On Saturday 11th June we were at long-last able to celebrate our milestone 25th (+1) anniversary in style when we held our party at Left Bank in Leeds. The event was our way of saying a massive thank you to all those people-service users, staff, volunteers, community members, donors, funders, fundraisers and supporters who have journeyed with us through our first quarter of a century.
And what a party we had. The Lord Mayor of Leeds Cllr Robert Gettings and the Lady Mayoress and Consul general Sarah Mangan from the Consulate General of Ireland in the North of England were our special guests of honour. Both remarked in their respective speeches on the proud history of the Irish community in Leeds and how the work of Leeds Irish Health & Homes developed from a desire to help members of our community who needed a helping hand, a listening ear and most of all a friendly, non-judgemental response to issues they were facing in their lives.
They both paid testament to the Board, staff and volunteers who provide the range of services under our Care, Culture and Community ethos.
Rachael Loftus MBE, Chair of LIHH shared her thanks to the vision of the original steering group set up in 1992 who had brought their dream to fruition and could testify proudly how highly LIHH is considered as part of the health and well-being network of agencies in Leeds and beyond.
Special mention and a presentation were made to Chief Executive, Ant Hanlon who has been with the organisation since its inception.
There were so many people who were involved who made it such a wonderful night to remember and we’d like to thank them sincerely.
Fran Puddefoot from V&A Homes https://www.vandahomes.co.uk who provided all the expertise around event management. Kevin Hurley and the members of Leeds Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann who provided the music; Sean Rowland and the Leeds Irish Choir raised the roof; the Joyce O’Donnell School of Irish Dancing had everyone’s toes-a-tapping; Sebastian Walton was our magician extraordinaire; Shelly and Annie at Butlers provided the wonderful food and Unique balloons gave the room just the right amount of pizazz.
We’d like to extend our sincere thanks to the people at Left Bank who couldn’t have been more helpful. Morrisons supermarket in Harehills generously donated some of our raffle prizes. Eden Flowers in Horsforth supplied the flowers for the evening and finally Rebecca at Moore’s Bakery in Horsforth for their wonderful 25+1 anniversary cake.
And last, but not least we were so humbled by the input from the children of Cardinal Heenan and St Patrick’s schools who celebrated our intergenerational partnerships with these lovely offerings (photos supplied) and table decorations.
Here’s to our next 25 years of Care, Culture and Community!
