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Celebrating 50 years of SIA
On Friday 27 September we welcomed HRH The Princess Royal to our head office in Milton Keynes to celebrate 50 years of the charity.
The Princess Royal, our royal patron since 1984, joined with SIA members, supporters, medal-winning Paralympians, and ambassadors including Jonathan Goodwin and Amanda Abington to celebrate our 50th year.
HRH The Princess Royal delivers speech to the guests alongside Faisal Hussain, our chair of trustees
Also sharing in our celebration was Zinnia Amaefule from Edlington Victoria Academy in Doncaster who became involved with SIA after winning a poster competition run by ourselves and children’s author Brian Abram. Brian, who is spinal cord injured and a full-time wheelchair user following a cycling accident, designed the poster competition alongside SIA to teach the children about disability and wheelchair users. The competition encouraged children to let their imaginations run wild as they designed the world’s fastest wheelchair.
Zinnia was delighted to meet HRH The Princess Royal and to present her with a posy as she left SIA House.
I’m happy and excited because I’ve never met a princess before. I can’t believe it!
Zinnia Amaefule
Ben Pritchard was one of four Paralympians living with spinal cord injury who joined us at the event. Ben, who grew up in Swansea, sustained a spinal cord injury after a cycling crash in 2016. He began his rowing career in 2017 when British Rowing staff spotted him at the National Spinal Injuries Centre during his recovery at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Ben made his Great British Rowing Team International debut in the PR1 men’s single sculls at the 2019 World Championships. Since Tokyo, Ben has achieved two World Championship podiums and a gold medal at Paris 2024.
HRH The Princess Royal meeting Paralympians Ben Pritchard and Louise Sugden
Ben brought his gold medal to the charity’s event, where the medals of Susan Cunliffe-Lister, Baroness Masham of Ilton were also on display.
Ben said:
“To be invited here today to celebrate the 50th year of Spinal Injuries Association is an incredible honour. As somebody with a spinal cord injury myself and having used their services in the past, it’s great to see the work they’re still doing, and to have The Princess Royal here as well to celebrate. We saw how passionately she spoke about the work SIA have done and are continuing to do; it’s fantastic to see. She made a very valid point at the end that we need more work to be done and we’re still fighting for more, but actually the work that SIA have managed to do in the 50 years prior to today, shows how much we have already done and hopefully that will continue for the next 50 years. So happy birthday, SIA, and thanks for inviting me along!”
More photos from the 50th celebration can be found on our SIA Flickr page:
