Russell Pagan: Families in Focus

We had no meeting last week because the Chelmsford Rugby Club was unable to provide food as they don’t have a cook at present. We did discuss whether we should meet at the Rugby Club next week, as scheduled, and arrange for sandwiches to be brought in or hold the meeting on Zoom. The decision to meet on Zoom was unanimous!

Our speaker was Russell Pagan, the CEO of Families in Focus. a local charity that provides support to children with special educational needs, and their families. The photograph shows him with President Francis.

Russell has been in post about a year, following a career in the commercial world, and provided a very interesting talk. While he gave an insight into the work of the charity, He focused more on two themes, firstly the way the language that is used about children with special educational needs has changed from the years when he was in education himself, and secondly the way community life has largely disappeared. One of Russell’s main projects is to develop a community facility, such as a drop in café, where the parents of children with special educational needs can meet, share experiences and support each other. When I was president back in 2019-20, Families In Focus was my chosen charity and I hope we will be able to support them again ion some way.