On Tuesday 20 March 2007, 200 of Norwood’s top supporters attended the annual Patrons' Cocktail Party, Norwood’s opportunity to thank Patrons and Friends for their support over the past year. The party was hosted by Norwood President Richard Desmond at the head office of Express newspapers in the Northern & Shell Building.
Norwood’s Patronage campaign is now more successful than it has ever been before. The Patronage campaign, together with the Annual Dinner, will raise over £3 million this year.
Richard Desmond thanked Patrons for their commitment to the organisation. He paid tribute to Ronnie Harris for his huge contribution to Norwood as a long serving trustee, and leader of the fundraising campaign. He thanked him for taking on the new role as Chair of Patronage, supported by Carol Sopher. Ronnie Harris has been replaced by Gary Sacks as the new Fundraising Chairman.
Richard said, “Since my appointment as President last Spring, I have taken a number of donors around Norwood’s services based both at Ravenswood Village and in London. Each visit has confirmed my long-held belief that our services provide the highest standards of care. I am enormously proud and you can be proud too, of the dedication of our staff and the positive impact they are making on the lives of our service users.”
Guests heard from Norma Brier, who thanked Patrons for supporting Norwood in the past year, enabling the organisation to continue to develop, improve and extend Norwood’s specialist support services, making a positive impact on people’s lives. She stressed that strengthening our strategy to become an even more service user focussed organisation, is a top priority for Norwood.
Ronnie Harris, Chair of Patronage, thanked Richard Desmond for hosting the evening, and for his commitment to Norwood. He also thanked all of the Patrons saying, ‘Without all of you here tonight, we would not have a patronage campaign and without patronage, Norwood would struggle to exist. Thank you most sincerely for all the support you give us and I hope you will continue to do so in the future.”
For more information contact Naomi Creeger, PR Manager on 020 8420 6900 or naomi.creeger@norwood.org.uk
