CANFORD IMPACT

Supporting and Engaging the Canford Community

Recently we said a sad but fond farewell to Angie Cottom, one of our much loved Housekeeping team, who has retired after 43 years of service to Canford. Alongside the many happy memories which were shared about life in the Canford Community, the observation was also made that when Angie started in 1979 we had waves of strikes, economic mayhem, social dislocation and political polarisation very much woven into our daily lives. Does that feel and sound familiar?

There is no doubt that we are in times of severe crisis nationally, and indeed globally. It’s easy to become melancholy and fatalistic but we need to focus on the good things around us and see the glass as half full. As Dale Carnegie, the American writer said, “We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today” . Sage words which deserve time and reflection I feel. I am perhaps more fortunate than many in that get daily uplifts from living and working with an amazing group of young people and staff at Canford. There are many roses blooming here through every season of the year!

It has been such a delight to see our vibrant community partnership programme revitalised post-Covid. Once again we have literally hundreds of Canfordians and many staff actively engaged in a wide array of meaningful ongoing projects which truly make a difference. Seeing the recent visit by the young people from the City Reach project for a Christmas party at Canford was brilliant. We had over 50 visitors enjoying great fun with over 50 Canfordians from across the year groups on the day. I received a lovely email from one Shell pupil from Ukraine whose own life has been turned upside down in recent months which said: “I’m writing this email to say thank you so much for this amazing opportunity you gave me. I really enjoyed spending time with the children today,to play,to draw with them, they’re brilliant!These days,it’s very significant to understand that we need to make children happy so that they can feel good and be a part of society and that they can have