A New Look for our Big Birthday!
Posted on 13th August 2024 at 14:53
2024 is a very special year for us: our charity is turning 70 years old! We’ve got so much to celebrate about our achievements since we were founded in 1954 – including how much we’ve evolved. Our name isn’t the only thing that has changed…
Read on to find out about our history, our big rebrand, and our very big 70th birthday fundraising goal – the past, present and future of Embrace…
So…Who WERE We?
In 1954 a small group led by Alderman Richard Turner started the charity, known then as “Bedford and District Spastic Society” (a name of the times – and not one that’s in use today!). In just four years they opened Drayton House on Bromham Road in Bedford: a treatment centre for people with cerebral palsy. It provided a nursery, speech therapy, physiotherapy and advice to parents and carers as well as a small workshop for adults who made toys for a local company each afternoon.
In 1962 Drayton House was extended to offer an Occupational Therapy unit, and in 1967 they raised enough funds (helped significantly by an anonymous donor) to extend again and house a hydrotherapy pool with a lift.
Sadly, in the late 70’s social reform drove the trend for all services to come under the local authority’s own offer, and places began to dwindle. The centre was sold and the money invested and used by the charity to support individuals, their families and other small groups of people with cerebral palsy.
In 1994 the charity was approached by SCOPE, the national disability charity, to take on the role as the first “Gateopener Project” in the Eastern region. This was an information and support role, with one employee taking up an office at 43 Bromham Road - our current address.
This post operated for three years until the person in post left, and due to the capacity of the board it was not re-established until 1998. During this period the charity agreed to work with the Council’s Sports Development Team to establish a small specialist summer play scheme. These summer schemes grew and expanded to include youth and adult groups, critical support for all ages, and much wider advice and guidance services for families - and beyond cerebral palsy as well, to support people with a much wider range of disabilities and conditions, and their families, across Bedford Borough and Central Bedfordshire.
For some time we have felt that our brand and name needed to change to reflect what we really were about, so in 2023 we approached a brilliant brand strategist based here in Bedfordshire: Natalie Murray, owner of The Edge Brands. She worked with us to rebrand, and to help us to work with our key stakeholders to get the name. Our new name – Embrace – was officially adopted in February 2024.
And Who Are We Now?
We chose the name Embrace because it’s the perfect description for what we do. When you have a family member who needs a lot of extra support, your situation can feel isolated, overwhelming, and very lonely. We offer a warm embrace of support to everyone in your family – giving you guidance, resources, a community and a safe space. We empower you and your family to navigate that life of caring for loved ones with complex medical needs, and a compassionate, warm and understanding community to support you, just as you support them.
We want you to feel that warm embrace, and the possibility of a bright future, as soon as you see our logo, when you land on our website, and whenever you see us on social media. And the very talented Natalie has captured it perfectly!
Natalie has also produced a proper brand strategy for us that includes a logo, our values, and how we express what we do: so that ultimately, we can reach many more people who need us, and many more people who want to support us as well.
The Big 7-0
We are so proud of our new look, and in our very special 70th anniversary year, we’re honouring our past and everything we’ve achieved, and looking forward to our future - with an abundance of events for you to join, and a massive fundraising goal of £70,000 to achieve! And we’ve got all sorts of brilliant ways you can contribute to that, to help us reach it…
The year started with the launch of our #70For70 Challenge - where we are asking YOU, our wonderful supporters, to raise a minimum of £70 by doing a challenge of your choice linked to the number 70. We have been so impressed by the number of people who have signed up so far, and the creativity and bravery of some of the challenges has been incredible!
Challenges have so far included 70 litter picks, 70 cold water plunges, 70 outdoor swims, 70 good deeds, and our young people are also getting involved. Sophie has done 70 dances, Bethan is walking to 70 different trig points and Alice is doing 70 pull ups!
There’s still lots of time to get involved – the whole of 2024 – and it’s really easy to set up your own 70 for 70 Challenge fundraising page. Just click here.
We have had bingo nights, a family quiz night, a ladies’ fashion show, Dress 2 Express Day, Cream Tea at Cardington in June, and a charity Zumba class - BUT the best is yet to come, with our 70 Magical Years Platinum Ball taking place in October!
We are looking for corporate sponsors for this event – so if you would like to find out more about the packages available, please email kelly@embrace.org.uk.
A BIG THANK YOU for your support – it makes so much difference to every single person we’ve helped over the last 70 years, and for the next 70 to come as well! And we hope that whenever you see our beautiful new logo, you feel that warm embrace of support and care that we are so privileged to give.
Tagged as: 70for70challenge
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