VICTA Patrons
Michel Roux Jr took over the helm at the world famous Michelin starred Le Gavroche in 1991. Since then, Michel has won numerous awards for his cuisine and has continued to set the standard for classical French fine dining in London. Prior to Le Gavroche, Michel honed his skills working for master chefs in Paris, Lyon, Hong Kong and London, spending two years with Alain Chapel and cooking at the Elysee Palace for President Mitterand. Michel is also a judge alongside Greg Wallace on Masterchef: The Professionals. Michel has been a great supporter of VICTA Children for many years, he continues to run in the London Marathon and BUPA 10K raising money to help us to provide our services.
Mardy worked at New College Worcester (NCW), a residential school for students who are blind or partially sighted for 27 years, including the last 13 years as Principal. She retired at Christmas 2016 but maintains her commitment to ensuring young people who are blind or partially sighted have a wide range of opportunities and challenges. In addition to such experiences resulting in enjoyment and achievement, the positive impact on self-esteem and self-confidence is invaluable and Mardy is pleased to be able to support VICTA in their work with young people and their families.
Clarke Reynolds is registered severely sight impaired and is a successful visual artist. His artistic language is Braille, the tactile coding system which is made up of a six-dot cell and allows people of low vision to read. As a Braille typographer and artist, Clarke takes the tactile braille experience and gives it a visual language. His aim is to bring Braille into the 21st century through workshops, exhibitions and public art. He is passionate about being a role model for people of all ages with a vision impairment.
As words are important to a vision impaired person, Clarke’s art explores the power of the English language and uses the Braille dot as a vessel to hold that word through the shape, colour and size of the dot. Over the past two years Clarke has held multiple exhibitions including his first solo show in London at the Quantus gallery.
www.seeingwithoutseeing.com
Abbie is a competitive climber from the North East. Having grown up an active, adventurous person, Abbie started indoor climbing when she was 13 at her local climbing wall in Sunderland. At 17, she was diagnosed with Stargardt Macular Dystrophy and registered legally blind. It was then that she was introduced to the world of paraclimbing and quickly went on to join the GB Paraclimbing Team, so far securing 7 international gold medals, including 3 consecutive world championship titles.
Having initially struggled to come to terms with the label of being ‘disabled’, Abbie is passionate about showing the world that disability does not have to be a barrier to success, independence or adventure. She is keen to make sport accessible for all in the hope that other people with disabilities can find the same freedom, confidence and strength through sport that she did.
