27/1/15
Sovereign Housing has received a Community Award for Communication and Leadership from the Newbury Speakers Club (part of Toastmasters International) for their commitment to a staff training programme over seven years.
Newbury Speakers Club, which was founded in 1984, is part of an international organisation of speakers clubs that was originally founded in 1927 in the US under the banner of Toastmasters International. The aim of the club is to deliver speech and communication courses within the business community to create better leaders and communicators.
Sovereign owns and manages over 38,000 affordable homes, making it one of the largest housing associations in the south and south west of England.
Over the last seven years, staff members from Sovereign have been taking Speechcraft Communication courses with the Newbury Speakers Club. The Community Award was presented to Sovereign at the Speakers Club’s Annual Dinner on 16th January 2015 and was accepted on behalf of Sovereign by Andrew Cooch, who attended one of the first Speechcraft courses and then came back to help facilitate on every subsequent course.
Claire Heyes, President of the Newbury Speakers Club and also CEO of CORGI Technical Services, who have worked alongside Sovereign and their gas safety department, commented: “The evening was a celebration of outstanding speakers and competition winners. Newbury Speakers Club has a wonderful mix of different speaking abilities which allows for continual development of both speaking and leadership skills and consistently delivers high quality speeches with coaching from experienced club members.”
“We were delighted to present this Award to Sovereign Housing Association. They have shown a continuous commitment to staff training over the last seven years and this is reflected in the quality of the communication and leadership which they now demonstrate.”