www.carers.org

We careWorking together to reach and support carers

ceo launches first issue

royal president visits carers across uk

grants for carers across the uk

Spring 2010

Issue 1

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An introduction from our Chief Executive

Inside this issue

Welcome to the first ever issue of We care, The Princess Royal Trust for Carers’ new magazine to keep you abreast of our successes and achievements and give you a taste of the work that we do to help carers on a national and local level.

Carers provide help and support to a family member or a friend who would otherwise be unable to manage on their own, due to illness, disability, a mental health or a substance misuse problem.

Anybody can be a carer and many do not even recognise themselves as being so. They may be a fifteen year old juggling school work and looking after a parent with multiple sclerosis, a forty year old having to give up a good job to care for his wife who has mental health problems, or a seventy year old looking after a husband with Alzheimer’s. All carers are different, and yet all have one thing in common: they are unpaid and often have no support. Our vision is for all carers to be recognised, valued and able to maximise their quality of life.

There are six million carers in the UK today - that’s 1 in 10 people - from all walks of life and, with an aging population and people with learning disabilities and illness living longer, the numbers are increasing. Few of us are prepared for a sudden and demanding caring role, but many of us will be touched by caring at some point in our lives.

Caring for someone is incredibly hard. It can be mentally, physically and financially draining. Practical, financial and emotional

support can make it that little bit easier.

We currently support over 400,000 carers across the UK and we would not be able to continue supporting them without your help.

We hope you enjoy We care. Please do give us your feedback at info@carers.org

On behalf of carers across the UK, thank you for helping to make a difference to their lives and to those of their families.

Carole Cochrane Chief Executive The Princess Royal Trust for Carers

Carole Cochrane, Chief Executive

We are delighted to announce that Woman’s Weekly has chosen to remain charity partner with The Trust for the second consecutive year, with the Editor describing The Trust as “the best charity that Woman’s Weekly has ever worked with”.

As one of the UK’s most popular titles, Woman’s Weekly is a key publication for The Trust.

The partnership, which was launched on 20th January 2009, has been a tremendous success for The Trust in terms of raising

Introduction �

The support of the President �

Woman’s Weekly � chooses The Trust

Supporter profile �

Pharmaceutical marketing �society advertising awards

Young carers in school �

Supporting parent carers in �Wales

Supporting carers at hospital �discharge

Carers and housing �

Developing grant programmes �

Ensuring quality services �

Positively influencing policy �

Raising awareness in Wales �

Providing carers with a break �

The Trust in the news �

The race to help carers �

Fashion show in aid of The �Trust

Helping young carers at �Christmas time

We care � talks to Pam Ferris

Thank you! �

How your company can get �involved

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The support of the PresidentThe Princess Royal Trust for Carers was founded in 1991 on the initiative of Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal at a time when very little was known about carers or the struggles they face daily.

There was very little available to carers in the way of services other than respite and of that there was not very much. Now, eighteen years on we are proud to say that The Trust is the largest provider of comprehensive support services in the UK, reaching over 400,000 carers through our network of 144 Carers’ Centres and our websites. And, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal continues to be as dedicated to carers as she was nineteen years ago.

As President, Her Royal Highness takes an active part in the development of our organisation and in our network building. As well as attend fundraising events each year, she also finds time in her busy

schedule to visit network Carers’ Centres to celebrate anniversaries and meet with staff and carers. This year so far, Her Royal Highness has been visiting Carers’ Centres across London.

City & Hackney Carers’ Centre received the royal seal of approval when Her Royal Highness officially opened their new premises in Dalston in February, unveiling a plaque to commemorate her visit. She also took the time to meet with local carers who benefit from the centre’s support services. Her Royal Highness heard how the Carers’ Centre has recently launched a new young adult service to support the often neglected group of 18 - 25 year olds.

Her Royal Highness travelled from East to

Woman’s Weekly chooses The Trust as charity partner for a second year in a row

Photo Top: Her Royal Highness enjoys meeting carers at City and Hackney Carers’ Centre

The Woman’s Weekly editorial team

West to officially open Kingston Carers’ Centre’s new base in New Malden, Surrey in March. Young and adult carers were very excited to meet with Her Royal Highness as they told her about their experiences and some of the support provided by the centre, such as advocacy counselling and support groups, complementary therapies and social activities.

