Celebrities support disability charity's awards evening

Former Chelsea footballer and television presenter Mickey Ambrose and Sir Ed Davey MP were among the special guests celebrating disability professionals at Twyford charity Building for the Future’s Awards Evening on Friday, October 20.

The evening was in celebration of local professionals who ‘go above and beyond’ when working with disabled children and young people in the fields of medicine, teaching, therapy, respite care and recreation.

Seven trophies were given out on the night by charity CEO Jane Holmes and Sir Ed Davey with nominations coming from parents who live in Twyford, Wargrave, Maidenhead, Wokingham, Reading and Bracknell.

Winners of the evening were:

Teacher of the Year – Olivia Hardy; Teaching Assistant of the Year – Cathy Sullivan; Therapist of the Year – Hattie Jones; Best Activity Provider – Make Sense Drama; Best Post 16 Provider – Bridges Resource Centre; Best Medical Professional – Cath Hagan; Building for the Future Special Award – Julie Hinton.

Leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, Sir Ed Davey, himself a parent of a disabled child, had this to say about the awards and charity:

“Everyone who is here tonight is a wonderful person. You have been helping people, going that extra mile and showing that extra level of care.

“On behalf of all the parents and all carers of children and young people: thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” he said.

Sir Davey commented that he was looking forward to meeting the ‘champion’ teachers, doctors, therapists and professionals who have been ‘so special to the lives of disabled children and young people’.

He also turned to the charity’s CEO and event organiser and thanked her for what she does for the disabled community.  

“It is amazing you find the time to do this because anyone who is a parent of a special needs child knows how busy it is," he said.

"You’re fighting for something for your son or daughter or doing the many hours of caring so you’ve found the time to set up a charity and you help over 500 families every year and you do that without funds from the council and the government.

“You’ve done that with the support and love of people locally so a huge thank you to Jane and all the team and to everyone involved in Building for the Future.”

Jane Holmes said that the awards were ‘a wonderful, uplifting evening’ and explained the importance of the event.

“Most of the people who run Building for the Future have a child or a close family member with disabilities. We therefore understand exactly what makes a person working with our children great. We can sense the gift that some of them have straightaway and we are very rarely proved wrong.

“Parents of disabled children have to fight hard for what their children need and we often come up against people who are not as helpful as they could be so when we do find those who go the extra mile, who seem to care a little bit more, whose jobs become true vocations, then we want to shout about that and tell everyone how great they are.”