The development of awareness of the Open Sound project is good news, as is widening of the pool of artistic personnel working on Open Sound, so that the participating young people with SEND in SE London have the experience of being led by different voices, and to ensure the sustainability of the project in case of illness or unavailability of our current workshop leaders making it much more sustainable.
Trustees are pleased to continue support for your unique, audio and tactile Touch to See books and resources that help blind and visually impaired children learn to read, support their childhood literacy journey and provide the tools to help them engage fully in classroom learning. These are loaned, free of charge, from your postal library to over 4,500 children, meaning no child misses out due to location or financial circumstances.
Trustees enjoyed reading about your year-long programme of bespoke puppet theatre performances for children receiving palliative and specialist care at Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice with a freelance specialist accompanying the puppeteer on each visit to lead a short follow-up activity rooted in storytelling or creative communication. Trustees believe this will bring cheer and comfort to the children and their families
Trustees are happy to see the effective use of the grant previously sent to Liquid Listening in helping the funding of the training of new practitioners in their unique Music Hydrotherapy techniques in various schools in the UK. Trustees are happy to make a grant this year to assist in the continued training of new practitioners in Watermill School, a specialist school in Stoke on Trent.
Trustees are once again pleased to be able to support the work of the Calvert Trust Lakes by contributing to the Adventure Bursary Fund. This enables children and young people who would otherwise not be able to take up a place. RDA (Riding for the Disabled) is now included in their activities.
Keech are extremely grateful for the grant previously awarded in November 2024 to support the free, specialist services provided by the Emotional Support Practitioners at Keech Hospice. Sparklers is their support group for children 5-18 who have a family member in palliative care, or who have lost a loved one. It runs monthly and provides children with vital emotional support. By discussing feelings in a group setting their feelings become normalised by the group making the children feel accepted.
Trustees can appreciate the need to support parents in gaining the additional support required for children with SEND. Trustees would like to contribute towards the costs of producing a series of four webinars, which will provide free legal advice and guidance for parents/carers on the rights of their children with special educational needs/and or disabilities.
Trustees thank Hearts and Minds for this grant application, to continue your innovative Clown doctors work. Trustees are pleased to read you have undertaken an independent review to better evaluate the impact of your work, which underlines the passion that you have for improving the lives of the young people and the families you serve during some really difficult times for them. Trustees are delighted to make an award to you and look forward to hearing more about your work in the future.
Haven House is a children’s hospice in Essex that is asking for funding to support the provision of physiotherapy services to children under their care, both in the hospice and at their homes. Their free assets will reduce in years to come as a results increase in investment in people, IT and extending the range of services on offer.
