Ceramicist to use honour to improve social care

Emma Bridgewater, who has just been made a Dame, said she wanted to use the honour to push for improvements in adult social care.

She said when she first heard the news she had felt a huge wave of pride for Stoke-on-Trent and the people in her factory. "The business really wouldn't exist without Stoke-on-Trent," she said.

She founded the Emma Bridgewater ceramics manufacturing company in the city in 1985. It has become renowned for producing handmade and hand-decorated pottery.

Dame Emma received the honour for services to ceramics from the King in an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle, Berkshire, on Tuesday.

"I'm a little bit dazed really, it's been very lovely having my daughters with me," she said of the ceremony.

Dame Emma said she had spoken to King Charles about writing to him with an idea for a new project now that she was a Dame, to work at building better communities for people living in care.

"I think that care, particularly for the elderly, we could be doing a lot better," she said.

"There are some exemplary places, but between my mother who was very handicapped at 50 and lived 22 years in care and my sister who's been in [care] really her whole life, I feel we can make better communities and better links to the communities."

She added: "I think maybe being a Dame has made me feel I could do that."

The ceramicist also spoke about the impact of royal commemorative pottery for the Emma Bridgewater firm over the years.

"Some of the greatest fun and the hugest response is when we make commemorative wares and what my now ex-husband and I knew instinctively is that there would be a huge enthusiasm for any mugs commemorating jubilees and marriages and babies," she said.

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