Corporate cavalry

Kids’ Village has the potential to transform the lives of critically ill children, and their families, for the better. The plans are in place, the will is there . . . all that’s needed is a successful £5 million fundraising campaign. Who better to take on the challenge of achieving it than two of the region’s most prominent charity-minded business leaders, Doug Wright and Paul Faulkner?

JON GRIFFIN reports.

 

They are two of the highest profile business figures in the West Midlands with enviable CVs and hard-earned track records of consistent commercial achievement over many years.

Doug Wright and Paul Faulkner have been around the corporate block more than a few times, with a string of executive roles from McDonald’s franchisee with nearly 3,000 on the payroll and deputy lieutenant (in Wright’s case) to CEO roles at Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest football clubs (in the case of Faulkner).

But stellar careers and boardroom success do not necessarily tell the whole story.

Wright and Faulkner, as chair and interim CEO respectively, are the executive faces of Kids’ Village, a new national charity aiming to support critically ill children and their families by enabling them to escape the treadmill of their daily lives to the beauty of the Staffordshire countryside.

Both men have been familiar figures in the West Midlands charity sector for many years, with Wright – who was awarded an MBE for services to charity – recently completing a six-year term as chair of Ronald McDonald House Charities in Birmingham, helping raise more than £10 million, and Faulkner holding leading roles with Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital NHS Trust Charity, Cure Leukaemia, and Town Hall and Symphony Hall.

Now they are keen to share their hopes and ambitions for Kids’ Village, the region’s latest charitable venture with the potential to become a truly national organisation and home of the UK’s first holiday location providing free breaks for critically ill children.

When we meet in Wright’s offices in Sutton Coldfield, both men reflect on potentially life-altering personal traumas which helped forge their ambitions to help charities – and eventually crystallise their vision for A Kids Village.

Wright was just 20 years old when he was involved in a car accident which left him paralysed for months after breaking his neck. He had started work with McDonalds at the age of 16 in July 1981 as a part-time cleaner on 93p an hour, and by 20 had climbed the ladder to become the fast-food giant’s youngest ever manager in Oxford. But his life was shattered by a car accident on Friday June 13, 1986.

“I was just 20 years old and broke my neck in a car crash,” he recalls. “I was in Stoke Mandeville for a very long period of time.

“I think it was probably my lightbulb moment when I realised that if I ever did get better – I wasn’t expected to walk again – that I would certainly try to repay and do something to help others. The accident still haunts me but I have tried to use it as a reason to do charity work.

“You never know when you are going to need a charity. For me, it was a routine night out and you end up paralysed from the neck down. At Stoke Mandeville there was so much help. People gave up a wheelchair for me to use.

 “My mum and dad wouldn’t have been able to afford one and that allowed us to get out for the day and back home. It’s not just the giving, it’s the tangible difference you make to somebody’s life.

“It was about three and a half months before I could walk again. I have still got no feeling in my left-hand side.”

In Faulkner’s case, the birth of his eldest son William in September 2013 would reinforce his already strong lifelong commitment to helping those less fortunate.

“Within the first few days we were told he had cystic fibrosis. Suddenly myself and my wife Jane found ourselves in Birmingham Children’s Hospital and being told the news.

“I thought that wasn’t meant to be me. I am a trustee, I am meant to help other people who are going through these things. Suddenly it was that role reversal, in some ways echoing what Doug had gone through, and it heightened my lived experience about how important charity is.

“I leaned on the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and the Children’s Hospital an awful lot. I was a customer now as well as a trustee.

“William, who is healthy, goes in four times a year for checks and we are in there using all their facilities, stuff I have helped to raise money for. It is funny how life turns out – it doesn’t half humble you. It does fuel the fires and make you realise how important it is to help others.”

With their commitment to charitable work reinforced by those kinds of experience, both businessmen are now bringing their considerable talents and expertise to Kids’ Village, a project originally inspired by the example of Sam Fletcher-Goodwin, from Lichfield.

At the age of nine Sam was diagnosed with a form of cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma which afflicts young children, causing tumours which can grow in any part of the body.

Sam and her family were able to help the youngster’s recovery by flying over to Florida to visit the Give Kids the World Village Resort – a facility which would ultimately provide the inspiration for today’s vision for Kids’ Village.

As Faulkner relates: “Sam said the week she spent in the facility in the United States was transformational; she came out of the chemotherapy period and it gives you that confidence back.”

Wright and Faulkner believe the proposed complex just off the A38 at Wychnor near Lichfield will create a similar experience to its counterpart in Florida, comprising 10 four-bedroom lodges and a central facility known as the Hive.

