I expect, like me, you have walked along Charlton Lane and passed The Leonard Cheshire Home and not really been aware of what it did. For the September meeting of Christians At Work Francois Gallais, the Regional Fundraising Manager and Lora Fullbrook, who has recently started work there as the local Volunteer and Fund Raising Co-ordinator, came to speak to the group about just that.
It is a residential home for people with physical disabilities. Although it is an institution, by its very nature many of the residents are able to live in Supported Living Units where they can be as independent as possible with support close at hand. There are many similar Leonard Cheshire Homes in the UK. In fact there are eighty-two, supporting 21,000 people (although only some 2,000 people actually live in Cheshire Homes). In the UK the Social Services will refer somebody for support and will pay their fees.
The type of support varies, and it includes projects such as the Workability Project, which provides computers and helps people take on-line courses, and the Ready to Start Project, which helps people set up their own businesses.
There are also many centres abroad. 40,000 people are supported in 55 countries, and although in the UK support is mainly for adults many of the overseas homes give support to children. They have their own fundraising foundations, but they follow the same ethos and vision as the UK model.
So how did it all start? Leonard Cheshire had been an RAF officer (and the youngest ever Group Captain) during the war, including a spell commanding the Dam-Busters. The turning point was having witnessed, as an official observer, the dropping of the bomb on Nagasaki. He set up his first home in Hampshire in 1948 and by the mid-fifties there were 20 homes. The 82 homes of today support people from all walks of life.
The organisation is financed largely by the fees charged, which the public sector pay. Out of an annual income of £142m, 87% is from fees. The remaining 13% is mostly from donations and it is this money which helps to improve the quality of life for the residents. At Charlton Lane, for example, they are raising money to build a conservatory and to refurbish the lounge.
David Webber
The chapel at Prinknash was in darkness as we arrived for Compline. The congregation was much larger than usual due to the annual visit to Prinknash organised by Roy on behalf of Christians at Work. We sat in the darkness waiting for the service to begin with only the statue of the Virgin illuminated. Then, after the sound of an electric bell behind the doors leading into the monastery, the 13 monks quietly and purposefully processed into the chapel. Compline is sung in Latin but it did not seem to matter as the chanting lifted our own prayers to God and left a feeling of comfort and peace.
After the service we were invited into the parlour to talk to the Abbot. He spoke of the rule of St Benedict and of the history of the monks at Prinknash and the close links with Caldy Island. Now the monastery is facing more change as the building is too big for the number of monks. They are returning to their original home at St Peters Grange and the present monastery will change its use into perhaps a retirement home. Whatever happens it will not be sold but leased so the monks have control over its use.
The Abbot, Father Francis, answered all our questions with humour and honesty and patience. Knowing he had an early start in the morning, we left at 9.30 with the invitation to join the community again next year but in their original premises.
You don't have to wait a year, though. If you want to join the monks for compline it is sung every night in the chapel at 8.10. There is also a very good website to visit, yes they have a website! www.prinknashabbey.org.
Anne Webber