Tony Blair’s Wife Opens London Charity’s Training Suite

London — Feb. 15
Cherie Booth QC, the wife of British Prime Minister Tony and patron of the charity Victim Support London (VSL), has launched VSL’s new training suite of three training rooms and a breakout area at its offices in Finsbury Square, London.

The facilies have been donated by Scotia Bank and are rent-free for one year.

VSL’s trainers deliver more than 50 courses a year to several hundred victim support and witness service volunteers, as well as delivering courses to external groups such as the Metropolitan Police, London Probation and local community groups.

The courses aim to equip people to help those many thousands of people within the London area who become victims of crime.

Among those from the London business community who attended the official launch were Daniel Hanlon and David Field of training solutions provider Training Synergy.

Hanlon and Field were also present as representatives of the United Kingdom’s IT training industry.

“It was good to meet Cherie Blair, who was particularly interested in how the private sector can play more of a part in supporting important charities such as VSL,” said Daniel Hanlon, Training Synergy managing director. “Having attended the launch and learnt of some of VSL’s work, we feel that there is a great deal that Training Synergy, along with other IT training providers, can do to support the valuable work that VSL is doing.

“We’ll be taking this up with industry bodies, including the Institute of IT Training and the British Computer Society, as well as pushing for greater collaboration between industry and charities such as VSL.”