19th July saw the first ever National Changing Places Awareness Day to celebrate Changing Places‘ 10th Anniversary at the Barbican Cinemas, London. As part of the celebrations, Astor-Bannerman were invited by the Centre for Accessible Environments (CAE) as co-sponsors of the Changing Places campaign to deliver a CPD style training session and talk through all elements of these important facilities as well as the technical specification and requirements.
One attendee was Lloyd Page, Changing Places campaigner who volunteers at Mencap. Lloyd kindly offered to share his take on the celebrations:
“On the 19th July, the Changing Places campaign celebrated our 10thAnniversary with an event held at the Barbican Cinemas. At this event there were selfie kit props for us to take photographs which we had fun using.
We were given Changing Places goodie bags which included the Practical Guide and I received a copy of the Access in London Guide Book. We also had a presentation from Wendy and Rosie from Aveso, who sponsor the campaign. They talked about Changing Places design and best practice.
My favourite part of the day was meeting lots of new friends and seeing my old friend, Beverley Dawkins, who used to work with me at Mencap, and now she works at Generate.
Mike and Raymond ran to four landmark Changing Places venues in London and launched the #howfarwouldyougo? Awareness campaign promoting the national map and register which was developed by the British Toilet Association and the Changing Places Consortium funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government. They ran from Barbican Centre to City Hall to Tate Modern and crossed the finishing line at Houses of Parliament. They both had a great day and were supported by campaigners at the start and finish of the run.
They also met Jack Dromey MP at the Houses Of Parliament; he is a great supporter of the Changing Places campaign. The run took two hours and it was a great journey along the Southbank on the hottest day of the year.
I first got involved with the Changing Places campaign after I attended an All Party Parliamentary Group on this campaign. It made me think,
“I can get involved in this!”
My hope is that we can carry on campaigning into the next century. In the words of Buzz Lightyear:
“To infinity and Beyond.”
I would like to say a big thank you to Aveso, CAE, British Toilet Association, and Mencap for organising this wonderful event.”
Lloyd Page with new friends from Three Cs
The whole event proved to be a huge success and social media was on fire with everyone talking about Changing Places and sharing their #CPSelfie photos.
Here are a few of our favourites,
To find out more about how Astor-Bannerman can help with your Changing Places requirements, click here or contact us today.