Press Releases

Another Successful Year For Headway

Leicester Leicestershire and Rutland Headway, the local charity dedicated to the rehabilitation of people who have suffered brain injury, held its ninth AGM on 18 September.

Its new Chair, Carol Birch, paid tribute to the work of her predecessor Michael Switzer for his eight years at the helm. She referred to new agreements made with the local authorities over basic funding and to the charity’s successful fundraising which enabled a wider range of services to be offered. Trustees and staff were thanked for their work, and in noting that there had been some retirements among the trustees she appealed for anyone interested in helping to get in touch.

Services Director Mary Goulty reported that the service around the city and county now reached 180 people. A total of 84 had moved successfully through the service - some getting back into employment, others into voluntary work or further education services at the Day Centre near the General Hospital had continued to expand, and so had links with local colleges. The garden at Headway House had been extended and refurbished.

Both Mary and Carol referred to the sad death of Headway’s founding General Manager Sylvia Davis earlier in the year, and dedicated the continuing success of the charity to her memory.

Guest speaker Dr Dechlan McNicholl, consultant neuropsychologist at the Leicester Hospitals Trust, described his role as helping to understand the impact of traumatic brain injury in both emotional and cognitive terms. Although psychology had its limitations, he said, it could assess the effects on a person, which came like a thunderstorm from a clear sky.