Member News from Together Trust: Magical evening at Etihad Stadium for the 2023 Achievement Awards

By Martina Milkova

This summer, 130 children and young people from across the Together Trust’s services were celebrated at one of our favourite events: the annual Together Trust Achievement Awards.

Hosted at Manchester City FC’s stadium, Manchester’s iconic Etihad, we celebrated the achievements of the young people we support across five categories: Life Skills and Independence, Communication and Social Skills, Participation, Educational Achievement, and Health, Fitness and Wellbeing.

Additionally, a special Manchester City Football Club prize was awarded this year by Pete Bradshaw, Director of Sustainability at the football club, to a young person who had demonstrated the qualities of being kind, honest, respectful, and supportive in any activity in the last 12 months. The winners were nominated by the Together Trust staff, who spend hours with the children and young people each week, helping them reach their full potential.

“It was lovely to see everyone come together to celebrate everyone’s achievements," shared a staff member from our residential service Pocket Nook. “The boys at Pocket Nook enjoyed their time, especially with the mascots and at the photo booth!”

Among the 300 guests was Stacey Whiteway, mum of six-year-old Alfie, a pupil from Inscape House School who received an award for Participation. She shared:

“I have been overwhelmed with how wonderful the evening is. I think it’s truly inspirational to see all the awards being given out to all children, and I think they’re all just incredible. It’s been a magical evening."

“Alfie joined Inscape House in May, so he’s not been there for too long. It was a bit of a struggle to get him to take part in any activities at first. Now he’s getting involved, we found it overwhelming for him to be given an award for participation!” shares Stacey.

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“The best thing was getting this [pointing at the medal] and playing with my friend Olivia”, answers Alfie, when asked about his favourite part of the ceremony.

“The Achievement Awards night is a highlight of the Together Trust social calendar. As ever, this year did not disappoint! So many children, staff, families, and friends enjoyed a super, well-organised, fun and inspiring event. My favourite bits were the excellent acts by the young people. Charles Han’s singing and dancing to Jungle Book will forever be remembered.” – Kelly Hall, Principal Manager

As well as parents, carers and staff members, we were delighted to have in the audience Councillor Gina Reynolds, Ceremonial Mayor of the City of Salford and Councillor Neil Reynolds, Consort to the Ceremonial Mayor.

“It was delightful to see how everyone interacted on the night, they all looked amazing and very smart. This year lots of the parents joined in at the event, some being involved in presenting the awards to their children. The faces of our young people said it all. And not to forget all the hard work and dedication from the staff teams!” -  Tracy Downing, Principal Manager

Source:
https://www.togethertrust.org.uk