Haringey Carers’ Centre celebrated their sixth anniversary in March and invited Her Royal Highness to join in the festivities. Her visit highlighted the good work of the centre and demonstrated the need to support more carers in the community.

awareness of carers and the profile of the charity across the UK. Throughout 2009, Woman’s Weekly included a series of features and articles helping us to reach out to their readership, many of whom are carers and ‘hidden’ carers. The magazine will continue to highlight carers’ issues throughout 2010.

Women’s Weekly also raised over £3,000 for our work supporting carers through their Care to Share party initiative.

We careWorking together to reach and support carers

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Working in partnership to reach carers

Parents caring for adult children with a learning disability in Gwynedd, North Wales, have recently benefitted from a pilot project to support them in planning for the future.

Planning for the future can be unsettling and emotional for parents and it is vital that they have trust and confidence in the services provided. As such, Gwynedd Social Services contacted The Trust network member Carers Outreach Service North West Wales (Conwy) to manage the project which has the aim of providing emotional support and signposting further services.

Carers Outreach Service North West Wales (Conwy) has integrated the project into their services already provided, offering a

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal visited the Manchester offices of long-term corporate supporter Accenture on 8th March to say a big thank you for raising £175,000 for The Trust since 2002.

Accenture, a major global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, is committed to being a good corporate citizen and playing its full part in society.

Her Royal Highness spoke to staff about the difficulties of getting carers back into the workplace and praised Accenture for helping to deliver training to carers locally by providing a grant of £3,000 to network member The Carers’ Resource in Harrogate. She said it was an example of how businesses can work effectively with the voluntary sector to help give people the skills they need to succeed.

Accenture’s support extends beyond financial; the company provides pro bono

Young carers shouldn’t have to choose between being carers and being young

Pharmaceutical marketing society advertising awards

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and The Children’s Society have produced, in partnership, Supporting Young Carers: A resource for schools to help schools develop a deeper understanding of the issues faced by young carers in education.

It is estimated that there are up to 30 young carers in each secondary school. For many, a caring role can be a positive experience contributing to the development of self-motivation, determination, empathy and tolerance. For most, however, the negative aspects outweigh the positive as they try to juggle caring with growing up. A pupil who suddenly begins to miss deadlines, or whose attendance fluctuates, may be struggling to cope with caring demands at home. Others experience

The Pharmaceutical Marketing Society, who has adopted The Trust as its charity partner, held their prestigious Advertising Awards at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel in January 2010.

Following lunch and prior to the ceremony, Chief Executive Carole Cochrane was invited to speak. She spoke movingly to the 1,300 members in attendance about the role that carers play in our society; guests were surprised to learn that unpaid carers save the government £87bn a year. She also spoke of the fantastic work that The Trust is doing to help carers across the UK, of whom thousands are under the age of 18. Following her poignant speech, guests participated in a fundraising prize draw for a luxurious short break in London’s West End courtesy of another supporter of The Trust, The Langham Hotel. A fantastic sum

emotional or psychological difficulties as they struggle to concentrate due to worry. These impacts can often lead to self-esteem issues, further withdrawal and even bullying. It is vital that young carers are supported as soon as possible.

Supporting Young Carers: A resource for schools will be launched on 17th May and will be made available on www.carers.org/professionals, The Trust’s website dedicated solely to professionals working with carers.

The resource, produced thanks to funding from The Sunday Times, is aimed primarily at secondary schools, but much of the content will also be transferable to primary schools and further education colleges.

of just over £12,300 was raised. To date, the relationship between the PM Society and the Trust has raised nearly £28,000, enabling the charity to support carers through its network of 144 Carers’ Centres and websites.

The PM Society is an independent not-for-profit organisation which is run for the benefit of its members by a voluntary committee

from within the pharmaceutical industry and allied agencies and exists to promote pharmaceutical marketing excellence.

The Trust expresses its gratitude to the Pharmaceutical Marketing Society for its support and looks forward to continue working with them throughout the year.

Supporting parent carers in WalesGlobal firm supports the UK’s carers

more holistic service to the carers chosen to take part.

Support in planning for the future can greatly relieve the pressure for carers and the carers involved have been very positive so far. Future planning is essential. Without care plans in place, the day when a carer is unable to continue with their caring role could lead to an unplanned emergency response, resulting in unnecessary human and financial cost.

This project provides an opportunity not only to reduce unexpected spending, but more importantly to contribute to a more secure future for some of Gwynedd’s more vulnerable residents.

professional support to The Trust, such as the design and production of awareness- and fundraising materials, and the charity has also benefitted from staff secondment. Accenture has also provided skills-training to The Trust staff, Carers’ Centres and carers.

