Peter Harris Kingfisher Trust

Peter Harris Kingfisher Trust 

In my working life, I was the Head of a school in the Medway Towns for 235 pupils between the ages of 11 - 19 years who had complex learning difficulties. These included a combination of moderate to severe learning difficulty, speech and language problems, emotional and behavioural disturbance, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder and autism.

Since retiring in 2006, my time has been spent enjoying family time (especially the grand-daughters!), gardening, DIY, walking and amateur dramatics.

I have also become involved in voluntary work with the Cobbes Meadow Riding for the Disabled group as a helper and a horse transporter.  Cobbes Meadow operates 5 days a week and works with both children and adult riders, with my day being a Thursday when we work with adults with a range of physical and learning disability.

Just prior to my retirement, a close friend told me of a project that he was involved with that might interest me.  This was the founding of the Kingfisher Medway Trust and it just so happened that it's first year of operation coincided with my first year of retirement and since then, I have become increasing involved with the Trust. Six years ago I was invited to become a Trustee, three years ago I successfully gained my Skipper qualification and for the last eighteen months, I have been privileged to be the Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

My talk will cover a brief history of how the Trust came to be, explain the under-pinning principles of the Trust and how it operates, information on the boat and how it has been built to meet the needs of the disabled,  and then try to give some insight into what a trip involves and what passengers gain from the Kingfisher experience. I have a Powerpoint presentation which supports all of these points and have attached a photo of a group on the boat for your records.