{"id":4902,"date":"2011-11-11T11:22:42","date_gmt":"2011-11-11T11:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?p=4902"},"modified":"2011-11-11T11:22:42","modified_gmt":"2011-11-11T11:22:42","slug":"cardiff-character-madge-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2011\/11\/11\/cardiff-character-madge-thomas\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiff character: Madge Thomas"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Founder of local charity devotes life to inspiring others<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_6516\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 480px\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2011\/11\/Madge_Thomas-Image-Edited.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6516\" title=\"Madge_Thomas Image Edited\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2011\/11\/Madge_Thomas-Image-Edited.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2011\/11\/Madge_Thomas-Image-Edited.jpg 480w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2011\/11\/Madge_Thomas-Image-Edited-300x138.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6516\" title=\"Madge_Thomas Image Edited\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2011\/11\/Madge_Thomas-Image-Edited.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"220\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2011\/11\/Madge_Thomas-Image-Edited.jpg 480w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2011\/11\/Madge_Thomas-Image-Edited-300x138.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Founder of MENFA, Madge Thomas<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"mceTemp\">It\u2019s a rarity to find someone that dedicates their life to others, but then again, Madge Thomas is a rare find. From a humble upbringing in Jamaica to establishing the award-winning charity, MENFA, this is a lady whose passion and enthusiasm clearly knows no boundaries.<\/p>\n<p>Born in 1946 in Clarendon, Jamaica, Madge moved to England when she was 19 to fulfil her dream of becoming a midwife. Now 65, she says she still returns home once a year to see her family.<\/p>\n<p>After working as a midwife in hospitals all over the country she settled in Butetown with her husband and three children.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The start of something special<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Madge founded MENFA, which stands for Mentoring for All, in response to what she saw on her doorstep. In 1984 a play scheme was setup at the New Testament Church in Butetown as \u201cThe children didn\u2019t have anything to do. They were just getting into trouble, into mischief.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blink and you could easily miss the MENFA centre, but once inside, though undeniably modest in size, it\u2019s clearly a hive of activity. The walls are painted a vibrant yellow, which is quite fitting as there\u2019s an undeniable buzz about <br \/>the place.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Building upon success <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With a hunger to do more, Madge completed her Masters in Education in 1997. Her dissertation focussed on mentoring and she begins to laugh when confessing to travelling as far as California for her research, simply because Wales didn\u2019t have the books she needed. Quite a hike to the library but this woman clearly doesn\u2019t do anything by halves. Following the completion of her Masters the mentoring scheme was born, to aid the emotional and academic development of those who are socially disadvantaged.<\/p>\n<p>A stand in the MENFA centre displays photographs and press cuttings, which serve as a testament to how much this lady has achieved in the last 27 years. Pointing to a picture of herself with some of the children in Jamaica, there\u2019s a wonderful\u00a0sense of satisfaction as she explains how the children have progressed. \u201cBy the time they reach school they\u2019re very bright which means they should hopefully get a scholarship to go to college. You have to have a scholarship to go to college in Jamaica.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the Jamaica project in mind, the MENSA Grand Charity Dinner is scheduled for December. This event is special to Madge as it\u2019s specifically raising money for work in Jamaica. There are currently two MENSA centres in the poverty stricken Spanish Town, and 83 mentors.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Awards aplenty <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s most striking about Madge is her modesty. Fortunately, there are others who are willing to blow her trumpet so she\u2019s no stranger to\u00a0 <br \/>winning awards.<\/p>\n<p>Amongst her many accolades, back in 2000 she won the BT Childline Award for services to children. This award is especially dear as it was a former pupil that nominated her. The award was presented by the Duchess of Kent and Esther Rantzen. \u201cMeeting the Duchess was my highlight, she was a very nice lady to speak with,\u201d she recalls with a beaming smile.<\/p>\n<p>But rubbing shoulders with the stars hasn\u2019t always run smoothly. In 2000, BBC broadcaster Huw Edwards presented her with The Scarman Trust People\u2019s Millennium Award. \u201cHe was very nice but when I met him I couldn\u2019t speak. My voice had gone,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n<p>But it would appear those who she takes inspiration from are a bit closer to home. \u201cLooking back it was my mother that inspired me because she looked after a lot of children. I wasn\u2019t aware that it had affected me but obviously it did.\u201d It\u2019s easy to see a pattern emerging as Madge\u2019s daughter Melissa sits in the office lending a hand.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Looking to the future<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Madge says it\u2019s her aim to secure more funding for additional staff and building expansion. \u201cDetermination has got me as far as I am today. I\u2019ve come across a lot of times where I could have just thrown my hat in. Sometimes people say no to me for funding and still I\u2019m trying, I\u2019m not going to give up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After 33 years as a midwife, Madge took early retirement in 2005 to focus on MENFA. Although there\u2019s no chance of her hanging up her hard-working boots anytime soon, she inevitably sees a time when she will have to slow down. \u201cThat\u2019s why I try and pass the baton on slowly to the younger generation. I try my best to push them forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When reflecting on her achievements, humility is what she credits as the key. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0nice to be humble whatever situation you\u2019re in. Whatever you\u2019ve got, whatever you get, I think it\u2019s important to be humble and keep focussed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I think it\u2019s safe to say this lady practises what she preaches.<\/p>\n<p>For more information about MENFA visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.menfa.org.uk\/\">http:\/\/www.menfa.org.uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Founder of local charity devotes life to inspiring others It\u2019s a rarity to find someone that dedicates their life to others, but then again, Madge Thomas is a rare find. From a humble upbringing in Jamaica to establishing the award-winning charity, MENFA, this is a lady whose passion and enthusiasm clearly knows no boundaries. Born in 1946 in Clarendon, Jamaica, Madge moved to England when she was 19 to fulfil her dream of becoming a midwife. Now 65, she says [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":252,"featured_media":6516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[108,1129,1130,1131,1132,1133,1134],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-4902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-no-logo","tag-butetown","tag-cardiff-charity","tag-grand-charity-dinner","tag-jamaica","tag-madge-thomas","tag-menfa","tag-mentoring"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cardiff character: Madge Thomas - alt.cardiff<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2011\/11\/11\/cardiff-character-madge-thomas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cardiff character: Madge Thomas - alt.cardiff\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Founder of local charity devotes life to inspiring others It\u2019s a rarity to find someone that dedicates their life to others, but then again, Madge Thomas is a rare find. 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