answer session followed the presentations. It was a very special evening.”
