Sue Funge, Starlight

Loan recipient, Fredericks Foundation

As a white woman bringing up her black son of mixed heritage born in 1983, Sue Funge became aware that it wasn’t enough to just unconditionally love him. She realised in the very early days of her son’s life that other people were making assumptions and judgements about him.  She knew that she could not leave it to chance and hope that her love would be sufficient armour to prevent her son from absorbing negative opinions and prejudices. She wanted to find ways of ensuring that all our children grow up with a strong sense of themselves, and an acceptance of others who may be different from them, without needing to condemn or vilify them.

When her son was four she began studying for her B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Education and Sociology which she completed in 1991. She has held many posts during her time as a single mother but she never lost sight of the belief that everyone has their own uniqueness and that we should learn to value and respect our own talents and the talents of others.

Sue met Glen Berley in 2003, a black British born male, and they began working together to develop a business that promoted this fundamental belief. Glen was inspired by Sue’s passion and together they were able to set their own aims and objectives independently of other people’s preconceived ideas about what they were or were not capable of achieving. Sue and Glen have organised a number of events, workshops and conferences all designed to create an atmosphere of tolerance and harmony, encouraging an environment of trust, respect and honesty.

Starlight now offers a variety of OCN accredited courses. All of them provide the learner with the opportunity to make sense of their life and let go of any negative predictions about themselves or their life chances. They have the opportunity to learn practical skills that can help them to move forward more positively; improving relationships at home, school, college or work. 

When Sue was put in touch with Fredericks Foundation much of the hard work of writing the courses and obtaining creditation for them had been done. The major challenge then was to promote the courses, selling them in such a way as to encourage their widespread use in the community and also to provide a living for Sue and Glen. Following lengthy discussions Sue made some revisions to the business model that she had envisaged and was then ready to apply to Fredericks for funding to assist her with the promotion of the courses and production of a website, which she duly did successfully.

Both Sue and Glen would be the first to admit that it has by no means been plain sailing. They are delighted though, with the positive feedback that they have received in response to their courses and Fredericks is pleased to have played a part in enabling Sue and Glen to pursue their dreams and ambitions.

Visit the Starlight website at http://www.starlightenterprise.co.uk