A mountain climbing business man, a legally blind City banker who crossed the Atlantic by row boat, freefalling parachutists and the former England manager Graham Taylor are just some of the recipients of the first ever Sense Supporter Achievement awards.
This new event took place in the Houses of Parliament and was created to celebrate and thank Sense supporters. Each of the winners was presented with a specially commissioned work from the deafblind artists at Sense’s Anne Wall Centre in Barnet, London.
Director of Fundraising, Jane Arnell says “Our Sense Supporter Achievement recipients exemplify so many of our supporters. We are immensely proud of all these award winners and are grateful for their ongoing commitment to raise vital funds for deafblind people”
The winners
The full list of Sense Supporter Achievement Award winners is:
- Graham Taylor – first ran the London Marathon in 2004 and has been an ambassador since, hosting events and writing to supporters
- David Neale – a Birmingham business man climbed the Matterhorn in 2008 raising £10,000 and continues to encourage other businesses to support Sense
- Orange – a team of employees raised £15,000 parachuting last year as part of a partnership which so far has raised over £400,000
- Curtis Francis and Karen Edwards – this 11-year-old Bristol deafblind boy ran Sense’s Vision 5K race supported by his Mum, Karen
- Aurelio Belo – a Southampton grandfather has run six London marathons and the New York Marathon raising almost £15,000
- Alan Lock and Matt Boreham – legally blind banker Alan rowed the Atlantic in 2008, supported by his friend Matt, raising almost £50,000
- Hugh Stubbs – Hugh Stubbs, as master of the Merchant Taylors' Livery Company, chose Sense as his Charity of the Year, raising £40,000 from members for Sense projects. He had also previously helped Sense gain £30,000 from the Grand Charity of Freemasons
- Vision Charity - raising money for a number of charities working with blind, visually impaired and dyslexic children, this group has shown significant support for Sense’s holiday programme
The awards were presented by Sense’s Chairman John Crabtree, OBE, hosted by Roger Berry Labour MP for Kingswood with a presentation by Amar Latif.
