Prince William launches Centrepoint's 40th anniversary year and gives a speech
6th November 2008
Prince William helped youth homelessness charity Centrepoint launch their 40th anniversary year this evening and spoke of the reasons he became involved with the charity.
Centrepoint, of which Prince William is Patron, has helped more than 70,000 young people since it was founded in 1969.
The charity works with young people, aged 16 to 25, and provides them with accommodation and support services.
After arriving at the reception, hosted by HSBC at offices on St James’s Street in London, Prince William was introduced to 10 young people who have all been helped and supported by the charity.
Later in a speech Prince William paid tribute to his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, who had been the charity's Patron from 1992 until her death in 1997, for introducing him to the charity.
He said: “I feel very closely linked to Centrepoint. It is a charity with which both my mother and father became passionately involved.
“Indeed, it was while my mother was Patron that Harry and I had our first contact with Centrepoint.”
“But it began to open my eyes to the world that so many young London people face.
“Our visits with our mother ignited a deep and growing interest for the great work the charity does for the homeless.
“That example of selfless service that Centrepoint represents has stayed with me, and that is why it was the first charity that I wanted to be associated with.”
The Prince also spoke of his feelings of pride at being Centrepoint’s Patron.
He said: “Since becoming Patron, I have been privileged to witness at first hand, and with the utmost admiration, the great work of its volunteers.
“But I have seen something else too: the extraordinary courage of so many of Centrepoint’s young people in rising to meet such seemingly insurmountable challenges in their lives.
“I count myself enormously privileged to be associated with such individuals, and with such an organisation as this.”
In a more light-hearted moment, Prince William said: "I don't want to say too much because there's lots of food and drink going around and the young guys probably want to get more involved in that than listen to me talk."
Afterwards, all the guests at the reception were moved by an emotional speech made by a young beneficiary, Samia Meah, 18, from Bangladesh.
She said: "I left home when I had barely turned 17; my father died when I was four, both my brother and mother suffered with mental illness and I was a young carer."
But Samia told the audience how the charity helped her through her difficulties and allowed her to become the person she had always wanted to be, telling guests about her aspiration to become a photographer.
She said: "After my A levels I received a card from Centrepoint congratulating me on my results. It made me cry because I had never received congratulations on anything I've ever done before.
“Centrepoint has given me the rest of my life, so thank you."
Soon afterwards Prince William spoke to Samia to praise her for her bravery in talking about her experiences.
She said: "He noticed I was overwhelmed, he said I did better than him speaking.
"He was lovely, really nice and friendly and I always wanted to meet him, I even went to the Diana concert last year to see him but didn't get to so I was thrilled to meet him finally tonight, he's great."
Other young people had the chance to chat with Prince William and talk about their experiences.
Scott Ingram, 18, from Hammersmith, West London, said how he had told the Prince that one idea he had was to introduce a "noise time".
He said: "We're teenagers, we don't have bed times so in the hostels it would be good instead to have noise time where people reduce their volume after a certain time.
"He agreed and said that perhaps we could bribe somebody with a Mars Bar."
Hopea Wasame, 21, from central London, said William was "really bubbly, he's really fun and he understands what we are talking about".
She said: "It means a lot to have Prince William supporting us and shows people care and that you don't have to be royal or a high-flyer – you just need to care."
Prince William's attendance at the event in central London marks the start of a year of 40th anniversary celebrations for the charity.
No comments:
Post a Comment