Dental charity Dentaid has celebrated
its moved to new premises near Southampton with an open day for its friends and
supporters.
Guests including Chief Dental Officer
Sara Hurley, councillors, business leaders and dental professionals gathered at
the charity’s new headquarters to meet staff and trustees on Friday, June 7.
Among the guests was Dentaid’s
earliest supporter Vic Jackopson, who helped found the charity after a British
dentist sent a reconditioned dental clinic to a Ukrainian prison in 1996. Dentaid trustee Fiona Ellwood also attended,
the day before the announcement of her British Empire Medal for Services to
Dentistry in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Dentaid’s former premises were
crumbling temporary offices and a separate warehouse on a remote site in
Landford, Wiltshire which was inaccessible by public transport and no longer
fit for purpose.
The new headquarters are a converted
warehouse in Totton, near Southampton, which has space for volunteers to
recondition and refurbish dental equipment sent overseas, parking for the mobile
dental unit which provides outreach care for homeless and vulnerable people in
the UK, and office space for the charity’s staff.
The move would not have been possible without
the generosity of Bishop’s Move removals company and a team of volunteers who
worked tirelessly to renovate the building in just 3 months. Funding for the
project came from The Valentine Charitable Trust, The Beatrice Laing Trust and
individual donors.
An octet from Ocean Harmony barbershop
chorus performed at the open day as guests enjoyed refreshments, videos showing
Dentaid’s work and tours of the workshop where volunteers make portable dental
units sent to Dentaid’s partners around the world.
In his speech, chairman of trustees Jeremy
Hett thanked Dentaid’s supporters past and present and everyone who had been
involved with the project. “After 20 years at Dentaid’s rural Landford
base, the charity has moved to smart new premises in Totton<2 he said. “It was wonderful to
celebrate an exciting new phase for the organisation, as it seeks to build
strategic relationships with the local community.”
Dentaid CEO
Andrew Evans said “I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our supporters
and the volunteers who made this dream a reality. The demand for Dentaid’s projects increasing
access to safe, sustainable dental care in the UK and overseas is growing all
the time and our new headquarters will give us a great base from which we can
expand our work and help more people.”
Sara Hurley
added: “Dentaid has always had a great heart and now it also has a wonderful
home.”