The Keys to a brand-new Variety Sunshine Coach were handed over by the family of the late Bernice Cowen to The Village School on 19th July 2024. This celebrates an amazing five years of partnership.

Special Thanks from The Village School

What a lovely experience it was for Variety and the faculty at The Village School to see the joy on children’s faces: sharing such warm, welcoming enthusiasm and gratitude from the staff and pupils alike.

Jon Cowen (Bernice’s Husband) was delighted to handover keys of the brand-new Sunshine Coach to Headteacher, Karol Stelmaszczyk, who was delighted to Present alongside Assistant Headteacher, Lauren Lightstone.

Lauren Lightstone, Assistant Headteacher, said:

We are so excited to have our new Sunshine Coach. The children are especially excited that it is bright pink, but on a wider scale it means we can offer more opportunities for our pupils to explore the community and enhance their learning through visits and experiences. The majority of our pupils are unable to travel via public transport and so the new bus will enrich their lives in so many ways. Thank you

Remembering Bernice

Bernice Cowen was an inspirational figure; a nursery nurse, she taught PE at a Holland House school in Edgware and taught over 1,000 children to play tennis at Drive Tennis Club.

Sadly, Bernice passed away on the 11th January 2012, following Bernice’s battle with cancer – which began in October 2003.

Bernice was a keen golfer and the ladies and captain of Aldenham Golf Club – who chose an annual club tournament (the Bernice Cowen Inspirational Cup), as an appropriate means of remembering their friend Bernice.

A committee of a dozen close friends and family formed the Bernice Cowen Charitable Trust. The Trust is dedicated to organising events with a dual purpose of raising money for the charity and remembering a very special lady.

Celebrating years of support

Over the years, The Bernice Cowen Charitable Trust has since donated Sunshine Coaches to:

  1. Radlett Lodge School
  2. Swiss Cottage School
  3. Woodlands School
  4. Mapledown School
  5. The Village School

Celebrating Bernice: An Incredible show of support

Following year’s annual Bernice Cowen Memorial Golf Day, a bright pink bus was presented to the Headteacher and Assistant Headteacher of The Village School.

Welcome from The Village School

The Village School is a special needs school in the London Borough of Brent. The school supports the needs of children with complex needs, cognition and learning difficulties. The school is a learning community of five villages, serving pupils aged 3 to 19, with a total enrolment of 315 students.

All students at the Village School have an education, health and care plan, and many of them have additional complex medical conditions or are diagnosed with Autism. The 13-seater minibus with tail-lift will be used to support with the school’s ambitious plans to support its’ pupils.

The Presentation follows a wonderful successful fundraiser at Aldenham Golf & Country Club. The entry fees, sponsorship and raffle all raised critical funds to make the Day possible.  

Special Message from the Family

This Sunshine Coach was donated with love to the Village School by The Bernice Cowen Charitable Trust.

Jon Cowen (Bernice’s husband) said:

Bernice died 12 years ago after an 8-year battle against cancer.

Her family and friends made Bernice a promise that they would always remember her and the Charity was formed to raise money for projects linked to Cancer research and Children’s needs.

After donating £70,000 to cancer research projects, we were involved in building the Noahs Ark Children’s Hospice in Barnet where the outside playground is dedicated to Bernice’s memory.

Working with Variety, we have donated five Bright Pink Sunshine Coaches (Bernice’s favourite colour) to special needs schools around Northwest London. It gives us all a warm feeling when hearing that someone who knew Bernice sees one of the busses on the road.

This latest gift has heartfelt significance to our charity, as it was requested by Lauren Lightstone – the deputy head of the Village School. Bernice was the Drive LTC mixed doubles champion for 11 years with Lauren’s father, David, and she saw Lauren grow from a baby to a beautiful teenager. Bernice would be delighted and proud of Lauren’s achievements in her career. This coach fulfils all our charities aspirations on two fronts.

We hope that all the children can get to their activities in it and look forward to hearing from our supporters that they have seen the pink ‘Bern Bus’ on the road.

Please learn more about Bernice Cowen Charitable Trust here.