TGt Meets: Cat Abbott from Diverse Abilities

Cat is the Head of Marketing and Events at Diverse Abilities. Passionate about her role, she said that she couldn’t imagine working anywhere else. Cat described her fundraising skydive as a ‘strangely relaxing experience’, so we put her under the spotlight to find out more…

Introduce yourself Cat

Hi there! My name's Cat and I'm the Head of Marketing and Events at Diverse Abilities. I've been working with the charity for almost five years now, I absolutely love it, and I genuinely don't see myself working anywhere else now!

Tell us about Diverse Abilities

Diverse Abilities is, in a nutshell, Dorset's disability charity. We're the only organisation in the county that supports children and adults with physical and learning disabilities - and we support more than 1,500 each year. We've got a whole range of different services from a specialist school and overnight respite, through to a team of advisors, care in the home, and play sessions in the school holidays. The charity is so vast in what it provides and how many people we support - we often joke that we are diverse by name and diverse by nature!

Tell us all about your role at Diverse Abilities

My role has two parts - on the one hand I run the events team, which is largely our external fundraising events. These could be challenges like skydives and wing walks, or intimate events like workshops, or large scale events like our annual Gala Ball. There's a whole variety and we aim to have something for everyone because we know our supporters are a wide range of people and there's no one size fits all!

The other half of my role is looking after the marketing for the charity. Of course, there's the promotion of our events and further fundraising activity, but alongside that there's also the aspects of overall brand awareness, making sure those who need our services are aware of them, and also helping with our recruitment efforts.

Has there been a particular highlight for you at Diverse Abilities this year?

2023 was a really fun year - and I actually was lucky enough to do a skydive raising funds for the charity. I'm probably one of the few people who would describe it as a strangely relaxing experience! Obviously, there's the rush as your leaving the plane and doing your free fall, but once the parachute goes up it's total silence. We did a few spins on the way down and it was novel to see the area I grew up looking like a toy town. I'd definitely recommend the experience to anyone, and I'd quite like to do a Wing Walk in the future...

Any exciting news to share for 2024?

As for 2024, it's shaping up to be super busy, but super exciting! We've been really fortunate to gain the opportunity to expand our children's short breaks services - this includes Coping with CHAOS, Project, Awesome Nights, STARs, and Family Support - by moving to a new location in part of the former Adventure Wonderland site.

This new facility, called The Treehouse, is currently on track to open for the Easter holidays and will massively increase our capacity for these families who so desperately need more help and support.

What do you most love about working in Dorset?

Dorset is such a wonderful place to work and live. I moved down here for university and just had to stay - it's great to be able to pop to the beach after work once the crowds have dispersed for a simple BBQ dinner, or even to hop in the car and be in the countryside in no time. We got a dog a little over a year ago and it's been a great excuse to get out and explore a little further afield in Dorset too.

When you’re not busy working, what do you love doing in your time off?

As so much of my day is spent working on a screen and with social media, I try my best to switch off from it all in the evenings, but I love film and TV so often find myself watching whatever's new. I love making things too - whether it's knitting, sewing, crochet, cooking, DIY or whatever hobby I've decided I'm in to this week, I'll always have time to make something with my hands because it's so incredibly satisfying.

Tell us about your favourite local restaurant

This is probably the most difficult question of them all!! I probably can't narrow it down to just one but the top three has to be Nippon Inn (Charminster), Da Mario (Westbourne), and, of course, Mark Bennett's when I want a treat lunch.

https://diverseabilities.org.uk/