WOMEN AT WORK
Kay celebrates being named National Inspirational Woman of the Year! Meet the 2017 National Inspirational Woman of the Year – Plymouth’s very own Kay O’Shaughnessy, founder and chair of the charity, Friends & Families of Special Children. Kay’s achievements have been recognised by the NatWest Venus Awards, known as The Working Women’s Oscars. She won the award after being nominated by the Duke of Cornwall’s director of marketing, Leila Nottage: “I was amongst lots of other women who balance work and family life so I feel very honoured to win the award,” Kay told the Plymouth Magazine. “As well as being thrilled to get it on a personal level, I was thrilled for the charity and all of the people who have helped me to grow and develop it. I hope that winning the award will help grow the charity’s profile in the city.” Friends & Families of Special Children was launched in 2002, initially as a support group by parents with disabled children. It gained charity status in 2006 and now helps 750 families each year – a number that’s growing all the time. Kay and her husband Michael know how hard it can be for families with disabled children to access the support they need. Their daughter Amy, who will be 20 in December, is profoundly disabled and requires 24-hour care. The couple also have three healthy sons. In the Q&A Kay was asked to submit to the award judges, she said: “Like all families, life is very busy, hectic and frantic. It would be too easy to say I’m too busy or too exhausted to carry on running the charity but I am driven to ensure that we make the lives of families like mine easier and ensure they feel supported and valued.” Kay couldn’t attend the national awards event because of her caring commitments. But in a letter to her, the category sponsors, Exeter University Business School, described her as “kind and genuine” and “a deserving winner.” The letter added: “You really are an inspirational woman.” The award coincides with more great news for the charity, which has just received additional backing from its two main funders, the Big Lottery and BBC Children in Need. The Lottery’s Reaching Communities funding is for the next five years and will go towards brand new projects,
10\
The Plymouth Magazine October 2017
Above: Kay O’Shaughnessy and, below left, one of the children enjoying one of the charity’s activities at Mount Batten
while Children in Need has extended its funding for a further three years. Reaching Communities provides funding for projects which help “people and communities most in need”. At Friends & Families of Special Children, some of the money will go towards a new project called ‘Making Sense,’ which will help families with children with sensory disabilities. It will also enable a lending library of specialist toys and equipment at the charity’s premises at The Virginia House Centre in Palace Street, Bretonside. Kay explained: “A lot of specialist equipment is very expensive and just not affordable for many families, particularly as they might invest in an item only to find that it’s not quite right.” Three new staff are set to be employed “any time now” to help run the new projects, boosting staff numbers to eight. Earlier this year, the charity – which also has a team of