All good things come to those who wait! It’s that time again for the Chair’s blog. For those who don’t know me I am Liam Kelly, the proud Chair of the Board of Trustees for The PTC and The Police Children’s Charities. It is always a pleasure to be able to provide an update on the Charities’ goings on so all I ask is you afford me a few minutes of your precious time.
The big headline was the first visit to our Harrogate Centre on 20th September 2023, by our Patron, the Princess Royal. This visit was initially arranged for March 2023 but was cancelled at the last minute due to heavy snow. As a not so amusing aside, from my perspective, my own flight home during that aborted visit ended up being delayed significantly and being diverted to Dublin resulting in my usual hour-long journey home taking some two days!
As our CEO was out of office on holiday in Borneo (of all places!), it was left to me and our Centre Manager Adele, to formally welcome the Princess Royal. I was designated as her chaperone during the visit and as we walked and talked, I was really impressed with her insightful knowledge of the history of our estate and the services we provide. She was also briefed on the work of The Police Children’s Charity and deeply appreciated the important support the Charity provides to police families.
The visit lasted some two hours and in that time, she met and chatted with our President, Baroness Harris of Richmond, some of my fellow Board members, our wonderful staff and a selection of key supporters and patients in residence. We 
completed a full tour of the physical and mental health facilities where the Princess Royal spent time chatting with every person she met. She continually remarked on how wonderful and uplifting the Centre was. Her visit culminated in the unveiling of a plaque to commemorate her attendance and dedicating the opening of the Centres new Clinical Services Wing. I presented her with a small police helmet momento (which she commented wouldn’t fit on her head!).
Prior to departing, she gave an impromptu speech to everyone where she recognised the history of the Charities and stressed the importance of raising the profile of and maintaining the sterling work both Charities are doing. In closing, she thanked the staff for their continued hard work, 
commitment and dedication to helping both serving and retired Police Officers and the extended police family. She also confirmed that she would be visiting our other centre in Auchterarder early in 2024. It was a real honour to welcome the Princess Royal to our Harrogate Centre and I look forward to seeing her again in Scotland. As a footnote, the CEO has returned from Southeast Asia and will hopefully be readily available for this upcoming visit so to spare her from having to spend another two hours with me again!
Princess Royal’s visit gave us the opportunity to showcase both the facilities and services we provide. The PTC Board of Trustees remain fully committed and keen to ‘future proof’ our Charities so we collectively continue to work seeking new supporters and revenue streams, promote the ongoing need for new donors and re-evaluate what we can or could provide and exercise proper 
due diligence to ensure we are becoming more effective and efficient in how we do what we do. Our ongoing collaborative work with Police Care UK Charity has grown and we continue to host for them ground-breaking intensive trauma mental health programmes at our Harrogate site. This complements and enhances our own existing services. For example, earlier this year we internally developed and rolled out a bespoke psychological programme specifically for retired officers.
However, both our Charities continue to need help. They need more supporters and Ambassadors to raise awareness and promote what we provide, to share the positive news and encourage as many as possible to donate so that both Charities can continue to evolve and grow and provide the ongoing assistance and fantastic support that’s needed both now and in the future.
Fundraising is an integral part for both Charities to continue to be sustainable in the long term. We are fully aware that the Charity fundraising sector is a competitive market but I would directly appeal for serving and retired officers to engage with and particularly support ourselves and other police charities.
As always, if any of you are looking to swim the Channel, mud wrestle a hippo, run a marathon (or several!) or do any sort of challenge, please keep both The PTC and The Police Children’s charities in mind as beneficiaries from any fundraising. The DRCE team at Harrogate would be delighted to provide assistance and support to you if you do decide to fundraise so please get in touch!
It’s time for me to finish this blog. I hope you can see that both Charities are relevant and are making a positive impact within the police family. I urge you to keep promoting and supporting us so we can keep doing what we do.
I finish with some life advice from Aesop:
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted”.
Take care and keep safe.
Liam KellyChair, Board of Trustees for PTC and TPC Charities.
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