Wright says: “I had finished Ronald McDonald’s House in the middle of last year and had quite a few offers of chair roles nationally but there was really nothing that I saw as the next step in my charitable work.

“Then the Kids’ Village landed in my inbox one day and I met the Fletchers and their story was so real. The introduction came in from Sir John Crabtree saying they had a dream and wanted a team of people to bring it to fruition. To have the opportunity to chair a national charity in our backyard felt incredibly special.

“I own and run a business which started with 33 employees and now has almost 3,000 employees and my guiding principle is that I have tried to use my own personal business success as a force for good to help others – that has been at the heart of it but absolutely driven by my accident.

“It felt like when Kids’ Village came up that I had to do it, it just ticked every box. It was going to make a tangible difference to families, it was within the West Midlands community, and it felt like a good evolution for myself personally. Once I met the family, I knew I had to do it.

“Sam had facial cancer when she was nine and 21 years later for someone to have a vision and create something they had seen in America where you could create a respite holiday village for children with critical illnesses was incredibly enchanting, so I agreed to meet them and have a chat.”

Wright was quickly convinced of the Kids’ Village idea, a project which already had planning permission after land was donated to the charity by Staffordshire farming family the Mercers, who operate a range of enterprises including the Packington Free Range pork and poultry brand. Meanwhile Sam’s father, long-established businessman Gary, has ploughed in considerable investment for fees and surveys to help get the scheme off the ground.

“Sometimes we have all gone through life and someone comes up with an idea and you think that is genius, it’s so simple, why didn't I think of that?” says Faulkner.

“It’s a compelling idea and you think let’s make it happen. Yes, £5 million is a lot of money to raise but with land thanks to the Mercers and with planning permission we are a good way there.

“Doug and I have a good, deep friendship and he was telling me about this charity in May or June last year. I could see Doug’s enthusiasm and I thought this is doable and achievable.

“Knowing Doug, his energy and the way he drove Ronald McDonald House forward I thought this will be great.”

Both men are now preparing to help galvanise the £5 million fundraising effort to bring the Kids Village dream to fruition.

Faulkner continues: “We need to introduce Kids’ Village to people. It is not about launching it because it has been going for five years. But it has been under the radar while they have been sorting out planning permission, the land and the like.

“It is now in effect that rebirth moment and with my ability to hopefully leverage my network connections in conjunction with Doug and the reputations we have hopefully built up in the region over time, we thought let’s do it.”

Both men are keen to stress that Kids’ Village can be a genuine UK first – a charity with its roots in the West Midlands but potentially spreading its tentacles much further afield.

As Wright says: “We will never get such an amazing opportunity to create impact and legacy. The first thing we have got to do is write the opening chapter, make as many friends and have as many advocates and ambassadors.

“Right now not too many people know about this charity but we have started to talk about it. This has legs and impact and is absolutely deliverable.”

Faulkner adds: “The corporate community really matters to us with our business links. We are going to start here in the West Midlands but this would apply to people all over the country, where businesses are looking for a charity of the year or they are doing a particular event and they want a charity partner. We want to be the charity on the night, to tap into that.”

The eventual ambition is for Kids’ Village to provide a first-of-its-kind UK facility which will bring respite and new experiences for over 4,000 under-18s a year and their families from the initial location in the heart of the Staffordshire countryside.

Says Wright: “We would anticipate fund-raising taking between 18 and 24 months – that is our best and pragmatic timescale to get to £5 million. It is a 12-month build period and we would hope to be on site around Easter 2026.

“The site is almost Willy Wonka-esque. It’s beautiful, in the heart of the English countryside and it just feels like when your world is full of trouble, what better place to go and just relax?”

Both men are hopeful that Kids’ Village can ultimately spread its wings well beyond its Wychnor location. Faulkner says: “We will partner up with local attractions where we can take them off-site.

“Alton Towers is not too far away, Birmingham is 25 miles from the site where there are places like Cadbury World, St George’s Park is around the corner, and Ben Robinson, the owner of Burton Albion, has already reached out to us on the back of this.”

Wright expects demand to be “exceptionally high” for the facilities on offer at Kids’ Village with youngsters  referred from the likes of Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Make A Wish UK and various national charities.

It may be early days for the charity and the £5 million fundraising campaign but both these pillars of the West Midlands business community are clearly determined to turn the dream of a UK charitable first into reality.

“It’s rare to say ‘created in the West Midlands’. To me that badge of honour saying it is made here and it’s scalable and can be replicated around the country . . . that’s why we are sitting here today,” concludes Wright.

*For further information visit kidsvillage.org.uk