Chief Executive Carole Cochrane says: “I am particularly proud of this partnership which highights the importance of giving time, understanding and consideration to your partners”.

The Trust is delighted to work closely with Accenture and to continue expanding the current support in place and create new and innovative ways of working. The support received is invaluable and we extend our thanks to all staff involved in the relationship.

“Every school will have young carers

and just one individual teacher or support

worker can make all the difference.”

Supporter profile

To give you an idea of who some of our supporters are, we will be including a supporter profile in each issue of We care. This month we speak to Gill Preston.

“I am Gill Preston, President of the National Association of Tangent Clubs. We are part of the Round Table Family which also consists of Round Table, National Association of Ladies’ Circles of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and ex-roundtablers 41 Club. We formed as an association 60 years ago, have 15,500 members and this year will celebrate our 40th charter.

Each year, the incoming national president chooses a charity and asks the membership to support her in raising funds. With so many worthwhile causes, it has been a difficult task in making a final decision. My background was in education and so I wanted to choose a charity that would help young people and recognise their selfless contribution through helping others. I have chosen young carers within The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and want, not only to raise funds, but also to help raise the profile of the charity and encourage people to donate their time as well as their money.

During my year as President, I hope to visit support offices in each of Tangent’s regions to see first hand the work carried out to support carers throughout the UK. I hope the money we raise through our fundraising efforts during the year will make a difference and I know it will be put to good use by the charity.”

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The Princess Royal Trust for Carers, with support from the Department of Health Housing Learning and Improvement Network (LIN), has launched the first national report on the housing issues affecting the UK’s six million carers.

Carers need information, support, respect and recognition from the professionals with whom they come into contact, and yet the importance of suitable housing for carers is little known.

The Trust commissioned Peter Fletcher Associates Research and Consultancy to investigate:

whether carers themselves see housing •as a key issue.

the housing issues with which carers •identify themselves.

Developing grants for carers across the UKThe Trust provides carers and the network of Carers’ Centres with access to a range of grant programmes aimed at relieving the stress and isolation that carers may be feeling as a result of their caring role.

We wouldn’t be able to help carers in this way without your help and support as 100% of all our funding provided to carers comes from donations from people like you. You may be a corporate partner holding a fancy dress day in aid of our Carers Relief programme to help carers with financial support to purchase essential household equipment. Or, perhaps you are an individual donor touched by reading a young carer’s story and you gave some money to our Explore More! programme to help young carers explore their interests and talents alongside their caring role.

The Trust aims to provide carers and Carers’ Centres with access to grants throughout the year. Decision panels take place every six weeks where funding is available. However little or large you give, we can guarantee that your contribution can be a lifeline for carers financially, practically and emotionally. Jane’s story provides a small snapshot of the difference your donation can make.

Helping the most vulnerable young carers

Comic Relief has given The Trust £1.5m to reach the UK’s most vulnerable young carers following the success of previous grants programmes.

The Comic Relief scheme was made available to all third sector organisations throughout the UK who work with or who hope to develop services to work with young carers most in need of support.

With this help, The Trust will be able to identify projects and provide high quality support to young carers who are hard to reach. This can be because of the stigma attached to the person being cared for, or because the young carer is from an under

represented or excluded community such as an ethnic minority or refugee community.

A decision panel will accept applications of grants up to £72,500 over three years. The panel will be made up of The Trust, Comic Relief and partners from the National Young Carers Coalition. Young people will also

contribute to the selection process. Final decisions will be announced in July 2010.

Successful projects will be expected to use academically-verified measuring tools to measure results against identified outcomes. These outcome tools have been generated by the Young Carers International Research and Evaluation Team at the University of Nottingham and from The Trust’s fifteen years of experience working with its network of young carers’ services. Already being used by projects that were successful in the second round of grants, the tool will be launched on line in 2011.

Carers and housingwhat is happening to address those •issues.

the development issues to be tackled •so as to ensure that the housing needs of carers are addressed more fully in the future.

The report highlights successes and challenges in current practice and commissioning and makes calls for policy changes. A full copy of the report can be found at www.carers.org/professionals

The Trust has completed three years of study into the support offered by hospitals to carers when the person they care for is discharged from hospital.

