About the Creative Learning Trust
A Brief History of the CLT
In 1990, just after the Revolutions in Eastern Europe, Brian Mansfield (The Protekton Trust) asked David White to go to Romania to run some training sessions in selected hospitals. We never believed that we would return again and again for the next 25+ years. But we did, and in the process got to know many British and Romanian people who wanted to contribute to improving the poor conditions in central and Eastern Europe.
Originally, the charity we formed, The Clinical Science Foundation (CSF) (Registered Charity No. 1038148), concentrated on clinical science, providing medical equipment to children’s hospitals, medical laboratories and GP practices in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Numerous West-East and East-West training visits were organised, covering topics such as clinical physics, community medicine, nutrition, paediatrics and medical laboratory science.
A chance meeting in November 1996 between one of our Trustees, Maureen Hancock, and a UK volunteer special needs teacher, Paul Bramwell, significantly changed our direction. Paul, who was working at The School for the Deaf No.1 in Cluj-Napoca, drew our attention to severe problems in providing hearing aids to over 200 children there. We supplied, free of any charge, hearing aids for all the children and set up an Ear-mould Laboratory and a Hearing Aid Repair Workshop at the school. Our work was then extended to the nearby Hungarian School for the Deaf (No. 2) and a Special Professional (Vocational) School in the city, which together cared for a further 250 children.
We soon realised that providing just medical support for these children was not enough. To give them a real chance of a better life we had to tackle their education. Consequently, in 2001 we established The Clinical Science and Education Foundation (CSEF) (Registered Charity No. 1086712), with an extended remit. In subsequent years we set up specialist teaching rooms and general classrooms at the schools in Cluj-Napoca. In 2009 the charity started refurbishing facilities at Asociația Autism Transilvania (AAT) in the city.
In recent years the CSEF’s clinical work in Romania significantly diminished and the Trustees decided that they should focus their efforts on the education of children and adults with special needs in both Romania and the UK. The CSF was removed from the Register of Charities in 2017 and the CSEF was removed in 2018. In their place a new charity, The Creative Learning Trust (CLT), was established in March, 2017.
The CLT currently has four Trustees. Three were CSEF Trustees (Dr. David White, Mr. Ian Johnson, Dr. Paul Bramwell). The fourth Trustee is Ms Carmen Stan. Collectively, the CLT Trustees have extensive experience in special needs education in both the UK and Romania.