Our Chairman, Jon Wright, announced at our 192nd Annual General Meeting on 21 May at St Bride Foundation, London, that we helped 1,737 people in 2018, an increase of 34 per cent on the previous year.
Reporting on our positive year in growing our reach and impact in our welfare and education work, Jon Wright said 832 people were helped through our education initiatives, including 91 Print Futures Awards winners; and 197 people facing redundancy in 13 companies received practical back to work support.
In his round-up of the charity’s activities, Neil Lovell, our Chief Executive, gave an update on improvements to our two sheltered home schemes for people who have retired from the sector and extending our annual Print Futures Awards programme.
He also shared the positive results from our latest survey asking beneficiaries receiving regular financial support what our help means to them. There was an 81 per cent response rate, with 94 per cent saying that the charity offers a good level of service; 87 per cent feel happier about the future; 62 per cent are able to go out more; and 90 per cent now worry less about buying food, while 87 per cent worry less about switching on their electricity and heating.
This year’s guest speaker was Lauren Powell, a 2018 Print Futures Award winner and trainee account executive at Adare SEC, the Integrated Communications Provider, which she joined on a three-year customer service apprenticeship. She spoke engagingly about why she chose an apprenticeship, enjoying hers so much that she completed it in just 12 months. Learning in a real life environment has opened up opportunities she might not have had if she had followed a different career path.
Jon Wright and Steve Sibbald were re-elected at the AGM as The Printing Charity’s Chairman and Deputy Chairman respectively.