Centre children and parents join Duchess on Paddington adventure
It was full steam ahead at Paddington station this week as children and Parent Champions from the Centre joined our patron the Duchess of Cambridge and Paddington Bear on a railroad adventure through the English countryside.
The event, which was organised by Studio Canal in collaboration with the Charities Forum, comes ahead of the release of Paddington 2, the sequel to the first feature adventure of everyone’s favourite Peruvian Bear! The Centre was invited as one of the Duchess’ patronised charities and we joined children and representatives from other excellent organisations.
Our children and parents joined the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Paddington himself for a circuit of London aboard the luxurious steam train Tornado!
Parent Champions got the opportunity to speak with the Duchess directly on their experiences of participating in services, research and projects across the Anna Freud Centre as our Parent Champions.
They also got stuck into many bear-related fun and games, met some of the stars of the new Paddington 2 movie and indulged in some Paddington themed snacks including, of course, marmalade sandwiches!
Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families Participation Officer Salma Khanche said,
“It was a fantastic, fun and memorable day for our Parent Champions and their children, who all really enjoyed the very special trip aboard the British Pullman train. Our Parent Champions volunteer their time, skills and expertise to support the development and delivery of the Centre’s mental health services, research and training courses. We were delighted to be able to share this exciting opportunity with some of our Parent Champions and their children as a gesture to say thank you for all their dedication and commitment in supporting our organisation and helping us ensure mental health services are meeting the needs of families”.
Find out more about our Parent Champion programme: http://www.annafreud.org/parents/
