On Monday 14 April, Lady Emma Barnard, Lord-Lieutenant of West Sussex, planted a Red Oak tree at Duckyls Farm Centre & Community Services to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
The tree planting took place at the heart of Duckyls Farm, a 100-acre residential care home run by the Diagrama Foundation, supporting adults with learning disabilities. Residents, service users and staff gathered to honour the occasion and reflect on the enduring legacy of peace and resilience that VE Day represents.
Victory in Europe (VE) Day, celebrated on 8 May, marks the formal end of World War II in Europe in 1945, when Allied forces accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany.
As well as the residential care home, Duckyls Farm is home to Diagrama Day Opportunities, a day service hub and outreach provision supporting people with learning disabilities, physical and sensory impairments, acquired brain injuries, and/or autism across Sussex. The Farm enables individuals to engage with nature and animals in meaningful, therapeutic ways that support personal development and wellbeing.
Adults attending the Diagrama Day Opportunities were thrilled to present the Lord-Lieutenant with a handmade bird box, created during their woodwork sessions.
“It was an honour to welcome Lady Emma Barnard to Duckyls Farm for such a meaningful occasion,” said David McGuire, Chief Executive of Diagrama Foundation. “The commemorative Red Oak stands as a lasting symbol of gratitude and remembrance. It was a pleasure to share the unique atmosphere of life on the farm and for His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant to meet some of the incredible individuals we support every day.”
For more information about Duckyls Farm and the services provided by Diagrama Foundation, please visit: www.diagramafoundation.org.uk
If you would like to support the residents at Duckyls Farm, you can view their Amazon Wishlist here: https://linktr.ee/diagramaamazonwishlist
Photography Credit – Alexander Brattell
About Diagrama Foundation
Diagrama Foundation is a Kent based charity that supports vulnerable children, young people, and adults to live their best life.
Diagrama has a Supported Living Service across Bromley and Mid Sussex, three homes for adults with learning disabilities in Orpington, an eight-bed care home for adults with learning disabilities in West Sussex with a Community Services Programme a fifty-bed care home for the elderly with nursing and dementia needs in Essex, and a fostering and adoption service in the southeast. Plus, a 100 acre property offering farm and craft day Services cross West Sussex.
- The Supported Living Service, cares for 33 adults with learning disabilities, in seven schemes across Bromley and one scheme in Mid Sussex, helping them to develop skills and confidence to live in their own house either on their own or with others.
- At Cabrini House in Orpington the charity promotes the development of core skills for 23 adults with learning disabilities so that they can lead independent lives integrated within their community.
- Duckyls Farm, a 100 acre residential care home in West Sussex for residents with learning disabilities, allows the charity to explore the physical, mental and social skills and benefits that working with animals and in nature can offer to people with a learning disability.
- Diagrama Day Opportunities operates at Duckyls Farm and across Sussex. This is a day care provision Hub and Outreach Support for people with a learning disability, physical and sensory impairment, acquired brain injury and/or autism.
- The team at their nursing and dementia care home, Edensor Care Centre in Clacton on Sea, support vulnerable residents to live life to the full.
- Diagrama’s voluntary adoption agency and not-for-profit fostering service cares for children who wait the longest for homes in London, Kent, West and East Sussex and Surrey.
Many vulnerable children and adults don’t get the support they need to develop their true potential, but the Diagrama team know that when someone has time and belief invested in them, they come alive, because that investment has made them feel valued and worthy.
X @diagramauk
Facebook @diagramafoundation
Instagram @diagrama.foundation
LinkedIn @diagrama-foundation
