Liz Sturgeon volunteers at Home-Start Camden, helping them raise funds to continue their crucial family support work.  

Cathy Carpenter, manager there, said, “Liz has kept Home-Start Camden going since 2009 when the scheme lost its local authority funding. Her dynamic leadership skills were spotted soon after she trained as a home-visiting volunteer, so we encouraged her to become a trustee in April 2008 and later co-chair.

“When Liz heard that Camden families could be left without the charity’s services, she rolled up her sleeves. Her highly exacting mind and precise attention to detail has been a powerfully successful tool in helping us secure grants so we can keep helping parents and children in the borough."

See how Liz received the news (in disbelief) and hear from her colleagues about her work:

“As lead trustee for fundraising, Liz develops Home-Start Camden’s fundraising strategy and develops and writes funding applications with input from the manager and a few days of freelance fundraising expertise. We are hugely grateful as she is an invaluable and highly skilled volunteer fundraiser.  Funders love her too as her contribution is of great value in demonstrating our work with families and volunteers.”

Liz has a background in educational publications editing at Channel 4. She was formerly a trustee for a breast cancer charity. She is a parent of two grown-up children and has lived in Camden for many years. 

Liz was unable to attend a gala awards dinner on 21 March, hosted by the charity’s national ambassadors, Kirstie Allsopp and Alastair Stewart. Her glass trophy and a certificate signed by the charity’s royal patron, HRH Princess Alexandra, were collected on her behalf by Cathy Carpenter (left), manager of Home-Start Camden.  

Liz made a short acceptance speech in the film (further above), which was played at the ceremony.