Three star employees with 60 years unbroken service to child care organisation Prospects Care were recognised when the award-winning company held their annual awards ceremony.
Wrexham-based Prospects was founded in 1994 by social workers Steve Elliott and Chris Edwards and part of the original eight-strong team were Lesley Wright, Vicky Simms and Tracey Evans – and they are still with the company.
Twenty years on the company, the first in Wales to achieve Investors in People Gold Award for the development and involvement of its people , operate 11 homes in the Wrexham and North Wales area, run a special school, provide a network of foster parents and have worked with hundreds of youngsters from across the UK.
The original team has now grown to over 150 and when the awards events was held, attended by North Wales Assembly Member Aled Roberts, from Wrexham, the loyal members of the original team picked up a special Directors Award.
Admin Manager Lesley Wright and Service Managers Tracey Evans and Vicky Simms were part of the original team which took over Bersham Hall in July 1994 – the Hall is still the company’s largest premises with five residents and a school for the children and young people they have in care.
Lesley, a mother of two who lives in Coedpoeth, is originally from Lancashire where she trained as a chef before becoming catering manager for the Heaton Power Station. She said: “There were only seven of us so it was quite a small team but I had followed Steve as his PA before Prospects was set up.
“I trained as a chef but never worked in a kitchen. I was planning the catering and wrote the recipe book for the catering outlets at the power plant and worked there for 11 years but I had originally been trained in admin and you never forget.
“It’s been a great place to work and I’ve no plans for retirement yet. There’s always something new happening and always new people to meet and I’ve got the authority to do what I want to do when I want to do it.”
Tracy Evans, from Coedpoeth, said: “I’ve enjoyed working for Prospects. It’s very challenging but it’s rewarding too and it’s the outcomes and achievements of the young people that means so much.
“I wanted to work my way up and I’ve done all the jobs along the way. They’re a very good company to work for and always trying to improve.
“It was a lovely day and it was such a surprise to get the award, I was really made up.”
Steve Elliott, who presented the award along with fellow Co-Director Chris Edwards, said: “We hold a successful awards event for the end of the school year to celebrate the success of our young people.
“What we wanted to do was to recognise the immense contribution of our staff and we did it for the first time last year and it was very well received and this year on our 20th anniversary we wanted to recognise the success of Prospects and the individual achievements of our staff.
“We began in 1994 at Bersham Hall which was then in a very dilapidated condition and at times it’s been a very steep learning curve.
“In 1996 we were told we were headed for insolvency but we are still here and we wanted to recognise the contribution of our staff and in this case of three people who have made an immense contribution to the whole operation.”
The special guest for the event was Ashley John Baptiste, the son of a single mother from Peckham in London, who spoke about the dedication of the care worker who made sure that every morning he had to get up to go to school.
Ashley went on the attend Cambridge University on a scholarship, graduated with a BA in History and has completed a documentary on foster care and is in discussions with the BBC to agree other documentary projects.
For more information about Prospects Care please visit www.prospectscare.co.uk
