Prince's trust at work in Herefordshire

1:57pm Monday 30th June 2008

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A HEREFORDSHIRE band of volunteers is working hard to both promote and fund-raise for the Prince’s Trust and make sure youngsters can take advantage of its programmes.

The county is covered by the West Mercia office in Worcester and has the advantage of having some top notch people working there.

Alan Surman, who has the title of programme executive (business), was seconded from his IT job for a year but elected to stay.

“I enjoyed it so much that I have taken a position here on half my salary but it’s not always about money. I have been very fortunate in my life and this is a good opportunity for me to give a little back. I think that’s the thinking of most of the people who work or volunteer for the trust,” he said.

In the same office is a former Army officer working closely with young people and, in Ross-on-Wye, retired managing director Edward Turner is putting enormous enthusiasm into his new volunteer role as fund-raising chairman for Herefordshire.

He works every day to promote the Trust, which was set up by Prince Charles, who funded its first year with his Navy severance pay of £7,400 On his patch, the Trust has run 26 Team Programme courses – with another starting the Hereford Technology College in August – it has put 50 pupils through its xl school, made 14 development awards and 10 group awards and helped 14 businesses to start up.

“There were also 114 people who were helped to get their life back on track,” said Mr Turner.

“There is so much we can do for young people in Herefordshire. Some of the ones we help are not only trying to build up a business and make it work but also have to deal with personal issues, too, like a substance abuse.”

Other Herefordshire volunteers have career backgrounds in finance, accountancy and banking.

“In our group we have a volunteer who is a marketing expert who works with Steven Spielberg. He travels all over the world but he always finds the time to help the Trust,” said Mr Turner.