Brimble Hill Special School

“When the balloons went up on the afternoon of Wednesday 8th November 2006, not only was it to celebrate that the children of Brimble Hill School had moved to the North Swindon Learning Campus, but it was in recognition that, for the first time in its 34 year history that the children were to be taught in a building specially designed for their very special needs.

It was almost exactly 21 years to the day since the children and staff had made their previous move from their hilltop home at Burdrop Hospital, Wroughton into Swindon. In 1972 Wiltshire CC had established a Special School in temporary buildings at Burdrop at the top of Brimble Hill. Many children were then residents; in what was know as a ‘Sub-normality Hospital’ and this was the first time they had the opportunity to attend school.

Specially converted for the children, Park North Infant School became our next home. As the role of the school evolved we have become Swindon’s specialist Early Years and Primary provision for children with Severe Developmental and Learning Difficulties. It became clear that these facilities were no longer suitable for working with children who have such diverse needs and planning for our move to Red House started in 2002.

Since we moved to the new building we have spent the year adapting to working in a spacious well equipped building. Our classrooms all have outdoor extensions in the form of break out areas. 

In our final plans we intended to use additional funds to enhance the sensory rooms and main playground equipment. We now want to equip the break out areas with robust, weatherproof furniture and equipment to make these areas as exciting as the inside. 

It is to these ends that we are delighted to renew our links with Chiseldon and Wroughton - our original home in support of this project which will ensure that our children get the very best use of our new one. We are therefore delighted that the Ridgeway Theatre Company have chosen to support Brimble Hill School this year.”

Alison Paul, Deputy Head, Brimble Hill School

Soldiers, Sailor, Airmen & Families Association (SSAFA)

SSAFA Forces Help is a leading Services Charity which helps men and women who serve, or who have served at any time, in the armed forces, including reserve forces and national servicemen, together with their families and dependants.

With a large number of military bases in Wiltshire, and the continuing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is a considerable and growing need for their services. These include such problems as disability, illness, unemployment, financial hardship and marriage breakdown.

The Filling Station

The Filling Station started in 1993 and provides 40 or 50 homeless people with soup, sandwiches, hot dogs and coffee every Thursday evening in the centre of Swindon. Each client also receives a bag with tins, toiletries, candles etc. to keep them going through the week. They also hand out clothes and blankets when needed.

As well as providing all this, the charity, which has about 70 volunteers, also has an outreach worker from Threshold Housing Link on hand every week to give advice on accommodation and so on.

It’s more than just helping provide for physical needs – it’s a vital source of social and emotional support for the many who come from deprived or abused backgrounds. One of the helpers is actually a former alcoholic who sorted his life out and now wants to help others.

You may have read in the local paper that the charity suffered a burglary recently at their base in Wroughton, in which all their supplies of tinned food, clothes and even their transportable stove used for heating the soup and hot dogs was stolen. As they depend on donations of foodstuffs from the public, local businesses and events like harvest festivals, this has left them with a big hole to fill and have had to resort to buying food to distribute, thereby depleting the small reserves they had. We hope that anything that we raise for them this year will help fill that gap.

Friends of Holy Cross

Friend of Holy Cross is a group which supports the upkeep of the structure of the church for the whole village

Calm

The Tomas Sands Memorial Fund, which helps children undergoing treatment for cancers such as leukaemia, was set up in memory of a young boy from Chiseldon who died from leukaemia in 1998. It has made donations to the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit and the Children's Cancer Ward in Bristol, as well as supporting similar units in Great Western Hospital, Swindon. Help is available for whatever the units need – from specialist equipment to TVs, videos and refrigerators to make life for the children in the isolation rooms as normal as possible.

Swindon Young Carers

Swindon Young Carers ('The Getaways')  is a support group for youngsters between 11 and 14 who are looking after ill or disabled relatives.  The group offers the opportunity for these young people to meet  together, pursue leisure activities which their responsibilities can severely restrict, and have fun

Swindon Women's Refuge

The Swindon Women's Refuge is an organisation which provides safe accommodation, advice and support to families suffering domestic violence in the Swindon area. The money raised by our production may have helped to  throw a lifeline to a desperate family.

