Celebration of Achievement

Students and staff joined together this week at Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation Development Centre to celebrate the achievements of the Foundation’s disabled community.
Guests enjoyed a performance from the Foundation’s disabled theatre group, The Freewheelers with an excerpt from Patrick Marber’s ‘The Musicians’, which recently won the Adjudicators’ Award in the Leatherhead Drama Festival.

Sharing in the festivities were Mole Valley MP Sir Paul Beresford, Sarah Goad JP, Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, Dr. Grace Dowling, High Sheriff of Surrey, Shelia Gruselle, Chair of Surrey County Council, Cllr. Burgess, Mayor of Elmbridge and Cllr. Sharland, Chair of Mole Valley.

Also present was Alison Lapper, the inspirational figure for Trafalgar Square’s remaining plinth. A former student of Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation in Banstead, Alison praised the determination and success of the charity, emphasising that disabled people have much to contribute to the local community.

The event concluded with a viewing of the newly completed 18 student study bedrooms at the Development Centre, which were built with the help of the Community Fund, the Peter Harrison Foundation and many supporters who also attended the celebrations.

Notes for Editors:
About Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation – Development Centre
Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation Development Centre is one of the six Foundation sites challenging the needs of people with severe disabilities. A vibrant and stimulating environment for young disabled people, the Development Centre creates opportunities for students to gain greater independence and maximise their own potential. The Development Centre is now working to raise funds to complete the work at the centre with the building of a flexible space for use as a performance arena, an arts and education facility, meeting room, physiotherapy unit and an Internet access suite.

The Freewheelers
The Freewheelers are a group of young students from Queen Elizabeth's Foundation Development Centre who are interested in music and drama, along with a small group of non-disabled actors, technicians and other supporters.

Since 1994 the group has taken productions out into schools and other venues as a way of being involved in the community, giving people a positive view of disability. In 2002 the group worked with the Royal National Theatre's Connections project, performing "'Take Away" by Jackie Kay.

The current production of "The Musicians" by Patrick Marber won the Adjudicator's Prize at the Leatherhead Drama Festival earlier this month for the Company’s outstanding and deeply moving performance and was presented the prize by Sir Michael Caine.

Alison Lapper
Alison Lapper was born in 1965. A graduate in Fine Art from Brighton University, her work focuses on disability and has been exhibited at various venues; lately this has included the Millennium Exhibition in London’s Photographers’ Gallery.

Alison teaches with the Mouth and Foot Painters’ Association at the organisation’s seminars and workshops and has recently come into public focus as the model for Marc Quinn’s sculpture “Alison Lapper Pregnant”, to be featured on Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth.