May 2023
Patient and Client Council announces appointment of new Chair.
The Patient and Client Council welcomes its newly appointed Chair Ruth Sutherland CBE following an announcement by the Department of Health.
Ruth is Chair of Social AdVentures, a public health social enterprise based in Salford, and Vice chair of Lloyds Bank Foundation, passionate about health and social care and social justice. Ruth began her career as a registered general nurse and progressed to work mostly in public health roles. Following a forty-year career in health and social care, public and voluntary sectors, Ruth stepped down as Chief Executive of Samaritans, UK and Ireland in Nov 2020 to pursue a portfolio career involving non-executive roles, volunteering, executive coaching and consultancy.
Ruth has held senior leadership roles in the voluntary sector, working with Children, adults and older people many living with complex needs. Prior to joining Samaritans in 2015, Ruth was CEO of Relate and previously held senior executive leadership roles at the UK charities Rethink, Alzheimer’s Society and Scope.
Ruth was awarded the CBE for services to vulnerable people in 2019 and the Royal College of Psychiatrists Presidents medal for services to people with mental illness in 2019. Ruth was awarded The Daniel Phelan award for outstanding achievement at the UK Charity Awards in 2022.
Ruth takes over the position from Mr Stephen Mathews OBE who has been the Council’s Interim Chair since October 2022. Following the news of her appointment, Ruth says: “I’m delighted to have the opportunity to be the non - executive chair of the Patient Client Council. The voices and actions of people and their communities are vital to achieving the best health and social care outcomes. I look forward to working collaboratively with all sectors to ensure the best possible health and care is delivered for everyone “
Meadhbha Monaghan, Chief Executive of the Patient and Client Council says: “We welcome Ruth to the role of Chair and know that she will bring her expertise and years of experience to the Patient and Client Council in these challenging times for health and social care in Northern Ireland.
We would also like to acknowledge and thank the Council’s outgoing Interim Chair, Stephen Mathews OBE whose insight and leadership supported the ongoing work of the PCC in recent months.”
May 2023
Worlds oldest photographic technique recreated by 50 young people to celebrate Coronation of King Charles at Belfast Exposed Gallery.
Leading photographic gallery Belfast Exposed has brought together over 50 young people from communities here to create a first ever exhibition for ‘Coronation Generation’ and reinvigorate one of the oldest photographic printing processes in the history of photography. The organisation was approached earlier this year by the Big Ideas Foundation to undertake the project to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles on 6 May and was asked to lead the project for Northern Ireland. Staff from Belfast Exposed undertook a range of workshops over 2 days in April, working with young people aged 14-18 from a range of backgrounds reflecting the diverse communities here, creating a new exhibition which will launch on 4 May at Belfast Exposed Studio Gallery on Donegall Street, and run for 3 weeks.
Young people involved in the project included Mitchell House co-educational special school for children with physical disabilities; Hazelwood Integrated College which is dedicated to the pursuit of educational excellence through the promotion of social, cultural and religious education; a group of young ethnic minorities working in partnership with Oasis who are a youth support group funded by the Prince’s Trust Impact Training providing training for school leavers, and Belfast Exposed Young Futures working with a mix of neurodiverse and mainstream young people interested in careers and education involving photography. The project was led and delivered by Belfast Exposed staff.
Discussing Coronation Generation, Deirdre Robb, Chief Executive of Belfast Exposed said,
“This is a wonderful project, and we are so thrilled to have been selected for Northern Ireland to participate in Coronation Generation. For many here, catholic and protestant are our main cultural difference, however we are significantly more diverse community with four main ethnic minorities, the indigenous travelling community, the Chinese, Indian and Pakistani communities, and alongside many others including asylum seekers from war torn countries. We have people with disabilities and those without and basically every creed and colour residing here. This being said in a national context we are really only one people and equal in standing and we want to reflect this in the work we produce for the Coronation Generation project. The young people we have worked with represent this cross-section of our people and we are thrilled to have undertaken this project to celebrate our diversity and promote equality.
Embedded within the Coronation Generation programme is well-being and participants have been able to experience mental health and well being support. The workshops were created in a way to encourage participants to be calm, connected and present, more focused, engaged and productive, and helped encourage learning, creativity and motivation, as well as learning and developing new creative & technical skills.” Deirdre added.
The gallery selected the photographic technique Cyanotype to work with the groups and students were taught how to take portrait images which were digitised, printed and transferred onto acetate. A cyanotype of the negative image was then created for the exhibition.
Heather MacRae, Chief Executive of the Big Ideas Foundation who visited the project during the workshops and met with participants added;
“The Coronation Generation creative brief is one that we wanted to share across the United Kingdom - offering students the chance to exercise their creativity in response to briefs on community, diversity, sustainability and youth.
Over three weeks Belfast Exposed arranged and hosted workshops for 50 students from all parts of the community. The photographs and works are inspired by the Cyanotypes, one of the oldest photographic printing processes in the history of photography. The distinctive feature of the print is its shade of cyan blue, which results from its exposure to ultraviolet light.
The young people themselves have been an inspiration. I am blown away by the graft, passion and commitment of Belfast Exposed who are genuinely opening their doors and helping young people see their futures and their community from different lenses,” Heather concluded.
A gallery of the portraits will launch on 4 May at Belfast Exposed Studio Gallery on Donegall Street and run for 3 weeks. It will form part of the Belfast Late Nite Art initiative. The Gallery will show the Coronation live on screens on Saturday 6 May as part of the exhibition.