Williams Racing honours Sir Frank’s legacy
Williams Racing has launched the Frank Williams Academy, to help people living with spinal injuries, to honour late founder, Sir Frank Williams’, legacy.
Launched in association with the teams’ official charity, Spinal Injuries Association (SIA), the Academy will be building vital specialist expertise across the health and care sector.
The Academy will help educate and train those affected by spinal cord injuries and healthcare professionals to ensure safe, appropriate care is provided. Through research and development, the Academy intends to champion best practice, raise national standards and build an evidence base to influence long-term transformational change.
The Spinal Injuries Association has been the team’s Official Charity since 2015, following Williams Racing’s founder, Sir Frank Williams’s car accident in 1986. The charity was integral to his recovery and return to work, with the team he founded achieving a total of nine Formula One World Championship Constructors’ Titles.
The Academy was launched at Hoare Memorial Hall in Westminster, attended by the charity’s patron HRH The Princess Royal, as well as Claire Williams, Vice President of SIA.
Claire Williams, Vice President, Spinal Injuries Association: “My father lived the most extraordinary life, not least as one of the most successful Team Principals in the history of the sport and doing so from a wheelchair as a tetraplegic for the greater part of it. His tenacity in the face of this adversity was just one of the many things that made him such an inspiration to many while he was alive.
“Following his death, I wanted to do something to continue that legacy, and the Frank Williams Academy couldn’t be a more fitting tribute. The work that the Academy will do will provide potentially life changing care for spinal cord injured people, just as the SIA did for my dad. With that support, the bounds of possibility are endless.”