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This week we have had some very exciting visitors at the Arethusa Venture Centre!
Our Chief Executive Bob Goldfield recently received an email from The Shaftesbury Centre (SC), a long lost Shaftesbury cousin in Australia. An offshoot of the original Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa the SC moved to the other side of the world in the early 1900s our two organisations had long since lost touch.
Christian Wale, Chief Executive of SC explained that he and his team would be visiting the UK shortly and asked whether we would like to meet. Christian had also been in touch with the SC’s patron, the present Lord Shaftesbury, Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, 12th Earl of Shaftesbury who said he would like to join them on their visit. His lordship is a direct descendent of SYP’s original patron the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury who actively supported and patronised the original Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa in 1866.
On the day of the visit Bob, Michael Wilkins (our Head of Trustees), David Bunce (Trustee and Arethusa Old Boy), Kate Haley (Head of Operations), James Brumer (Corporate Partnerships) and Bryan Richardson were joined by Lord Shaftesbury and the team from the SC, Christian Wale, Alison Wale, Ray French and Jenny French. After greeting our guests in the aptly named Shaftesbury House and finding out more about SC’s schools and services for disadvantaged young people in Australia Bryan showed everybody around the centre and talked to them about the plans for the AVC. Old Boy David Bunce who spent two years on the Arethusa in the 1940s gave a fascinating insight into what it would have been like to live, work and learn on-board a ship. He also showed the guests pictures of the ships he later sailed with as a member of the Merchant Navy.
It was a fantastic day and both Lord Shaftesbury and the team from SC were really interested to hear about our work with young people, the AVC’s place in the history of the charity and where SYP is going in the Image may be NSFW.
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future. Now that we have found each other we will work to ensure that this is a relationship that will continue to be maintained and will hopefully result in some collaborative opportunities in the future!
Image 1. From left – Bob Goldfield, Bryan Richardson, Michael Wilkins, Lord Shaftesbury, David Bunce, Christian Wale, Alison Wale, Jenny French, Ray French in front of restored Arethusa figurehead.
Image 2. David Bunce shares memorabilia from his time with Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa and in the Merchant Navy.
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