2015 at Huddersfield Down Syndrome Support Group
WOW. What a year.
2015 has been another busy one at Huddersfield Down Syndrome Support Group. We have enjoyed lots of social activities at wonderful organisations such as Safe Anchor Trust, Leeds Donkey Sanctuary, Circus Starr, Artful Playground, Globe Arts Education and Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
We kept active with hydrotherapy sessions at the excellent Hollybank Trust’s Bradbury Centre, a family sports day held at the old Huddersfield Sports Centre site and a karate taster with the awesome Colne Valley Black Belt Academy. Our Little Stars Stay & Play sessions have also been attended well over the year thanks to our parent volunteer Angela and the staff at Golcar Children’s Centre.
HDSSG was also able to heavily subsidise exceptional educational opportunities for our members. Our speech & language sessions, Chatterbox returned with the lovely therapists from Chatterbug and coordination from parent volunteer Rachel. We worked with Kathryn of Thoughtful Communication who delivered to our families a ‘parent interaction’ course; and with the valued help of teacher volunteers Helen and Justine along with the fantastic support of charity Fairy Bricks – Lego Learners was a huge success.
Our biggest celebration of the year was our World Down Syndrome Day event which took place at Cedar Court Hotel on 21.03. It was the 10th anniversary of WDSD being officially recognised as an awareness day by the United Nations. We had a great turnout and with the help of entertainment from the Hey Diddles, The Covers & Tumble Town we partied the day away (see more HERE!) HDSSG were delighted with the support from local schools and businesses too for drawing attention the date. Thank you!
Of course we wouldn’t be able to do any of this without the dedication of our parent volunteers, families supporting our events or the financial help from our FABULOUS FUNDRAISERS!
2015 saw some very exciting partnerships for Huddersfield Down Syndrome Support Group. We were thrilled to be voted Sainsbury’s Salendine Nook Local Charity Partner and we have enjoyed meeting the staff and generous customers at organised bag pack events over the last few months. Our partnership with the store runs until the summer of 2016. We were also delighted to be approached by the Lindley Community Group who presented us with the opportunity to be the charity supported at the annual Lindley Carnival and 10k and fun run in June. This was a massive occasion for our charity and saw funds of over £3000 raised as well as being a huge boost to our profile and awareness raising. Amazing! To see the pictures and news from this brilliant weekend click HERE!
There are so many others we need to thank for their generosity in 2015 including Yorkshire Bank, The Muddy Fockers, The Racing Raisins, Richard Eastwood & Lindley Liberal Club, The White Knights, Huddersfield Lawn Tennis Club, Luke Meller aka Team Weak Knees, Cupcake Crazy, Frenz, Butterflies Day Nursery, Max Lockwood & Our T Shirt Business, Brosters Farm Shop, Pennine Foods, Golden Fleece @ Blackley, Sainsburys Market Street, LV Britannia Rescue Lockwood, Rachel Rothery, Irene Hirst along with donations from Mama’s & Papa’s for making our Ebay store so successful. All the schools and local organisations who supported World Down Syndrome Day. Last but not least all our parents/grandparents/family & friends who have volunteered tirelessly over the year. THANK YOU!!
If you would like to support us in 2016 please email our fundraising coordinator Kate at fundraising@hdssg.org
There really has been so much to cover this year – if you’d like to follow what we get up to please do look us up on social media!
All that remains is to wish all our families and supporters a happy and healthy new year and here’s to more exciting adventures in 2016. Cheers!
