The Mayflower and the Rose Road Association partnership - Change My Life Appeal

The Change My Life Appeal has the purr-fect partner in The Mayflower for 2008!

The Rose Road Association launched it's Change My Life Appeal in style at The Mayflower Theatre in February, hosting a champagne reception on the opening night of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's CATS. It was a double celebration with the announcement that Rose Road is The Mayflower Theatre's chosen charity for 2008.

The Rose Road Association, the Southampton based charity working with severely disabled children and adults, was joined at the launch by local dignitaries, VIPs and guest of honour Chris McBeth, one of the young people who attends Rose Road.

Chris McBeth's story

Four years ago, Chris's life and those of his family was changed forever as a result of the road accident which left the teenager severely disabled. He suffered brain damage and was left confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak. After his accident he visited Rose Road and has not looked back since. His mum Claire said "The Rose Road Association has been absolutely fantastic - he has learnt to communicate by winking, and he now laughs a lot!"

"The Change My Life Appeal is extremely important for Chris and the other young people at Rose Road."

Change My Life

The Change My Life Appeal aims to raise £300,000 to give all the young people who attend Rose Road the opportunity to benefit from those special opportunities which help them to fulfil their potential in life, developing their key skills and having fun along the way!

Dennis Hall, The Mayflower's Chief Executive, believes the partnership will bring much needed attention to the work of Rose Road. "The Mayflower Theatre is delighted to be supporting The Rose Road Association during our 21st Anniversary year, and we were glad that we could help to highlight the new Change My Life Appeal through our fantastic production of CATS. We are developing a strong association between the theatre and the charity and hope to have an exciting year ahead."

Rose Road's Chief Executive, Heather Aspinall explained the importance of their partnership with The Mayflower. "The launch event was a great opportunity to celebrate the Appeal in a thoroughly enjoyable way and in wonderful surroundings. We are very grateful to The Mayflower for choosing us as their chosen charity and other events such as the actors from CATS coming to visit our children really shows how special our relationship is."

The Rose Road Association has worked with many hundreds of young people from across Hampshire and the south of England over the past 50 years. Each young person is unique and each has their own challenges in life.

For more information about the Change My Life Appeal please visit:
www.roseroad.org.uk/changemylife