In our brand new Spotlight feature, we highlight women who are doing good things in their community. They’re not always seen but we think they should be.
SPOTLIGH T Louise Poffley
Dynamic chats with Louise Poffley, founder and CEO of the charity Project Eileen, to hear what it does and what motivated her to start this fantastic organisation. Here she is in her own words… “At school in the 1970s, when my close friend was orphaned, I realised I hadn’t got a clue what to say or do to support her. Around the same time, a girl in the year below me died suddenly from a brain haemorrhage. The next morning, we received just a brief announcement in assembly. Years later, when my father died, it was apparent many people still didn’t know what to say or do, and I felt compelled to do something to change the status quo. “The charity, Project Eileen, is the result of my drive and determination to achieve a vision of developing a way to proactively help young people cope with bereavement,
death and grief by giving them the tools and life skills to help themselves and others. Its multimedia programme of lessons took shape. “With a multifarious career background, including a spell as a funeral arranger, I believed my writing would be the best starting point upon which the programme could be built. I spent 2017 writing and rewriting Eileen, a fictional but true-to-life story about a bunch of teenagers who have to cope with the death of their friend. The story almost has a story of its own. Sir Tony Robinson narrated it, Nina Pfeifenberger animated it, the programme’s lessons reference it, it’s the springboard for class discussion, and students can even develop their own improvisations from it. “I believe collaboration is key to success. Never shy of approaching someone I’d like to involve, and needing music, I leapt onto the stage at the end of a concert to find out who’d written the ska songs. That led to a great working partnership with the composer, Alex D Hay, who wrote the music to accompany my lyrics. “Yet, none of this would have happened without former teacher, Annabelle Shaw. Following her experience of bereavement, she felt as strongly as I did that something had to be done, and leapt at the opportunity to establish the charity and devise the lessons. “Commended for my enormous enthusiasm, I sometimes worry I talk nonstop about Project Eileen. Fortunately for me, I have very patient friends and family.”
Project Eileen is the result of my drive and determination to achieve a vision of developing a way to proactively help young people cope with bereavement
Left to right: Louise Poffley, Patron, Andrew Barton and Annabelle Shaw, Programme Director
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www.platinummediagroup.co.uk | NOVEMBER 2022
Project Eileen CIO, Community Base, 113 Queens Road, Brighton BN1 3XG E: info@projecteileen.co.uk T: 01273 894757 www.projecteileen.co.uk