It has been nice for a change to focus on our smaller Charity as the focus of our attention in the last few months has been the rebranding of St George’s Police Childrens Trust to The Police Children’s Charity.

Whilst this has been a mammoth task, with everything from name badge changes to a complete website overhaul, it has been a great project to get our teeth into and I am really proud of the final result The feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive and this new name and branding is a much better reflection of what the Charity offers. If you are not aware of the Charity, please have a look at the new website, www.thepolicechildrenscharity.org and the support that the Charity offers. If you are not already part of this fantastic Charity, please consider making donations – especially during the Amnesty with a chance to win and electric car!

In my last blog in September last year, I mentioned an upcoming Police Charities UK meeting here at St Andrews. It was wonderful to welcome colleagues from Police Charities across the country to the Centre and have the opportunity to show them our new Clinical Services Wing and facilities. Patrick and I also then had the opportunity to visit Flint House at the next Police Charities UK meeting in March, and I would like to thank Sophia, Aspen and all the team for making us feel so welcome.

Now that life seems to be returning to some semblance of normality, the team have seen a massive increase in requests to attend all sorts of events across our constituent forces which is fantastic. In our busiest year (before COVID hit) we attended 293 events and already in the first 6 months of 2022, we have attended 183, so we are on track for a record breaking year.

Much of this activity has been focused on The Police Children’s Charity, ensuring we spread the message far and wide during the current Amnesty. There are just a few weeks left to sign up and have immediate access to our new grants available to Serving Donors, including financial support for counselling for a young person or for other wellbeing needs. I especially enjoy attending Wellbeing events as they are a great opportunity to have a chat with fellow stallholders as well as many Officers and Staff who have either recently attended the Centres or came many years ago but still speak very highly of their time with us. 

It was a real shame that we were not able to secure the numbers to run our Back on the Beat Cycle Sportive this year, however, I would like to pass on a massive thank you to all those who either took the challenge on themselves and fundraised or donated their entrance fee to help us raise a fantastic £1,576.47.

I am also delighted to report that we have seen some fantastic fundraising efforts so far this year – everything from pulling a 9 ton truck to charity football matches! Moving forward we will be looking for new fundraising ideas to share with you. I would encourage all of you to consider a Police Charity, whether the PTC or The Police Children’s Charity for any challenges you may be considering!

Finally, I would like to bid a fond farewell to Paul Grant who finished his last shift last week after 23 and a half years at Castlebrae. It has been an absolute pleasure to work alongside Paul in my time here and I wish him all the best for his retirement.

Teamwork really does make the dream work and we are very lucky at the PTC to have a fantastic team of people who are truly passionate about our Patients and service. As I write this, for the first time in almost a year, I am in the office with the majority of my team, taking a well-earned break from the road and welcoming Zoe back on a keeping in touch day whilst on maternity leave.

 

I look forward to seeing what the rest of the year has in store for us and our supporters.

 

Fran Greenwood

Head of Donor Recruitment & Charity Engagement

 

 

<<Back