About Us
Company History
The company was first registered on 14th January 2008. It has been born from the need to provide employment opportunities and to fill gaps in the provision of services to people with a learning disability who live locally.
We have close links with the Ashford Learning Disability Partnership Group and we will be responding to the needs identified by the group.
Trevor Sakuringwa is the company secretary. Elizabeth Collins and Eryll Woollett are company directors along with 3 directors with learning disabilities: Michael, Steven & Sarah.
The Future of the Ashford LD CIC
The Ashford LD Community Interest Company is a social
enterprise for people with learning disabilities which is
dedicated to empowering people with Learning Disabilities through services designed to promote independence. In order to ensure that the Ashford LD CIC continues to place people with learning disabilities at the heart of its mission the organisation has join together with Find A Voice Charity. Find A Voice was registered as a charity in October 1996 (Charity No. 1058697). Since 2001 the organisation has operated from a single storey Centre in Ashford, Kent providing services primarily to those in the county of Kent.
Find A Voice supports children and adults who have a severe speech, language or communication difficulty, and who may require some form of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) support. This can includes signing, symbols or a communication aid. Support is provided in person, by telephone and via this website.
Find A Voice will now become the Asset Lock organisation of the Ashford LD CIC. This means that all the profits of the Community Interest Company will be distributed to Find A Voice. As a result Liz Collins (Chief Executive of Find A Voice), Becky Washington (Technical Director of Find A Voice) and Eryll Woollett (Trustee of Find A Voice) will now become Directors of the Ashford LD CIC. Trevor Sakuringwa (Director of Ashford LD CIC) and Nicola Wells (Director of Ashford LD CIC will become Trustees of Find A Voice. The Ashford LD CIC would like to welcome the new directors and look forward to their vision and experience to steering the organisation to new heights.
What's the difference?
Like any other company, we the directors, are committed to providing high quality products and services to our customers in Ashford Borough and surrounding areas. However our company is a 'not for profit' organisation that reinvests any surplus into providing benefits to local people with a learning disability.
How will local people benefit?
We aim to employ both people with a learning disability and others from the local population providing opportunities to create a new workforce who can work together and develop mutual understanding and respect for each other. Because we do not pay dividends to shareholders we will be able to price our goods and services competitively which can only be of benefit to everyone and the local economy.
More information
The tabs at the top of the page provide links to our services and some of the things we are doing right now, to show you how we put our ethics into practice.