Latest News from Bolton Kidz2gether
May 2010
BWFC Player of the Year
Many thanks to our good friend Gareth Robinson for inviting us to take some of our youngsters to the Reebok to present the awards on behalf of the Supporters association. As usual He, David, Jackie, Sharon and co. made us feel very welcome and made a real fuss of the 4 children and their parents that came along with us. Congratulations to the three winning players (Kevin Davies, Chung-Yong Lee and Fabrice Muamba) also to our three award givers, Josh, Olivia and Tom. Big thanks also to Andrea Wilde who came along as a volunteer on the night and saved Steph from the embarrassment of not knowing who anyone was.
May 2010
Camping!
AHDC awarded K2g a capital grant making the purchase of a wide range of camping equipment possible. We'll be trying out our new tent and gadgets during our first ever residential trip very soon. The equipment is also available to families of children with disabilities in the Bolton area to hire - and in this way we hope to be able to provide affordable holidays.
For more details please visit our new Camping page.
April 2010
Antony Hodari Solicitors
Thanks to lovely Airport Katy's lovely boyfriend Thom Soutter, Kidz2gether is one of this year's chosen Charities for Antony Hodari, a firm of Solicitors based in Manchester. They have already raised £30 with a Grand National sweepstake and have various other fundraising activities planned throughout the year. The staff decided to concentrate their efforts on local Charities where they felt they could not only make a real difference but also see it happening and truly feel part of it. A big "Hello!" from all of us goes to all of them and we look forward to bombarding them with information over the coming months.
April 2010
Horwich Town Council
Following a recent funding bid Horwich Town Council have awarded us over £1,000 to purchase a camcorder, digital cameras and photo printing supplies which will enable us to run a media club in the summer holidays. Initially the sessions will be aimed at children and young people from Horwich with expansion to other areas to follow soon. It is our hope to organise an exhibition evening to show the completed masterpieces and document the process on a DVD as a permanent record of achievement.
April 2010
Menturia Lodge Giving Evening
On 27th April Di attended a Giving Evening at the Masonic Hall on Institute St to receive a cheque for £500 kindly awarded to us for our work by Menturia Lodge. Over 40 Charities were honoured and we were very proud to be amongst them and have already put the certificate on display in the office.
March 2010
Horwich Rotary Club
Once again this year we were lucky enough to be selected to receive a share of the Santa's Sleigh funds from Horwich Rotary Club. Jacqueline and Cheryl spent the usual very pleasant evening at the Masonic Hall in Westhoughton and after a short presentation gratefully accepted a cheque from the President. Huge thanks come from all at K2g to the boys for thinking of us again, spoiling us rotten and continuing to give their unwavering support.
February 2010
Achieve Results Tutoring & Support
Following outstanding success with previous students, Karen Marsh is now offering an educational support and tutoring service in Bolton, called Achieve Results Tutoring & Support. With 25 years personal knowledge of autistic spectrum conditions behind her she is a qualified and experienced college tutor, specialising in teaching students with autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Her teaching strategies and methods have proved to be very successful for her students, as they make significant progress and achieve excellent grades in their subjects.
In addition to her tutor qualifications, Karen has just completed the PG Cert in Autistic Spectrum Conditions to add to her PG Cert in Inclusive Education. She is also an experienced home educator, having successfully taught one of her children from age 12 up to and including GCSE level. Currently, she is providing literacy support to students within a wide age range, from secondary school age to adult, covering all levels of study including degree level students. If you would like to discuss how Karen could help you or your son or daughter, please contact her on 01942 816027 / 0777 3492855.
October 2009
Gala Night 2009
Saturday October 3rd saw the second annual K2G Gala take place at Ridgemont House in Horwich. Once again it was a fantastic evening and was really well attended and we managed to raise a rather fabulous £7,000 this time.
Big thanks go to James Mason, Ben Schofield (who stepped in at the very last minute), Matt Grindle and the lovely Mike Bailey for helping to make the night so successful. Thanks also to all of our willing slaves who selflessly offered up their time to iron, garden, sing, cook and clean.
Spurred on by such a jolly good shindig we’ve already booked our 3rd Gala Night for 9th October 2010 – please note your diaries when you have one that goes that far!
See all the photo's from this years Gala Night in our Gallery!
October 2009
Positive Action Awards.
Kidz2gether are proud to announce they are amongst this year’s recipients of the North West Regional Positive Action Awards which were presented at a glittering ceremony at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington.
Hosted by the Warrington Disability Partnership the awards set out to recognise the achievements of organisations and individuals who work hard to make a difference in their community.
It was an honour and a privilege to even be nominated and Jacqueline and Steph were thrilled to bits when called onto the stage to accept the trophy and certificate (which can now be viewed in the display cabinet in the office should anyone be passing).