The Out of Hospital Project, which was funded by GlaxoSmithKline, highlights ways in which time and money can be saved at the point of and following discharge by avoiding unnecessary hospital admission, saving on medication bills and improving the health of carers.

As one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, GlaxoSmithKline is committed to improving quality of life by helping people to do more, feel better and live longer. Funding of this area of work was

Supporting carers at hospital dischargetherefore seen as highly beneficial to the health of many in the UK.

The research involved two stages: a literature review and examination of the work already carried out by Carers’ Centres in England and pilot projects called Trailblazer based in Swindon and Barnet to develop and test those ideas identified in the first stage.

The research was largely successful, showing that key systems can be modified to improve the identification and referral of carers, especially when an executive level carers’ champion was available. The Trailblazer projects also improved awareness of carers amongst hospital staff with many agreeing that carers should be systematically involved.

However, the evidence shows that the term “carer” is not fully understood by hospital staff. Many family members who provide care and support do not identify themselves in this role. Work still needs to be done to encourage these hidden carers to identify themselves; building questions about carers into core systems and processes, such as those to do with admission and discharge planning, could make a significant difference in this respect.

Thank you to GlaxoSmithKline for funding this project. The Trust will soon be publishing the report to promote its key messages to policy makers, health trusts, hospitals and carers’ organisations.

Jane* is the primary carer for her 60 year old aunt who has learning difficulties and mobility problems. Jane, a single mother to a young daughter, gave up her own home in England to care for her aunt in her home in Edinburgh, Scotland. She has full guardianship over her aunt and provides significant physical and emotional support. With all these changes in her life, Jane has felt stressed and found it difficult to

cope with her new responsibilities. Jane had been saving for a break for over 12 months and The Trust provided a contribution of £200 towards the total cost which enabled her to join a walking holiday with her children in March 2010.

*Please note that the names have been changed.

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Positively influencing policyThe Trust began the year by announcing that social care must be a priority for all three main political parties in the general election.

We produced key election asks for carers and Carers’ Centres to quiz their local candidates, including:

a guarantee that the National Carers’ •Strategy will not be abandoned.

for every area in the UK to have a local •Carers’ Centre.

no carer living in poverty because of •having to give up work to care.

greater help for young carers in school •and to attend college or university.

Social care was a political ‘hot potato’ debate in the run up to the election. There has been much focus in the news about the need to reform social care and also how we pay to support families looking after elderly, seriously ill or disabled relatives. The Trust was crucial in improving the level of debate after party squabbling distorted arguments about the Personal Care at Home Bill and paying for social care in the future. Our Chief Executive, Carole Cochrane, provided evidence to parties, including at an emergency social care conference, about the need to improve social care and why, if we want to build a society that cares, we must support carers.

Before the election we hosted our own debate about the future of social care. Building Society to Care took place on 9th March and was attended by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal and the three main parties. Each party described what they would do to support carers in the next parliament.

The then Minister of State for Care Services at the Department of Health, Phil Hope, advised that, as a result of our campaigning, he would personally hold the NHS accountable for their spending on carers’ breaks. This followed our widely publicised report No Breaks for Carers which revealed that of the £50m allocated to Primary Care Trusts in 2009/10, only 23% was being used to increase services for carers.

The Trust also reported in March that the NHS was only planning to use £26m of £100m provided to increase support for carers in 2010/11. This caused a storm in parliament with various government ministers being questioned about it by MPs from all parties, and a motion calling for immediate action to be taken. The then Secretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham MP, committed to investigating which Primary Care Trusts in the NHS were not supporting carers and pledged to take action. The Trust is working alongside ministers on a national and local level to ensure that carers get the support they need from the NHS.

Our No Breaks for Carers report had a direct influence on the Liberal Democrat and Conservative Parties as both pledged new policies on carers in the run up to the election. The Liberal Democrats announced a £500m guarantee to provide a week’s respite break for over one million carers every year and the Conservatives said that they would provide a “right to respite” for carers.

During that time, The Trust was busy issuing press releases, statements and letters to the editor to the national, broadcast and trade press which resulted in coverage in The Times, The Times Public Sector, The Daily Telegraph, Guardian, ITV News, BBC News Online, BBC Radio Five Live, BBC Working Lunch, Society Guardian, Community Care and Public Net.

The Trust is continuing to fight for better services to support carers all over the UK. We are working with all parties to ensure supporting carers stays high on the political agenda and are also helping all of the new MPs understand the huge issues that carers face.

