The William Keown Trust

Highlighting The Achievements And Promoting The Dignity Of People With Disabilities

Personal Achievement Awards

The William Keown Trust Awards for personal achievement, which were held on Wednesday 21st June in the Clandeboye Lodge Hotel, recognise the accomplishments and courage shown by children and adults with disabilities.

There are six categories in which the nominees can be recognised:

·        Children of Courage

·        Adult Achievement

·        Glenfarm Carer’s Award

·        Special Olympic Award

·        Haldane Butler Memorial Trophy

Bill Keown, Founder of the Trust, said he was delighted with the number of nominations and had been looking forward to highlighting once again how people with disabilities have conquered the various difficulties and challenges they face.  "The William Keown Trust, an independent registered charity, was set up to recognise the personal achievements of people with disabilities and create community awareness that disability does not mean inability, I am very proud that over the past 25 years we have acknowledged more than 1500 people, some of whom were born with their disability and others whose disability was as the result of an accident. Each year the ceremony gets bigger and we were delighted to welcome over 400 guests to help us celebrate the achievements of the award recipients which were shown on UTV.  People with disabilities enrich the community when they are involved and contribute in an accessible barrier free environment”. 

Gerry McCollum, chairman of the William Keown Trust’s Admin, Finance and Awards Committee welcomed the guests which included award nominees, their families and friends, mayors and chairpersons from a number of councils and members of the community  who made the original nominations and without whom the awards would not be possible. The Trust President, Kate Smith of UTV assisted by Mary McCracken Trust Awards Director, presented the awards and the afternoon was presided over by the well-known entertainer Gene Fitzpatrick.

David Hanna MBE , chairman of the Trust’s Board of Directors  expressed   appreciation to the people involved in making the ceremony such a such successful and memorable event including   Mrs Mary McCracken the Trust Awards Director, the independent panel who analysed each nomination and made their recommendations and the interview panel who met the  nominees who were short-listed and choose the  award recipients, Trust President Kate Smith for taking time out of her busy schedule to be a vital part of the work of the Trust, Mr Gene Fitzpatrick for his very capable talents as master of ceremonies, The Drake Music Project and their unique talents for providing musical entertainment, all the Directors and Committee Members of The William Keown Trust who give  their time  voluntarily to run this organisation and the award nominators within our community who had the forethought and zeal to seek recognition of the award recipients as without their thoughtfulness there would be no ceremony.

Musical accompaniment was provided by the Drake Music Project which promotes musical creativity by children and adults with physical disabilities through a series of workshops, training programmes, composition course and residential course.  

Access Awards 

The William Keown Trust Access Awards were held on 29th November 2006 in the Silverbirch Hotel in Omagh. 

Trust director  Mr Philip Beattie  welcomed everyone present, reminding them that the Silverbirch’s location was “user-friendly” and had previously on merit received the Trust’s Access Award for enabling provision for people with disabilities.  Mr Beattie explained to the guests the reason for the ceremony and gave a brief history of the unique innovative recognition.  He had a particularly warm welcome for Mr Trevor Leaker President of the Royal Ulster Society of Architects, who presented the framed prestige certificates to the architects, the contractors and owners of the award winning buildings.  Mr  Leaker  gave the assembled audience a short  but informative and most amusing   talk on the work of an architect.

The directors of the William Keown Trust were delighted to welcome Councillor Sean Begley, chairman of Omagh District Council to the ceremony.  Councillor begley thanked the Trust for choosing Omagh to hold the presentation and commented on the strong links between the town and the Trust. 

Dr Ronnie Hamilton a dedicated member of the Trust read the citations for the vast range of buildings which included an airport, a museum, a bank and a number of schools; he was ably assisted by Mrs Mary McCracken,  Awards Director of the Trust. 

The Directors of the William Keown Trust would like to record their sincere appreciation to C E Stevenson Ltd and Lafarge Ireland   for their sponsorship of the prestige awards.