Francis Aloisio worked for Grace Eyre from 1985 to 1995. He was a Clients Service Manager first. Then he became Director in 1989. When he first came to the Guardianship he was shocked by what he found. It was very old-fashioned. People had very few choices about their activities. Francis thought it was very controlling.
It was a difficult time for the charity as it struggled to modernise. It had lost its way and stopped being creative. It was very different to the charity Grace had started 50 years before. Francis started to make some changes. He updated the facilities, and encouraged staff to work in a better way.
He changed the name of the charity. He said the idea of ‘Guardianship’ was very out of date. It became the Grace Eyre Foundation.
He wanted to provide better services to the people coming to Grace Eyre.
Francis Aloisio at the celebration for the 80th anniversary with the opening of the 3rd floor of Montefiore Road, 1993
In this first video, Francis told us about his first visit to the Day Centre in Montefiore Road. We will add more videos from his interview so do check back soon!