Dear friends and colleagues,
It’s at this time of year, that I get the chance to reflect on all that has happened in the year past. 2011 was, as ever, a
busy year for us here at Toby Churchill Ltd. You can see some of our highlights below.
It has also been a challenging year. Budgets were cut and the AAC industry finds itself struggling in these austere
times. Challenging times call for new thinking, and in 2012 Toby Churchill Ltd remains committed to working closely
with you to understand how we can better meet the needs of those with significant communication impairments.
An example of this will be seen in January and February. We will be touring around Birmingham, Bristol, London and
Edinburgh launching the new Lightwriter® Swift. Please check www.toby-churchill.com for details.
January 2011 - Lightwriter® SL40 Connect goes global
Toby Churchill Ltd started to distribute the Lightwriter® SL40 Connect domestically and around
the globe.
July 2011 - Exciting new changes
We were delighted to receive the Queen’s Award for Export, in recognition of the significant
percentage of Lightwriters that end up overseas.
David Mason, who had been leading the company in the position of Managing Director for
nearly four years, decided to semi retire and continue to work closely with our academic
partners in speech, language, linguistic, developmental and neurological labs. Joining us to
replace David in the role of Managing Director was James Rowe. Trained as a SLT, James has
spent a total of 11 years working in AAC and joined us fresh from a year at Business School.
October 2011 - Working closely with our partners
In October we hosted 18 of our international distributors at the factory in Over. For the first time
ever, we shared a new product with them, in secret, keen to learn what we needed to adapt before
formally launching the product to the world. Partners from as far afield as the USA and Australia
helped us understand what we needed to consider for their markets in the final product.
November 2011 - Team of the future
We employed our first ‘Apprentice’. Toby Churchill Ltd is committed to employing and
developing our ‘team of the future’, and Samuel Millington joined us in the production
department. Sam is studying Electrical Engineering one day a week, and for the remainder is
mentored by our highly skilled team of production engineers at the factory in Over.
December 2011 - Lifetime acheivement
At this year’s BHTA award ceremony, we were delighted to see David Mason recognised with a
lifetime achievement award. Single-handedly responsible for developing Stephen Hawking’s first
communication aid, and subsequently introducing Environmental Controls to the UK, David has
enjoyed an illustrious career in the Assistive Technology field. We are thrilled to have David as
a part of the Toby Churchill Ltd family, and would like to congratulate him again on this muchdeserved achievement.
I am fortunate to be surrounded at Toby Churchill Ltd by a passionate and committed team. Some of our team
have been working with Lightwriters since the very first models in the 1970’s. I am grateful to each of them for
the hard work and effort they put in every day. Most of all, I am grateful to you – our loyal friends, customers,
colleagues and partners. Without you, there wouldn’t be a Toby Churchill Ltd.
To you all, I wish a warm, successful and very Happy New Year.
Thank you again for your continued support, and we look forward to continuing to support you in 2012.
David Collison
Chairman
Manufacturer of the Lightwriter®
[email protected]
01954 281 210
www.toby-churchill.com