A care home pioneer received an honorary fellowship from a university.<\/p>\n
Mario Kreft MBE, who set up the Pendine Park organisation in Wrexham, with wife Gill in 1985, received the award from the town’s Glynd\u0175r University for services to the health and care industries.<\/p>\n
Glynd\u0175r\u2019s Vice Chancellor, Professor Michael Scott, presented him with the award, following an introduction by Karen Graham, Prof of Early Childhood Studies.<\/p>\n
Mario said: \u201cI am so honoured and proud to receive this award from Glynd\u0175r University.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne word that\u2019s been used today is \u2018inspiration\u2019, and in life it is those people who inspire that make a difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many inspiring people here today, particularly young people whose journey is just beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mario, who lives in Denbigh, is currently building a new \u00a37 million centre of excellence for dementia care in Caernarfon.<\/p>\n
He is also Chair of Care Forum Wales (CFW), which represents the independent sector in Wales, and the founder of the prestigious Wales Care Awards.<\/p>\n
The 57-year-old was awarded an MBE in 2010 and has won a host of other prizes, including the Leading Wales Award for Leadership in the Private Sector 2014.<\/p>\n
Mario is the son of a circus bear and lion tamer, Franz Kreft, who came to Britain as a refuge from Slovenia after the Second World War and later met and married his mother, Pamela.<\/p>\n
He was Christened in a circus tent in the South African city of\u00a0 Port Elizabeth and raised by his grandparents, Fred and Rene Warburton, who retired to Trefnant, near Denbigh, after selling their business, the former Pen-y-Don Hotel, on the promenade in Rhyl.<\/p>\n
Mario and\u00a0Gill established Pendine Park\u00a0 because they both had elderly grandparents who needed care and the places they went to see didn\u2019t match their requirements – so they set up their own \u201cfamily care home\u201d.<\/p>\n
The organisation now employs more than 600 people in seven care homes, a domiciliary care company, Independent Living, and their in-house Teaching Care Centre.<\/p>\n
Construction of the bilingual centre and 16 extra care apartments in Caernarfon is now under way and, if everything goes to plan, the centre will open in September 2015.<\/p>\n
Mario was awarded the MBE in 2010 for his contribution to social care in Wales and he was named as one of the 50 most influential people in social care in the UK by the magazine, Caring Business.<\/p>\n
He paid tribute to the love and support of his family, especially Gill, who helped him realise his vision of a care organisation aimed at providing a first class service to those who need it most.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith their support we were able to transform lives and make a difference,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should all come into this world and try to make it a better place for those less fortunate than ourselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cRespect and dignity are part of everything we do and we will continue to spread that message in the hope society will become a much fairer and just place.\u201d<\/p>\n