The Ipswich Town Foundation was visited by His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester earlier this week.
As part of a visit to Ipswich, His Royal Highness was met by staff from both the foundation and club itself, including Dan Palfrey, the director of the foundation, Town chairman and CEO Mark Ashton, ex-skipper and now club director Matt Holland, financial director Tom Ball and foundation trustee Peter Over.
Palfrey gave a short presentation on the work the club’s charitable arm undertakes to support young people and vulnerable adults in Ipswich and surrounding areas, before His Royal Highness was joined by the Countess of Euston, Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk, as well as foundation partners, to be introduced to foundation staff and participants from its schemes, including disability programmes, girls’ football, Premier League Kicks and Refugee Football on the FieldTurf behind the West Stand. He also met two Suffolk Punch horses and their handlers.
Once inside the stadium, His Royal Highness was introduced to participants in the Golden Days Café, which provides support to those living with dementia and their carers, and Senior Blues, which aims to combat social isolation in the older generation in Suffolk.
Following that, the Duke, who is 32nd in line for the throen, was escorted to the executive suites, where participants of the Foundation’s DIVERT and Advantage Mentoring initiatives were taking part in workshops.
The DIVERT programme is designed to provide targeted intervention to young people on the periphery of youth violence, while Advantage Mentoring’s Talking Tactics programme is designed to provide weekly one-to-one mentoring support for young people aged 11-21 with mild-moderate mental health and emotional wellbeing support needs. For more information on Ipswich Town Foundation, visit itfcfoundation.co.uk.