On 12th May 2016, HRH The Princess Royal made a special visit to a City Lunch Reception in London’s Square Mile.
Hosted by Livability at the City’s Merchant Taylors’ Hall, the event gathered members of London’s business community to raise awareness of the challenges facing disabled people and share stories of Livability’s work. The event also included a keynote address from Sandra Scheerer, Director at Pillsbury Law and a board member of Rare Recruitment that promotes diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
As Livability’s Patron, HRH is a committed advocate for disability awareness. Speaking to the reception guests, HRH highlighted how disabled and vulnerable people in our society face unnecessary barriers in their lives and communities. HRH added that whilst some of the core needs remain unchanged, the environment continues to bring challenges in terms of funding and social inclusion. Endorsing the recent joining of Prospects into Livability, HRH said ‘One thing I greatly admire about Livability is its ability to keep on adapting to bring the best support it can to the people it serves.’
The event raised profile for a variety of projects that Livability run to tackle barriers in the lives of disabled people. From an enterprise programme training disabled people in how to start their own business; the development of a spinal injury rehabilitation centre; a therapy centre at a school for disabled children; or assistive technologies that support communication and learning; the projects demonstrated Livability’s frontline work and the significant impact they have with individuals, families and communities.
Guests were invited to consider how they could support the work of the charity – through their networks, expertise sharing or funding.
Andrew Douglass, Founder and CEO, Innovision Events:
I never fail to be inspired by all Livability represents. I love its tangible ethos and how this shapes the way Livability is pioneering new ways of enabling people to be included within community. At Innovision we are proud of our growing relationship with Livability as together we make true diversity and meaningful inclusion the new normal.
Anna Maria Mullen, Corporate Partnerships Manager:
Livability is a charity that is passionately committed to supporting disabled people live full and flourishing lives. We see our charity as an enabling network – an active community of service users, supporters and volunteers – bringing their strengths and expertise together to respond to need. Today’s event has been all about finding community-minded people and organisations in the city, with which to collaborate and make a real impact for our work going forwards.
Dave Webber, Livability CEO:
Livability support disabled and vulnerable people throughout the UK. Our aim is to make the community more livable for all we serve. For 160 years, we’ve been tackling social isolation. Our founders – Lord Shaftesbury and John Grooms – were social entrepreneurs of their day, putting their faith into action; actively partnering with communities including the City of London to work for social change. It’s no different today. We’re holding this reception to find city people and businesses to partner with and support our work going forwards.
Sandra Scheerer:
We can and must all take personal responsibility to make our communities stronger and more inclusive. I am encouraged about all Livability does to enable this around the UK.
Livability express thanks to HRH The Princess Royal for her continued support to Livability and all guests at this event.
Livability, 6 Mitre Passage, London SE10 0ER.
Registered charity no. 1116530•Copyright © 2023 Livability. All rights reserved.