The Meningitis Research Foundation

Meningitis Research Foundation is a national registered charity, established in 1989.  It funds vital scientific research into the prevention, detection and treatment of meningitis and septicaemia, raises awareness of the diseases, and offers support to sufferers and their families through in-depth information and befriending.

Meningitis and septicaemia can kill in hours.  People who recover may be left with disabilities that dramatically alter their lives, including brain damage, sensory disabilities, amputations and a range of non-specific after-effects, permanent and temporary.

Meningitis and septicaemia can often be successfully treated if identified in time.

The Foundation's Charitable Objects are:

To promote research into the causes and treatment of all forms of meningitis and associated infections

To promote the dissemination of knowledge gained by such research

To advance the education of the public in the causes, treatment and prevention of meningitis and associated infections

To help relieve the distress to individuals and families caused by death and damage through meningitis and associated infections

The Foundation runs dynamic and effective awareness programmes for both the general public and health professionals, which reflect best current understanding of meningitis and septicaemia. In the 2002/03 financial year, a total of 3,243,000 symptoms cards, 1,448,650 leaflets for the general public and health professionals and 302,500 posters were freely distributed by the Foundation.

The website (www.meningitis.org) is consistently rated number one in the world by the Health on the Net Foundation on the subject of meningitis.

The 24-hour helpline (Freefone 0808 800 3344) gives access to information and support whatever the time of the day or night. The helpline took more than 13,500 calls in 2002 from the public, and health and education professionals dealing with the diseases.

The charity has a membership base of over 4,000 families whose personal experience of these diseases informs all aspects of Meningitis Research Foundation's work.

Meningitis Research Foundation's vision is a world free from meningitis and septicaemia.

The Ridgeway Theatre Company chose to support the MRF this year after the recent early death from meningitis of a relative of a cast member.

For more information about the Meningitis Research Foundation, please click here

Swindon NSPCC

The NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) is the UK's leading charity specialising in child protection and the prevention of cruelty to children. It has been directly involved in protecting children and campaigning on their behalf since 1884.

The idea to support the Swindon branch of the NSPCC came in part from Michael Brightman – the landlord of the Patriots Arms in Chiseldon who has supported the Ridgeway Theatre Company for several years and is also a keen supporter of the NSPCC locally.

The NSPCC’s work to end cruelty to children includes:

• A free, 24-hour Child Protection Helplinethat provides information, advice and counselling to anyone concerned about a child's safety.
• Public education campaigns, to increase understanding about child abuse and provide advice and support on positive parenting.
• Parliamentary campaigning to persuade government, Parliament and opinion-formers to put children's issues at the top of the political agenda.
• Child protection training and advice for organisations involved in the care, protection and education of children.

Swindon Samaritans

Samaritans is available 24 hours a day to provide confidential emotional support for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which may lead to suicide.

Samaritans was started in 1953 in London by a young vicar called Chad

Varah (right) who worked in the city parish of St Stephen, Walbrook in the City. Through his work in a number of different parishes in the city he had seen the range and extent of the distress experienced by people everywhere, every day. During his career he had offered counselling to his parishioners, and he increasingly wanted to do something specific to help people in distress who had no one to turn to.

The first call to the new service was made on 2nd November 1953 and this date is recognised as Samaritans' official birthday. However, in two key respects, the service did not become Samaritans as it is known today until a few months later when the term “Good Samaritans” was coined by the Daily Mirror.

Callers in need of Samaritans' service are accepted without prejudice and encouraged to talk or write about their feelings, acknowledge their emotions and explore options.

Over the years, the organisation has received millions of calls from people in distress and hundreds of thousands of people have given their time to become volunteers. Last year, they received 4.6 million calls, which were answered by 18,300 trained volunteers.

Although the Samaritans is a national organisation, they receive no funding at all and each branch has to be self-sufficient financially. Along with their running costs, the Swindon branch are trying to raise a considerable sum in order to make alterations to the building they occupy to make better use of the space - particularly to make a suitable area for meetings and training, so they don't keep incurring additional costs hiring venues. Everyone at Swindon branch, even the director, is a volunteer.