CHAIR OF TRUSTEES REPORT 2006/7

Last October, friends old and new gathered together to celebrate ten years of ASCEND.  It was a wonderful celebration in which we recalled a decade of amazing achievement and growth.  For over ten years we have been successfully helping people to learn, to grow and to discover their true value.  The highlight of the day was the moment when the Bishop of Hertford, the Rt Revd Christopher Foster, lit our Candle of Hope.   The flame came to life and symbolically it is still glowing.  Yes it has been hard.  Yes there have been times of frustration and yes, there have been serious concerns about funding but the flame is still alight and the hope is still there.

During the last year we have achieved so much.  We started the year with a slight feeling of despair, we wondered if we would still be here in a year’s time.  We are. Financially we are not out of the woods but we are more secure than we have been .  We gained a great contract with NLDC (Neighbourhood Learning in Deprived Communities) which brought in much needed funding.  It was good to have the support of Hertfordshire County Council without whom this contract would not have been possible and we continue to receive funding from Herts Careers service for our work in IAG (Information, Advice and Guidance).  We were also delighted when we received a substantial grant from teh Mission Support Fund of St. Albans Diocese.

However, during the year there has been one area of growth that has been extremely beneficial in a number of different ways. We have been gradually developing relationships with local businesses and this has proved rewarding for everyone involved. Barclays Bank has not only financed our client support work but has also held classes in financial literacy.  We certainly intend to work closely with many more local companies.

At the heart of our work are the classes which teach literacy and numeracy to those for whom the statutory education system was not perhaps, at the time, the right path. Now they are rapidly growing in skills and confidence. This year we have been part of the BBC RaW Campaign (Reading and Writing) and the course has been an enormous success.  As part of this campaign, we held a family learning session during the February half term, during which children and parents came together around our authentic looking campfire for stories and activities. It was great fun.

The high standards of professionalism and commitment of all our staff, volunteers and management, together with our strong personal approach to their development, was recognised when we were again praised highly following the assessment process of Investor in People.  ASCEND could not achieve all that it does without everyone working together and being totally committed to the project and the clients. Staff, volunteers and management all contribute in their different ways to the success of ASCEND.  However, great thanks must go to Christine Wyard, the Project Manager who oversees all the day to day running and supports everyone else.

We saw two changes to our staffing this year. In March Margaret Ross-Patterson, who worked with our homeless young people, retired on grounds of ill health.  Margaret had been with the project from the very beginning and we thank her for all she did over the years and wish her a happy retirement.  In January, we welcomed Chelcie Sterling-Anim as our Client Support Worker and we look forward to working with her as ASCEND moves forward into a new chapter.

ASCEND is very much at the heart of its community.  It has so much to offer to those who have had so few of life’s chances. We are still here for them and hope to be so for a very long time to come.

Rev. Pam Wise, Chair of Trustees