Sudbury Town Mayor, Cllr. Jack Owen; Councillors Sue Ayers, Jan and Adrian Osborne; together with Roy Emmerson, Communities Officer Babergh; Paul Ward, St James Place; Sandra Armitage, Gloria Wood, and David Lowe, Sudbury Rotary Club and Hazel Pidsley, St Edmunds Trust were among the 32 guests, volunteers and staff present at the Kernos Centre’s 17th AGM on Friday 19th March, to hear about the vital work the Centre continues to do in counselling local people suffering with emotional and psychological problems.
On behalf of the board, Kernos Chairman, Graham Hill, thanked everyone attending the event for their interest and support, especially Town Mayor, Cllr. Owen for his commitment to, and the support given to the Kernos Centre over many years.
He also thanked Rosalind Eminson, the High Sheriff of Suffolk in 2020, who had presented the Kernos Centre with a Certificate of Recognition as a token of appreciation on behalf of the County of Suffolk and all those who have benefited from the hard work and service provided by the Centre to support vulnerable people.
Chris Boatwright, Clinical Director, gave a special acknowledgement to Suffolk Community Foundation “for supporting Kernos over many years, with every aspect of applying for grants and obtaining funding for our charity. Their support has enabled us to get much needed funding, by processing our applications.”
Counsellors Sara Jackson and Anita Warren presented anonymised case study examples of the therapy undertaken with both adults and children & young people, which demonstrated what a difference counselling can make and how much progress they can be made, with reduced feelings of anxiety and depression and the building of inner strength and increased motivation and the ability to move forward with their lives.
The Mayor, Cllr Jack Owen spoke of his support for Kernos and that it had served the Town of Sudbury very well for many years. He hoped to continue to support Kernos where he could as he knew of the impact Kernos has in supporting clients through difficult times. Cllr Jan Osborne spoke of her support for Kernos and that she would use her locality budget for us if she had any money left in it. Mrs Osborne would also contact the ‘powers that be’ to make them aware of Kernos’s contribution to the community, and the overall saving to the NHS, in light of the figures produced by Kernos’s Financial Director, Peter Brown, in support of early intervention.
Cllr Adrian Osborne was stunned at the figures, displayed below, that had been presented by Finance Director Peter Brown. He was happy to have used his locality budget for us and wished that he could do more for Kernos generally.
Hazel Pidsley from St Edmunds Trust spoke of knowing the good work of Kernos over many years in her various roles and she was happy to support Kernos and our continued good work.
The meeting finished with thanks to the councillors for their continued support, not only at the meeting but for all their support, which has made so much difference to Kernos and to the local people using our service.
Thanks were given too for the Reverend Tom Mumford, Curate of, St Gregory’s church, Sudbury, who on 22nd August, made a pilgrimage of 20 miles, from his church to St. Edmundsbury Cathedral. His achievement not only raised £2,700 for Kernos, but by speaking out about mental health, he had highlighted, that such issues are nothing to be ashamed of and validated the need for mental health support for everyone, young and old, in our community.
