Four members of Coram staff, (three pictured right) will take tea and cakes in the beautiful gardens of the Palace as The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh’s guests.
Anne Sturgess from our Estates Team, Val Molloy from Adoption and Tokie Ekukinam from the Housing and Support Service have been invited in recognition of their length of service and outstanding contribution to Coram’s work.
Coram Chief Executive, Carol Homden, said the invitation was a wonderful tribute:
“This is a special honour for a group of extremely hard-working people who have shown an enormous commitment to Coram over many years.
“Coram was created with the support of the Monarchy in the 1739 as the UK’s first children’s charity, when we were granted a Royal Charter and established as the Foundling Hospital.
“We are delighted that this relationship continues and extend our thanks and congratulations to Her Majesty in her 60th year on the throne.”
Garden Parties are held every year to recognise and reward contributions towards public service. At a typical Garden Party, around 27,000 cups of tea, 20,000 sandwiches and 20,000 slices of cake are consumed.
The Queen has visited Coram on numerous occasions, most recently 2009 when she attended a celebration for our 270th anniversary as a charity.
Coram’s relationship with the royal family dates back to the 1720s, when our founder, Thomas Coram began a campaign to King George II to raise funds for an institution to rescue children dying in London’s streets.
On 17 October 1739 the King signed a Royal Charter and the Foundling Hospital was created for the ‘education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children’.
In the early 1900s King George V became a patron of the Foundling Hospital, visiting in 1918 with Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother) opened the rebuilt London headquarters of The Foundling Hospital in 1939.
Coram’s Head of Adoption Jeanne Kaniuk has received an OBE from The Queen for her work in finding families for children in care, and our Chairman Edward Hartill OBE was also awarded one in 2004 for his services to the Corporation of London and to Surveying.