BCHA were proud to welcome His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and Charlie Nunn, CEO of Lloyds Bank Group at our Millennium House on Friday 28th February, spending time with residents that are at risk of homelessness and recognising colleagues’ passion and dedication. The visit to the BCP area was part of the announcement of Homewards working with a new Activator, Lloyds Bank, who are providing £50 million to housing providers committed to tackling homelessness.
BCHA’s Millennium House is a mental health service providing supported accommodation to those with a mental health diagnosis and who are at risk of homelessness. Colleagues at Millennium House enable residents to live independently and teach individuals how to manage mental health crisis points, and provide creative outlets such as arts, crafts and gardening activities.
His Royal Highness had a tour and met residents, both current and former. Several of our customers discussed their interests, including Phil, who had mentioned his passion for walking and detailed how the Millenium team helped support and develop this interest and how it has helped his mental health.
The visitors then took part in Millennium House’s “Feel Good Friday” event, which on this day was gardening. The Prince and Charlie Nunn were happily planting seeds in the sunshine chatting to customers and colleagues.
Shelly Hammon, Business Manager for Millennium House, said “We all felt proud to have been part of HRH, the Prince of Wales visit to the local area. I feel that the visit was an essential part of understanding the work that our dedicated support teams put into providing support to vulnerable customers.
Prince William took the time to speak to all the residents and was genuinely interested in hearing their stories. His kind and approachable manner made everyone feel at ease and comfortable. Everyone at Millennium House had a great day and still say ‘Can you believe Prince William has been in our kitchen!’"
This was such a special day that has created life-long memories for so many but also helped raise awareness of the issues we face with homelessness and mental health.
As the tour finished and the group were leaving to visit another Homewards partner, Prince William waved goodbye to our residents and shouted “Phil, keep walking!”.
BCHA’s hope is that, while working with the other members of the Homelessness Partnership BCP, we can keep moving forward to a world free from homelessness.
To find out more about the Homewards' initiative, you can find out more on their website here.
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