Post on 06-Apr-2016
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The end of 2013 saw MAGIC move to
our new premises in Cliffe Woods. We
were delighted to have a much larger
base from which to run most of our
activities – and an ideal building where
everything is all in one place! We were
lucky to have the place decorated by
volunteers at HSBC Strood (see the
photos on Flickr) and had many pieces
of furniture donated. So now, as we say
goodbye to 2014, we look at how far we
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have come in only 12 months.
With the launch of the new MAGIC
Bean Café and the welcoming of MAC,
our new Bradbury House gate-guardian
– it really does feel like home!
We cannot wait for what 2015 will bring
so from all of us here at MAGIC, we
wish you all a happy Christmas and an
especially happy, healthy and fun 2015.
Merry Christmas from all at MAGIC!
2014 Round-up
MERRY CHRISTMAS
“We wish you a merry Christmas, We wish you a merry Christmas, We wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy new year!
- MAGIC
Thanks for supporting MAGIC throughout 2014. We hope you find our newsletters useful for your family.
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Join us for fun and loads of entertainment during school holidays!
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Activity Days
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Our annual major fundraising day and we raised well over £2,000 in 3 hours!
Family Fun Day ARC turns 1 this year and we are delighted that this service is developing and growing!
ARC is 1
MAGIC focus December 2014
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MAGIC Newsletter DECEMBER 2014
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JANUARY
After moving to Bradbury House at the
end of 2013, we were delighted to get
cracking with not only resuming our
services for our children and
Members, but to further our
development. A new headquarters
also meant that we could offer our
activity and fun right here on site. To
help with fundraising, we also
introduced a new online method to
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make payment to MAGIC, through
PayPal. View more about this on our
news item on our news page or donate
here.
FEBRUARY
The first of our Activity Days took
place over the February half-term
week, and we treated the children to a
range of usual fun and games, with the
highlight being a trip to Dickens Word
in Chatham, Kent.
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APRIL
We had some fun during the Easter
school holidays at the Activity Days
too – We took the children to the fun
climbing wall at the Strood Youth
Centre and tested their balance,
climbing skills and perseverance all
with the help of the centre staff. View
our photos!
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MAY
Our children were treated to several
days out during the better weather in
the May Activity Days. We were also
delighted to be supported for the final
time by the Ian Farrant Golf
Tournament who raised some valuable
funds for us. Thanks guys! Read the
full article here, or view the photos.
MAGIC moves to Cliffe Woods – a new head quarters allowing us to offer even more fun for our children.
Spring We kick-started 2014 with the first Activity Days in February half term. MAGIC enjoyed a lovely Easter treasure hunt and the May Activity Days brought some lovely weather for us to enjoy our new HQ!
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MAGIC Newsletter DECEMBER 2014
Summer MAGIC Fun! MAGIC HQ provides an ideal base!
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JUNE
The children attending the Additional Resource
Centre (ARC) succeeded in raising money for a
great project, aimed to learn teach them about
the value of money and how it can be
resourced. They had a maximum of £20 and
turned this into a impressive £135. Learn how
they did it.
Only 6 months or so after moving to Bradbury
House, MAGIC were lucky enough to be
donated a whole load of furniture by company
KPMG UK. MAGIC was pleased to be getting a
bit closer to actually owning the property – very
exciting times indeed. Read more here.
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JULY & AUGUST
Summer progressed well and we entered
the fabulous summer play scheme. For
2014, we decided to run the activities days
for 3 days over 3 weeks during the school
summer holiday – so the kids (and the
staff!) were less exhausted. Read how it
went.
We wanted to say a special thanks to all
our Members who did some valuable
fundraising for us. From wheelchair pushes
to skydives – A BIG THANKS TO ALL!
Read our blog page.
Learn how you can help us fundraise
(continued)
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MAGIC Newsletter DECEMBER 2014
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AUGUST
We were lucky enough to be donated
a large 8 foot bear who soon became
the gate guardian of Bradbury House.
Nameless, we ran a fabulous
competition to find a name.
There were many names nominated,
but our favourite was MAC, standing
for ‘My Autism Counts’ – as nominated
by the Burgess/Cherry family. The
prize was a break at our luxury
caravan at All Hallows Haven Holiday
Park. Read more on our news page.
Read more about Holiday MAGIC.
Summer Play Scheme ran through
August and we hosted 3 weeks of
events for our Members. Thanks to all
our staff and volunteers who helped
make this possible!
Read more about our summer events
here, and view the photos on Flickr
here.
Family Fun Day was held on the
August Bank Holiday. Our annual
fundraiser event is where we invite all
our Members plus their family and
friends and is always a highlight of our
year. This year it absolutely poured
down! But the rain did not detract from
the fun – or the turnout. You helped us
raise an amazing £2,000+ in about 3
hours! Read more on our blog page
and view the images here.
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Keith Wyncoll - Guest Speaker
During July 2014, Research Autism
ran a conference in London, 'Autism
and Learning Disabilities: Lessons
from Research, Policy and Practice',
as part of their Lorna Wing Series of
Conferences and Seminars, chaired
by Richard Mills and Linda Woodcock.
Friend of MAGIC, Keith Wyncoll,
attended and provided a heartwarming
story of how his family is living (and
thriving) with Autism.
Read more about Keith’s presentation.
See the presentation slides here.
+ Keith Wyncoll speaks at conference
The theme of the talk was to help parents and carers understand the sources of support they could be entitled to, such as Direct Payment, self-help groups like MAGIC, to help with family support.
- Keith Wyncoll
MAGIC Newsletter DECEMBER 2014
Thanks for all your support, well wishes, Facebook ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ – we love it all! See you all again in 2015!
Autumn fun continues at MAGIC.
SEPTEMBER ARC is 1
1st September brought the first anniversary of MAGIC’s
Additional Resource Centre – a new learning resource for
children currently ‘out of education’. Launched September
2013, we started with just 3 young people, who were
referred to us at The Strand. Our new services were soon
recognised by Medway Council who were excited by the
tuition services we started to offer. So much so, that they
are themselves currently funding 15 places at The ARC
and growing! We would like to thank all our staff, members
and others who have made this possible. Read more.
Medway Youth Trust redecorates our teenager’s room. Volunteers from Medway Youth Trust come and take the
challenge of fundraising for, and decorating our room
dedicated for our teenage Members. In the summer we
were delighted to welcome a team of Medway youngsters,
who visited MAGIC HQ last week, to see some of our
upcoming projects and whether one of these would be
something they would wish to volunteer their time for, as
part of their community involvement work. They choose to
decorate the room, and, with a lot of hard work, it was
ready for the children on their return in September. Thanks
to all the volunteers – it looks truly amazing and our
teenagers are loving the new look.
OCTOBER
We held a great Coffee Morning in October, with a guest
speaker advising about the new EHC plans. Read more.
NOVEMBER
Thanks to Donna Turner who raised funds for us during the
KM Abseil Challenge! Read more here.
If you are interested in doing a leap of faith Abseil
Challenge for us next March, watch the website for more
details or call the office in January.
We also open our new MAGIC Bean Café! Student Michael
helps us and learns important life skills! Read more here.
DECEMBER And so, the end of the year creeps up and we have now
celebrated with our members at the annual Panto on the
11th December and celebrated Christmas at our MAGIC
Christmas Party on 13th December.
Our last day for the ARC kids is Wednesday 17th December
and the staff finally gets a well earned break on the 23rd
December. We are back on Monday Jan 5th, 2015, so until
then…