If you would like to find out more about The Trust’s policy work, read Gordon’s Conochie’s blog at http://carersblog.wordpress.com

Gordon is joint Policy and Parliamentary Officer at The Trust for Carers and Crossroads Care, the leading provider of respite services for carers.

Ensuring quality services across the network As the largest provider of comprehensive carers support services across the UK, improving the quality of life and support for carers is at the heart of activity at The Trust and the network of Carers’ Centres. We believe carers deserve no less.

Thanks to funding from the Big Lottery Fund, The Trust has produced the first ever quality standards for adult and young carers’ services to help national and local organisations analyse and report on the quality of their output and demonstrate how carers are involved in shaping their services.

These quality standards build on the quality standards of PQASSO (Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations) produced by the Charities Evaluation Services, adding two further standards for organisations in the voluntary or statutory sector whose main focus of service delivery is for carers.

We congratulate Lewisham Carers’ Centre, the first of The Trust’s network members to gain Level 1 in our Quality Standards for Carers’ Services. Currently, a further sixteen centres across England, Wales and Scotland are awaiting their independent assessment and award.

Tools such as these enable organisations to provide evidence of their commitment to quality to carers, commissioners and funders and we look forward to developing them further across the UK.

Over the last few months we have continued to keep carers issues in the news, here are some of our highlights:

Carole Cochrane’s Chief Executive’s statement regarding the proposed National Care Service appeared in Community Care magazine. Alex Fox, Director of Communications and Policy, was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC 2’s Working Lunch about our work on Carers’ Breaks and also briefed The New York Times. Gordon Conochie, Policy and Parliamentary Officer, was interviewed on Talk Sport on the same subject. Our report No Breaks for Carers featured in The Sunday Telegraph, The Today Programme, BBC Breakfast and BBC Radio 2. The Trust added its signature to a joint letter to editor entitled Treat Patients and Carers as Grown-ups which appeared in The Times. A Trust hosted roundtable event with the three main parties was featured in The Daily Telegraph, Third Sector, Health Service Journal,

Raising awareness in Wales

The Trust held the first ever roundtable policy debate in Wales on 25th February and Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal showed her support by attending.

The debate took place at the Cardiff Hilton Hotel and included representatives from the Welsh Assembly Government and health and local authorities. It offered an important opportunity to highlight some of the work delivered by Carers’ Centres

across Wales, including with GP practices, pharmacies and community hospitals.

There are an estimated 356,000 adult carers in Wales today, providing over 70% of community care in Wales.

This was a hugely successful event which helped raise awareness of the innovative work being carried out by Carers’ Centres as well as the profile of The Trust in Wales.

The Trust in the newsCommunity Care and Community Newswire. Pam Ferris, in her role as The Trust’s Vice-President, was interviewed live on BBC One Missing Live programme this morning to ask viewers to help find an ex-carer. Danni Manzi, Policy and Development Manager for Young Carers, was interviewed live on LBC Radio about young carers. Alex Fox also wrote an article for the Society Guardian discussing adult care legislation. Carole Cochrane was interviewed by The Times and called for all political parties to include support for carers in their manifestos. A consortium of 30 charities, including The Trust, signed a letter to editor to the Guardian calling for the TV election debates to question the parties about the future of social care...

What do you think?

Providing carers with a break

Do you have any feedback on a story in We care or something to share with other supporters. Please email your letter to info@carers.org or address it to ‘The Editor’ at The Princess Royal Trust for Carers, 14 Bourne Court, Southend Road, Woodford Green, Essex IG8 8HD.

Your support has never been more important to The Princess Royal Trust for Carers, and over 400,000 carers around the UK who rely on our vital services. As a thank you please find enclosed a £15 Gift Voucher from our friends at Littlewoods. For every order placed using this voucher, Littlewoods will donate £2 to The Trust.

Thanks to the support from Classic Lodge Hotels hundreds of carers have had a well earned break in glorious settings.

The prestigious hotels located in beautiful locations have meant carers from across the UK have been able to enjoy sightseeing, meet new friends, relax and recharge their batteries.

Chief Executive Carole Cochrane has received reports highlighting that the feedback received from carers who have been lucky enough to benefit from these breaks has been phenomenal. This really does show the value of being able to give carers the opportunity of a quality break.

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The Trust was delighted to receive £25,000 to help young carers from the Ladbrokes in the Community Charitable Trust as part of their Christmas children’s initiative.

