Dilys Price OBE, B.Ed (Hons), M.Ed, Assoc.
College of Healing; Graduate Laban Art of Movement Guild, Teacher Certificate.
Touch Trust was born 10 years ago when Dilys Price OBE began campaigning for her ‘Happiness Centre’ for people with special needs. She and a group of her friends were in the Wadi Rum desert as guests of King Hussein of Jordan and Dilys used a parachute jump over the desert to publicise her plans. They had radio interviews, newspaper articles and even a letter from the King’s Royal Office wishing them well on their project.
It was an exciting start to what was to become an even more exciting journey leading to the Wales Millennium Centre seven years later.
Dilys began her journey towards this ultimate dream as a student of Laban – often referred to as the ‘Father’ of modern dance. As a young dance student, she was privileged to have been taught by the master himself and he has remained a major influence on her life and work. Much of Dilys’s Touch Trust programme is based on his principles and practices.
In 1960 Dilys became part of the teaching staff at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC) where she was a senior lecturer. She worked on the Human Movement Studies Degree courses and was responsible for Dance Studies.
She pioneered the first British Adapted Physical Education courses for Physical Education and Movement Studies and trained teachers in this field throughout the UK. She lectured in the USA at California State University Long Beach and at Illinois State University.
She was the Special Needs and Dance tutor for many years for the British Association of Lecturers and Advisers in Physical Education, and Chairman of British Amateur Gymnastics (producing Recreational Gymnastic Awards for Special Needs). In Wales, she was part of a team which founded and built the Wales Sports Centre for the Disabled (UWIC), she also ran the first Special Olympic activities and Play to Grow Clubs. She was a founder member of the Wales Sports Association for Special Needs and was a consultant for Movement Activities for a variety of special needs.
Her publications include:-
- Modern Educational Dance for the Mentally Handicapped (1975) Cardiff
Education College.
- Chapter “Physical Education for Low Achievers” in Whole School Approaches to Special Needs (1989) Falmer Press.
- “A Holistic Approach to Severe Special Educational Needs” in International Congress for Special Education (1990 )Wales .
- “Holistic Movement Programmes for Populations with Profound Special Needs “ at IAHPERD Convention ,Illinois State University (1991).
- Adaptive Movement Diploma Work Book. .University of Wales (1992 ).
- Informal Dance for Special Needs Handbook,(National Open College Network,1993 )
- Passive Movement Programs for People with Profound & Multiple Disability Handbook, ,(National Open College Network ,1993 )
- Physical Education for Children with Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Education. .BAALPE (1989).(On working party.)
On her retirement, she wanted to think about how she could continue her work with people with disabilities and how she could give them such happiness even though they would never be able to skydive themselves. She started thinking about her ‘happiness centre’ and in August 1997 she and a small group of friends sat in her living room to discuss how they would go about creating a beautiful place to be easily accessible for adults and children with disabilities. They would create a ‘Cathedral of Light where they would provide touch therapy and train others in this life-changing programme. Touch Trust was born.
In the early days, things were run literally from Dilys’ kitchen table and sessions were held in rooms and spaces all over Cardiff. However, Touch Trust was growing in reputation and its big break came in 1998 when it was invited to become one of the resident companies in the wonderful flagship centre for the arts in Cardiff Bay, the Wales Millennium Centre. To be placed side-by-side with such arts organizations as Welsh National Opera and Diversions Dance Company was a real achievement and testament to Dilys’s drive and determination.
Having been involved with adaptive movement in her work at UWIC which catered for sports people who wanted to work with the disabled and the creation of the Wales Sports Centre for the Disabled, Dilys saw this as a natural progression of her work. The Wales Millennium Centre were delighted to have Touch Trust with them as they were committed to excellence, diversity and inclusiveness where people from all parts of Wales with all sorts of abilities could benefit through working and playing closely together.
In 2004 the Wales Millennium Centre opened for business and Touch Trust was there with its beautiful purpose-built suite of rooms including a sensory room.
Dilys’s ‘Catherdral of Light’ was a reality.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Dilys continues to strive for even bigger and better things. With regular Touch Trust sessions happening five days a week at WMC and us extending into evenings and weekends to meet the demand, Dilys is now setting up Touch Trust Centres of Excellence all over Wales run by Touch Trust-trained staff. Dilys and her team is being asked to contribute to the setting up of new courses in further education colleges both at home and abroad and delegations from as far away as Panama and China have come to meet Dilys and ask her advice on setting up similar centres in their own areas and how to train their staff.
Dilys’s ultimate goal is to set up a Community Centre and College of the Arts for young school leavers in Wales who are hungry for a more stimulating educational and recreational environment.
In July 2003 Dilys was awarded the OBE for Services to the Disabled.
Meanwhile Dilys continues to skydive and has done in excess of 1050 jumps! In 2003 she was named the oldest female skydiver in the world. At that time she said: “When I first took up skydiving, I never thought I’d be jumping at seventy, but it’s a real passion of mine and I have absolutely no thoughts of giving up!”
That was four years ago and she’s still jumping and making money for Touch Trust. She calls them her “jumps for joy” and all the money she raises goes to Touch Trust to expand its work and to improve the quality of life for more people with profound disabilities.
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