Huge thanks to all concerned for making us feel so welcome and putting on a thoroughly enjoyable night.
October 2009
Bolton Daybreak
We are also proud to announce that Bolton Daybreak Rotary Club have chosen us to be this year’s recipients of their coveted Rose Bowl Award, again for recognition of work done in the community.
Jacqueline popped along for breakfast and to accept a rather fine glass rose bowl and handsome certificate – which are also now on display in the office!
The Rotary Clubs across Bolton have long been amongst our most loyal supporters and it is always a pleasure to be invited along to their meetings.
Thank you boys!
May 2009
Manchester 10k Run
We did it!!
The brave finishers were :- Lorraine Morris, Cheryl McCue, Darren McCue, Adrian Hewitt, Darren Hewitt, Carl Whitehead, Gareth Robinson, Sam Redfern, Eric Redfern, Dominic Gavin, Rick Hogg, Christophe Menard, Vernon, Steph Sherratt and Andrea Hayes.
Many thanks for all the hard work put into training and getting sponsors for the event and to Jacqueline for co-ordinating on the day.
April 2009
AHDC Pathfinder Fund
Bolton Kidz2gether are proud and thrilled to announce that we are to receive substantial funding from the Aiming High for Disabled Children Pathfinder Fund.
This money will enable us to continue and develop the clubs and activities and keep welcoming new children and young people into our family for the foreseeable future.
Many, many thanks to Jane Pout, Sue Nunn and Sheila Morris who have helped us put together our bids and guided us through the extremely complicated commissioning procedure.
We will do our utmost to ensure the service goes from strength to strength and strives to reach more of our families more of the time.
December 2008
Hurrah for 4 Financial Recruitment!!
Jacqueline, Steph, all the K2G team and the many children who attended the Ladywood club would like to say a huge thank you to Claire, Phil and Alex from 4 Financial Recruitment.
Thanks to them we had an amazing Christmas party including a right good spread, Father Christmas himself and lots of goodies for all who popped in to see him. There was also a very generous donation which has been put towards the cost of our trampolining clubs.
All their help and support is greatly appreciated and the afternoon was a huge success. We look forward to hopefully working with them again in the not too distant future.
Wacky Warehouse O.T. Programme
A few years ago K2G recognised that many of their children and young people may benefit greatly from access to and treatment by an Occupational Therapist.
Indeed after further investigations it became apparent that many of those on our database were awaiting assessment by the O.T. service and therapy had been an issue highlighted and recommended by other professionals involved.
Unfortunately, as with many valuable services the demand far and away outstrips the availability and at that time the waiting list for initial assessment was bursting at the seams with a waiting time of up to 18 months.
Whilst we were hosting an evening play session at the Wacky attached to The Red Lion Pub at Four Lane Ends an idea struck us. Would it be possible to use the Wacky during a quiet afternoon slot, ask O.T. to produce a programme we could deliver and invite children with identified gross/fine motor and co-ordination problems in nearby primary schools to attend?
After some considerable lurking around the Area Manager and meetings with the Pub Manager and Wacky Supervisor we were given the go- ahead to put the plan into action.
Mandy and Catherine from Bolton Paediatric Occupational Therapy Service devised the programme and delivered the initial training to K2G, a selection of Teaching assistants and representatives from the LEA and the first session launched in 2005 with just 2 children.
The programme has proved to be a resounding success and because of the demand a second Wacky at The Beehive in Horwich was approached and joined the scheme in 2007.
To date we have 8 children at The Red Lion and 6 at The Beehive and 7 primary schools are seeing the benefit of regular, consistent O.T. input with the children who they consider to be in most need.
So, what is Occupational therapy?
Occupational Therapy helps people of all ages who have physical, mental health or social problems to adapt to any aspect of their life with more independence, confidence and control.
Therapists carefully assess their ability to perform activities and design treatment specifically to increase their capability to tackle difficulties.
O.T. has a strong person-centred approach and as such offers an extremely wide variety of treatment and activities which vary greatly according to individual needs. Progress is closely monitored and changes made if necessary to the planned programme.
The programme designed for our use tackles difficulties surrounding sensory perception, balance, co-ordination, social inclusion, relaxation and listening skills and has many elements of Brain Gym woven into it.
The equipment at the Wacky is perfectly suited to deliver the planned O.T. and the children involved are under the impression that we are simply playing games and following Red and Green courses and so are compliant and enthusiastic ensuring maximum benefit for minimum persuasion!
Mandy and Catherine act as advisors and steer us towards appropriate games and activities to use in order to move the programme forward and increase the therapy when needed. For example the benefits of hopscotch and space hopper bouncing are incredible when done properly and practised often.
K2G are extremely grateful for the support shown by everyone involved and fully intend to extend the programme as soon as resources allow.