Some of the funding helped The Trust to treat 50 young carers from London to a once in a lifetime children’s party at 11 Downing Street. Maggie Darling, wife of Rt. Hon. Alistair Darling MP hosts the parties annually for charities that support and work with children across the UK, and in 2009 she invited young carers supported by The Trust.

The event was a huge success, enjoyed by all the young carers and attended by pop sensation The Saturdays and television presenters Dick and Dom much to the delight of the children. Maggie and Alistair were incredibly supportive and wonderful with all the young carers - we are very

Carers Week 2010The Trust is joining forces with six other charities, including Macmillan Cancer Support and Carers UK, to launch national Carers Week, an annual awareness-raising event to highlight carers’ issues in the UK.

This year’s event is taking place from 14th to 20th June and the theme A life of my own focuses on the parts of life that many of us take for granted: family occasions, going on holiday, a meal out, or spending an evening with friends can often be difficult or near impossible for carers with responsibilities.

Helping young carers at Christmas timegrateful to them both for giving up time in their busy schedules to show their support for The Trust. Gordon Brown also popped in unexpectedly which was a great surprise to all!

For many children, Christmas is supposed to be one of the happiest and most magical times of year, but for the UK’s 175,000 young carers, it can be one of the most stressful and isolating times as their caring responsibilities increase. Support services are reduced or closed during the Christmas period which leads to greater pressure on young carers as there is no outside help. Many are responsible for cooking Christmas lunch and thousands may not even get presents because their parent is disabled and cannot leave the

Many carers give up their own dreams and work to care for somebody, often talking about how lonely and isolated they become. Carers can lose contact with friends and family, because of their caring role: their life can become wholly focused on the person they care for.

As part of Carers Week, The Trust will be campaigning on four issues to help carers have a life of their own, including:

access to specialised local information •and advice to help with their caring role.

the opportunity to take a break when •they need it.

house. Those who do may even have to wrap their own.

The Ladbrokes in the Community Charitable Trust was established in 2003 to raise money for charities across the UK, particularly those who work with the disadvantaged, disabled or those generally at risk

emergency support at times of crisis. •

financial support to avoid carers having •to live in poverty.

We will provide carers with the opportunity to meet MPs and discuss how their caring role has affected them. We will also be holding a meeting for all new MPs to ensure that they understand the issues affecting the six million carers in the UK.

Find your local Carers’ Centre to see what’s happening in your area at www.carers.org

The race to help carers

International designer presents fashion show in aid of The Trust

The Trust is holding its annual race day at Haydock Park on 20th May. Situated half way between Manchester and Liverpool, the racecourse is of a first class standard set in 127 acres of parkland. The day will feature a champagne reception, lunch, afternoon tea and race card.

Gaming company Sportech Plc. are supporting this event for a second year and are delighted, as is The Trust, to welcome you to this great day out.

If you want to enjoy the thrill of the chase, tickets are still available and cost £1,500 for a table for 10, or £150 individually. For more information, please contact hbolland@carers.org or call 01257 234070.

The Trust is proud to announce the support of international fashion designer Alvin Loy who will be presenting his show The Big Reveal on 21st September. The show is to be held at The Royal Lancaster Hotel in London where a Gala Dinner Dance is also on the menu.

Alvin was born in Malaysia and introduced to fashion at a young age by his mother. His move to Birmingham to study fashion cemented his rise first on the national, and then the international arena. The Trust is very grateful to Alvin, because, not only will the event’s proceeds go towards supporting carers, it is also a fantastic way of raising our profile.

Three different packages are available should you and nine of your friends or colleagues want to attend this superior event:

Platinum £5,000

Table in prime catwalk location•

Full A4-page advertisement in event •brochure

Private VIP champagne reception •

Gourmet dinner, wines and liqueurs •

Gold £3,500

Table in superior catwalk location •

Half-page advertisement in event •brochure

Gourmet dinner, wines and liqueurs •

Silver £2,500

Table Gourmet dinner, wines and •liqueurs

Individual tickets are also available at £250.

If you would like further information on the event, please contact info@thebigreveal2010.com or call 0844 800 4361.

TV presenters Dick and Dom have fun with a young carer in Downing Street

Vice-President Pam Ferris has a rapport with carers

We care talks to Pam Ferris The Trust is very fortunate to have the full support of acclaimed film, television and stage actor Pam Ferris.

