The William Keown Trust
Highlighting The Achievements And Promoting The Dignity Of People With Disabilities
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The William Keown Trust Highlighting The Achievements And Promoting The Dignity Of People With Disabilities
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January
and the commencement of a new year sees the start of a number of new projects at
Trust headquarters. The finalisation of the 2003 Accounts are commenced to
enable the accountant to undertake the annual audit President’s Dinner invitations were printed and issued for the annual gathering which is an opportunity for Trust supporters to meet in an informal and relaxed atmosphere. Personal Achievement nomination forms were printed and issued together with press releases. Every year the Trust seeks nominations for people who have triumphed over their disability. There are many thousands of such people in Northern Ireland and we believe they are worthy of recognition - Last year the categories included: Children of Courage
Awards for children up to 16 years. Adult Achievement
Awards for persons 16 years and over. Carers Awards for
anyone who cares for a friend, parent or relative, they must not be a
professional carer i.e. a nurse The Haldane
Butler Award for exceptional endurance and determination to overcome
illness, injury or disability over a protracted period of time. The Christopher McCollum
Memorial Cup for someone who makes a significant difference to the life
of someone with a disability or illness and who is not part of the family
circle. The inspiration for the cup was in recognition of the wonderful
friendship Christopher, aged 16, received from his life long special able-bodied
best friend, called Christopher Hardy, which helped Christopher enjoy and take
part in many things all boys and girls like to do, especially with another
friend. The Special Olympics Award - the recipient of this honour is nominated by the Northern Ireland Special Olympics Committee based in Ballyclare. The Trust was invited to undertake an access audit on behalf of Carnmoney Church - we welcome the opportunity to comment on all areas of accessibility. Members of the Trust’s Access and Education Committee
visited the offices of Craigavon Borough Council to undertake a report to
support the council’s application for Charter Mark status.
Charter Mark is a powerful, easy
to use system to help everyone in an organisation focus on and improve customer
service. Achievement of the standard is recognised by awarding the right to
display the prestigious Charter Mark logo. Members of the
Trust attended a RADAR (the Royal Association for Disability and
Rehabilitation) meeting in London – Mr
Keown was voted onto board of directors of RADAR with a substantial majority and
travels regularly to England to attend meetings where he liases and develops
links with other organisations on behalf of the Trust February
The Trust was
involved in a Housing Seminar held
in the Balmoral Centre, Kings Hall. We
endeavour to keep totally up to date on all areas of housing, legislation,
welfare and social issues. Our
video “Level Viewing” covers the extremely important issue of lifetime homes
in great detail.
Dates for supermarket, store and street collections were applied for. Over the course of a year in excess of 23,000 miles are travelled by Mr and Mrs Keown in undertaking this valuable task which generates the majority of the Trust’s funding . Throughout the year the Trust makes funding applications to various bodies. The Trust is not
government funded and thankfully during our campaigning and innovations in the
past the business sector, individuals and others have been generous in
sponsoring and supporting our worthwhile activities. A meeting of the
Trust’s Admin, Finance and Awards Committee was held; the main objectives of
this committee is to oversee the day-to-day running of the Trust and to
coordinate the Personal Achievement Awards which is one of the red letter days
in the Trust’s calendar. March
The William Keown Trust’s Gala Dinner was held in the
Silverbirch Hotel, Omagh on
Thursday 6th March. Ken Somerville,
chairman of the Trust’s board
of directors, gave a warm welcome to all the guests and thanked them for all
their support. The guests included supporters of the Trust since its
inception and friends made through the Trust’s work in highlighting the
achievements and promoting the dignity of people with disabilities over the past
twenty-four years. One of the highlights of the evening was the inauguration
of Mr Trevor Taylor FRCS lead Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Musgrave Park
Hospital as Trust Deputy President. Mr Taylor takes over from his colleague Professor James R
Nixon FRCS who has stepped down to become President of the Camphill Community at
Craigavad. Further press releases were issued in respect of Personal
Achievement Awards to remind people that the closing date for nominations was
the end of March Members
of the Trust were invited by the Portadown Rotary Club to given a presentation
on our work at their monthly meeting. A
short synopsis of our activities was given together with a screening of the
video, which was followed, by a question and answer session.
It is vital that we are able to bring our message to the general public
and this scenario is ideal to reach the business community.
The
Trust’s Annual General Meeting was held in the Wellington Park Hotel.
During the evening the Trust directors made two cheque
presentations amounting in total to £10,000.
The first cheque for £5,000 was to Mr Barney Bree of the
Special Olympics Committee towards the cost of hosting the games in the North of
Ireland when the Special Olympics came from America to Ireland in June of this
year. The second cheque also for £5,000 was presented to Mr
David Beverland for B.A.R.T (The Belfast
Arthroplasty Research Trust) which is based in Musgrave Park Hospital.
The hospital, which has a long association with the Trust, is
extremely well known throughout the world as centre of excellence for joint
replacement surgery.
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Also
at the AGM it was announced that