A team from the Mercure Southampton Centre Dolphin Hotel spent a day working with service users from Minstead Trust last week, as part of the hotel’s announcement that Minstead Trust will be their nominated charity for the next 12 months.
The hotel has chosen the charity as the beneficiary of fundraising activities and staff initiatives over the next year, and to kick-start their campaign, sent a team to Minstead Lodge to work alongside service users for a day of landscaping, planting and tidying of the gardens.
Minstead Trust (www.minsteadtrust.org.uk) is based in Minstead Village in the New Forest and supports people with learning disabilities across Hampshire, Wiltshire and Portsmouth. The charity works with people with learning disabilities on an individual basis to achieve their potential. Their focus is on providing work skills, life skills and better health and wellbeing. Minstead Trust achieves this by offering a mixture of residential and day services, community groups, supported living and work experience opportunities.
Dan Wilson, general manager of the Mercure Southampton Centre Dolphin Hotel said: “The Dolphin Hotel has been at the heart of Southampton for over 500 years. We have tremendous local support and so when choosing a charity partner for the year, we felt strongly that we wanted to contribute towards a local group.”
He added: “Minstead Trust were suggested and after a day visiting them, I was hugely impressed by their dedication and commitment to improving lives, but also the focus they have on equipping people with skills – something that I am passionate about. And so, we are thrilled to have started our relationship with a day of grass roots support – quite literally! Lots more fundraising to come!”
Minstead Trust’s CEO Madeline Durie adds: “We are delighted that Mercure Southampton Centre Dolphin Hotel has chosen us as their charity of the year. The team who spent a day volunteering with us were able to see first-hand the challenges that people with learning disabilities face and the work we do with them to help them overcome that including providing training and employment opportunities in hospitality and horticulture. We are looking forward to our partnership with them over the year.”
The Mercure Southampton Centre Dolphin is in the heart of the city and is the oldest hotel in Southampton, dating back over 500 years. The Grade II listed building hosted Jane Austen’s 18th birthday party and has played an important role in the city’s history. It has undergone an extensive refurbishment that has blended modern convenience and comfort, whilst staying true to the hotel’s history and traditional appeal.