His Royal Highness (HRH) Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, visited Harry Specters and the Viva Theatre in East Cambridgeshire today (April 12) on a Royal visit.
At Harry Specters, a chocolate company based in Ely which creates employment opportunities for young people with autism, HRH was given a tour of the factory to celebrate its 10th anniversary.
Since their founding in November 2012, the social enterprise has helped more than 300 autistic people and 155 carers and parents.
Between 2018 and 2021, they provided almost 30,000 employment hours and more than 1,800 work experience hours for young people.
On arrival, HRH was met by the Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire Julie Spence, and was then introduced to co-founders of Harry Specters, Mona and Shaz Shah, as well as guests invited to the event.
He shared pleasantries and jokes with several civic dignitaries eager to get stuck into Harry Specters' famous chocolate.
Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, Julie Spence, said: "It's brilliant the Duke of Edinburgh came to Ely today because they have so many different engagements they can choose from and he chose to come here.
"I think that is testament to how good Harry Specters is."
Whilst on a tour of the factory, the Duke of Edinburgh heard about why the company was started, the progress it has made to date, and met some of the people who they have helped over the years.
HRH was then given a tour of the production area inside Harry Specters and learned how the chocolate is made and packed, meeting some of those who work there, as well as autistic work experience students.
Harry Specters recently won Aldi’s The Next Big Thing on Channel 4, a programme designed at supporting new suppliers. Three of their bars will soon be available on the supermarket’s shelves.
At today's event, founders Mona and Shaz said they "pride themsevles on being a family business".
"Our daughter Mina is the head of graphic design, branding and packaging and our son-in-law is the head of PR," they said.
"The name Harry Specters came from our autistic son Ash, who when playing and deciding what to call his fictional restaurant, he chose the name Harry Specters (completely random).
"When it came to naming our chocolate business, we chose that."
Other attendees included the mayor of the City of Ely, Cllr Richard Morgan, chair of Cambridgeshire County Council, Cllr Stephen Ferguson, local member of Parliament, Lucy Frazer, and Stephen Muers and Unltd CEOs Stephen Muers and Mark Norbury.
Lucy Frazer, Member of Parliament for South East Cambridgeshire said: “Harry Specters is an excellent example of how social enterprise can make a real difference to our communities, and how to make great chocolate!
"It’s great to see local businesses in Cambridgeshire leading the way for our economy and our communities, and it was clearly vital the social impact investment was there to help them on their journey, supporting them to create lasting benefit will be critical.”
Before departing, the Duke of Edinburgh unveiled a commemorative plaque.
Talking to founders Mona and Shaz, he said: "Thank you very much for inviting me here today and thank you for all what you've done, the business you've created, and actually, with all the people you're working with, which I think is really important, so I wish you the very best of luck".
When asked what his favourite chocolate was at Harry Specters, he said it "could take me a long time to find that out!"
Cllr Richard Morgan, said: "Having Prince Edward here is very good for this business and it's marvellous he had come to visit this amazing chocolate factory."
HRH then visited the new Viva Theatre in Soham, which is now the permanent home to Viva Arts and its activities, to officially open the theatre at a ceremony.
The Viva Theatre was originally a Mill, and Viva purchased the building in 2018 and raised over £3 million of funding to appropriately renovate the derelict mill and bring it back to life for the community.
The Viva Theatre was completed in early 2022 and is now a thriving theatre, arts cenre and community facility.
Founder of Viva Arts and Community Group, Dan Schumann, said: “It was a huge honour for Viva to welcome HRH The Duke of Edinburgh to our theatre and we were so excited to finally officially open our wonderful new theatre, which is already making a huge contribution to the community.”
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