Look Ahead customers created pieces with professional artists to mark our 50th year
Look Ahead has come a long way since our founder Mary Jones first established the organisation back in 1973 to provide low-cost lodgings for single workers. We are proud to have seen how Look Ahead has developed and evolved over the last five decades to become the trusted housing association and care provider it is today, supporting customers across London and the South East.
Our services have also grown more specialist, and we now support customers with a variety of needs including young people and care leavers, mental health and learning disability. As our CEO Chris Hampson puts it:
“Whether this be supporting a person with complex learning and physical disabilities to live in the community after 20 years in hospital or providing a community-based alternative to psychiatric admission, our work is going deeper into social care. And partnerships with the NHS and joint-working with clinicians are very much the norm, rather than the exception, across all our services.”
Over the last five decades, Look Ahead has impacted thousands of people. From the customers we support, to the staff and volunteers who commit to us, as well as the partners and organisations we work with.
To provide a flavour of the diversity and breadth of our work and who we are, we will be sharing a different story from someone whose life has been impacted by Look Ahead every week, through our special anniversary 50 Stories campaign over the next year.
We have started sharing stories on our website but be sure to keep an eye on our social media channels for the stories, and other activities to mark our golden year too. We have an exciting line up of celebrations, including big birthday teas across Look Ahead services, and an event for our friends and supporters.
To kick off our celebrations, Look Ahead customers have had the opportunity to work with professional artists through a series of interactive workshops. They have created art pieces to mark our 50th year that will be displayed in an exhibit hosted at Look Ahead’s Head Office.
As we celebrate this year, and reflect on Look Ahead’s past achievements, we are looking to the future with optimism, and are pleased to continue to support better outcomes for individuals, families and communities going forward.
