Kate Liddle, Style Acre, collected the award from Mike Farwell, James Cowper, (right)


Charity of the Year AWARD SPONSORED BY


JAMES COWPER Winner: Style Acre


From its flagship Tea Room project in Blewbury, to its T2 support and drop-in centre in Didcot, Wallingford-based charity Style Acre is committed to providing ongoing help for people with learning disabilities throughout Oxfordshire.


At the Awards evening, its hard work and efforts were recognised when it took the title of Charity of the Year, the category sponsored by James Cowper, leading accountants and business advisers.


The Style Acre entry beat off strong competition from fellow charities, social enterprises and not-for-profit organisations across the Thames Valley, and the judges commented: “Placing themselves, and their beneficiaries, in the very heart of the community is the key to the success of this year’s winners.


“Excellent governance and a strong management, staff and Trustee group has meant that despite the climate of cuts to public expenditure, our winners have been able to continually demonstrate outstanding service to their beneficiaries.


“With innovative plans to further broaden and expand upon the range of services they currently offer, this is an exciting time for the charity and those they support.”


Style Acre was formed in 1992 as an independent charity by a group of parents who wanted to secure the future of the residential home where their disabled adult children were living. Since then, it has changed considerably and broadened its approach, now providing


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supported living and day opportunities for adults with learning disabilities throughout the county, empowering people to live as independently as possible.


During 2012-13, the charity made it possible for over 60 people with conditions such as dementia, autism, Down’s Syndrome and cerebral palsy to continue living in their own homes and 90-100 people attended its day opportunities service.


The Blewbury Tea Room project employs and trains people with learning disabilities as catering assistants, enabling them to learn and develop work skills, while the Didcot T2 drop-in centre includes leisure activities and skills training and is currently working with 45-50 adults. T2 has been so successful that fundraising is now under way to provide a similar centre in Banbury.


A day opportunities service in Wallingford, where Style Acre also has a charity shop, has been extended to provide additional support, while future plans include a market garden in Wantage to provide work experience and grow fruit, vegetables and flowers for use in the tea room.


Kate Liddle, chief executive of the charity, who went to the stage to collect the trophy from Mike Farwell, partner, head of charities and education at James Cowper, said later: “On behalf of our hard-working and dedicated staff, we are honoured and thrilled to accept this award.


“We are grateful to sponsors and judges James Cowper, who chose us for outstanding achievement, service to beneficiaries, innovative


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – DECEMBER 13/JANUARY 14


fundraising and achievement of our goals over the past year. With strong competition, the judges indicated that they were impressed how our beneficiaries are at the heart of everything we do and our belief that the people we support deserve to be part of their local communities, as much as anyone else.


“From supported living to day opportunities, our person-centred ethos is core to everything we do, as is the belief that people we support have a right to reach their full potential. To this end, we provide skills development and proactively seek work experience opportunities – some of which had led to paid jobs. This award makes us feel immensely proud to be supporting people with learning disabilities in the region.”


Taking second place was The Oasis Partnership, which provides quality drug and alcohol recovery services to adults in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. In third place was The Colostomy Association, a national stoma support association with a long-time connection to the Reading area.


Highly Commended were The Royal Berks Charity and Corporate Health.


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