Pam is best known for playing the lovable mum Ma Larkin in the rural family television drama The Darling Buds of May and the green-fingered sleuth Laura Thyme in Rosemary & Thyme. Most recently, you may have seen her play scary Miss Trunchbull in the film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Matilda, nasty Aunt Marge in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Smithy’s hilarious narcoleptic mum in popular television comedy Gavin and Stacey. Here, Pam takes time out to give us some insight into why she supports The Trust.

What motivated you to support The Princess Royal Trust for Carers?

When I first visited a Carers’ Centre, I found I had a rapport with the carers as I had been one myself. The Princess Royal Trust for Carers had uncovered a need for support and the more I got involved, the more I wanted to do. Now they can’t keep me away!

What does your role as Vice President involve?

I’m an Honorary Vice President. I meet carers face-to-face, and try to keep the issues in the public eye.

What has been your favourite campaign or event that you have been involved in

during your time at The Trust?

I loved visiting 12 Carers’ Centres in one day, with the help of a light aircraft! We did it to draw attention to Carers Week a few years back. We started at Tyne Tees in the North-East at the crack of dawn and ended in Barnet in London at about 9pm. The next day I was able to present three requests from each centre to MPs at Portcullis House in Westminster.

What do you think are the key issues facing carers and how can The Trust help?

Isolation, stress, being sidelined and ignored by professionals and undervalued by government. Young carers have all the above, plus school, exams, and their own growing up to do. The Trust is working hard on all these issues.

Why should our readers keep supporting the work of The Trust?

We owe a huge debt to carers. Without their quiet selfless commitment the country, and especially the National Health Service, would be in a terrible state. We should all remember that there’s no such thing as a typical carer and that we might become one at any point in our lives.

What film or TV projects are you working on at the moment?

A couple of comedies for TV: Whites which is about celebrity chefs and Grandma’s

House which is set in Gants Hill, Essex. I think they’re both very funny - we’ll see what the public think...

Who is the best celebrity you have worked with and why?

Hmm, this is a hard one. I’m going to say Antonio Banderas, for all the obvious reasons - he’s gorgeous etc. – but, he’s also a stage actor, so we talked about plays and performance for a while and then about music. He gave me a couple of CDs of various artists he likes and I play them often. He’s lovely, not starry at all.

You can read more about The Trust’s involvement in Carers Week below and about our work with young carers in schools on page 5.

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www.carers.org

The Trust works with companies to develop true partnerships delivering mutual benefits.

Funding, especially unrestricted, will always be necessary to enable us to support as many carers across the UK as possible, but there are many ways in which your company can support us. The Trust can work closely with you to determine a tailored programme of activities that will suit your organisation. Here are some examples of how your company can get involved:

Sponsorship

Opportunities at The Big Reveal fashion •show and gala dinner at The Royal Lancaster, London in September 2010

Launch of The Trust’s new website in •autumn 2010

Parliamentary receptions•

Discussion events at party conferences•

Publications and reports•

Carers Week in June 2010•

Pro bono

Design of electronic corporate •partnerships brochure

Annual financial audit •

Thank you!We’d like to thank to all of our supporters who donated to our recent appeal highlighting the issues around NHS funding for carers breaks. To date this appeal has raised £14,500.

If you’d like to support our work with a gift please call 0844 800 8527 or enclose a cheque or postal order to

Freepost RRRY-JLXK-GZCGThe Princess Royal Trust for Carers14 Bourne CourtSouthend Road Woodford Green Essex IG8 8HD

How your company can get involvedCreative design•

Digital design and development•

Website support•

Legal support•

Employees

Staff secondment opportunities at The •Trust in policy, communications and fundraising

Staff mentoring •

Helping us to secure celebrity support•

Training/skills share

Design/creative skills•

Marketing•

Gifts in Kind

Raffle prizes for fundraising events•

Catering for events•

Supporting carers in the workplace

Identifying and supporting the carers in •your workplace

Developing carer-friendly policies in •your workplace

Working with The Trust to identify ways •to help carers back into the workplace

Donations

By making your donation unrestricted •it becomes far more powerful and far reaching, allowing us to respond to areas of most need immediately

Tax effective corporate donations •

Matched giving•

Charity of the Year•

Employee fundraising•

Payroll giving•

For further information please call Jules Armour, Senior Corporate Fundraising Manager, on 0208 498 7907 or email jarmour@carers.org

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers, 14 Bourne Court, Southend Road, Woodford Green IG8 8HD

Charity Registration number: SC015975

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