Tuesday
13 July 2004
Heather
Crate
Public Orator, Professor
Len Cantor presented the Honorary Graduand at the Degree Ceremony
held on Tuesday 13 July 2004 at 10.30am
Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor,
Honorary Graduands, Ladies and Gentlemen and Graduands. One way
and another, we are nearly all of us greatly indebted to the many
people who devote so much time and energy to charitable purposes,
often with little or no thanks or acknowledgement.
There is no better
example of such a person than Heather Alwine Crate. Born and educated
in London, she moved to Leicestershire as a clergyman’s
wife in 1960 and has lived here ever since. In the early 1970s,
she obtained a Bachelor of Education honours degree of this university
and for the next 20 years taught, first in a primary school and
then as a peripatetic teacher helping children in the county with
specific learning difficulties. During all this time she raised
a family of 3 children and strongly supported her husband, the
Reverend Canon George Crate, in his busy parish work.
Then, in 1995, inspired
by a strong desire to help her disabled grandson, Shaun, and with
the help of her husband and a group of Loughborough families,
she was instrumental in setting up what was then known as Loughborough
School for Parents, and has now become STEPS, the Leicestershire
Conductive Education Centre. Conductive Education which originated
in the Peto Institute in Hungary is a complex approach to educating
children with Cerebral Palsy and allied conditions which, imparted
by professionals can, and does, achieve remarkable results. STEPS
today caters principally for children under 5; run by 4 professionals
it is the only one of its kind in the county and paralleled by
very few others in the country as a whole. Over the last 9 years,
it has greatly helped hundreds of handicapped children and their
parents and has become widely recognised throughout the county,
being registered with OFSTED and deriving some funding from the
local Primary Care Trust. Its operation necessarily requires substantial
sums of money all of which have to be raised from grant-awarding
bodies and through fund-raising events. As Project Manager, this
is Heather’s principal task and she is indeed the hub around
which STEPS revolves, having during the past nine years of its
existence raised hundreds of thousands of pounds, an unremitting
and continuing effort.
One of her great qualities
is the charm with which she persuades others to help her in her
great cause—and I speak from personal experience. She and
George are sustained by a strong Christian faith and when faced
year after year with the inevitable periods of difficulty and
stress inseparable from their daunting tasks they will say “the
lord will provide”. I am reminded of the vicar who, walking
through his parish, came to the front garden of one of his parishioners,
a keen gardener. Seeing him working in his garden, he commented
“What a magnificent job you and the Lord have made of your
garden.” To which his parishioner replied, “You should
have seen it when the Lord had it on his own!”
Finally, the establishment
and sustaining of STEPS is a major achievement bringing much needed
professional therapy and education to handicapped children and
support to their parents and families. The credit for this achievement
lies principally with Heather.
Therefore, Chancellor,
I have the honour to present to you and to the whole University,
Heather Alwine Crate for the degree of doctor of the University,
Honoris Causa.
