Princess Anne Celebrates 10 Years Of Work By A Bristol Charity

Monday, February 22nd 2010 07:00

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HRH Princess Royal has visited a Bristol charity, a decade on from launching the organisation here in the city.

Princess Anne visited the Lifeskills Safety Education Charity at the Create Centre to celebrate their 10th anniversary.

Around 90 volunteers gathered to welcome the Queen's daughter this lunchtime.

The charity has helped nearly 100,000 local children, and adults with learning difficulties over the last 10 years.

HRH met some of the groups who have benefited from the Lifeskills programme, together with management, staff and volunteers who run the service.

Andy Townsend, General Manager of Lifeskills in the Create Centre said:

"We are really privileged that she's coming back now, 10 years on, to see what the place is like. It hasn't changed that much material-wise in the last 10 years, but obviously now we've got the experience. We've also got the people to talk to her about their experiences and what they've learnt and how it's benefited them, which is great."

To listen to the full interview with Andy Townsend, follow the link at the top of the page:

Inside the Lifeskills Centre at Create there is a mock village which forms part of the teaching programme.

Jan Stewart, from Bedminster Down has been volunteering there since they opened in 2000:

"They come in very quietly, but gosh they go out really bubbly, which is good. One of the nicest things is, I was on a volunteer fair and a student from one of the colleges approached us and said they could remember coming from when they were in Year Six. That's good."

A mock lounge and shop

Volunteer Kevin Jenkin, from Westbury told us what he gets out of it:

"It's an awful lot of fun. To see their excitment and their involvement, it's great to see how much they get from it. They come in very quiet, and they go away with lots of noise and excitment about what they've seen. Hopefully they remember a bit in the future!"