40 CORRESPONDANCE DETAILS ESCAPE Support Group 3 Discovery House 01823 256841 Cook Way, Bindon Road 07982712608 Taunton TA2 6BJ www.escapesupportgroup.com www.facebook.com/escapesupportgroup @escapesg ESCAPE Office Opening Times As a general rule the office is manned Monday to Thursday from 9.15am- 1pm. If you call after these times then leave a message and we will always get back to you as soon as possible. VISITORS - Visitors are welcome at any time, but due to circumstances beyond our control there may be days where the office is un-manned. If you want to check before making a special journey, do give us a call first. SCHOOL HOLIDAYS - The office isn’t manned as normal during school holidays. If you need to get hold of us during these times the best way is via email. Alternatively call the mobile number above. If the mobile isn’t answered leave a message and we will get back to you. 1 June 2015 Issue no. 56 Encouraging Special Children ** Supporng Families ** Unlocking Potenal www.escapesupportgroup.com Registered Charity No. 1081446 NEW COMBINED SUMMER AND AUTUMN EDITION
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40
CORRESPONDANCE DETAILS
ESCAPE Support Group
3 Discovery House 01823 256841
Cook Way, Bindon Road 07982712608
Taunton
TA2 6BJ
www.escapesupportgroup.com
www.facebook.com/escapesupportgroup
@escapesg
ESCAPE Office Opening Times
As a general rule the office is manned Monday to Thursday from 9.15am-
1pm. If you call after these times then leave a message and we will always
get back to you as soon as possible.
VISITORS - Visitors are welcome at any time, but due to circumstances
beyond our control there may be days where the office is un-manned. If you
want to check before making a special journey, do give us a call first.
SCHOOL HOLIDAYS - The office isn’t manned as normal during school
holidays. If you need to get hold of us during these times the best way is via
email. Alternatively call the mobile number above. If the mobile isn’t
answered leave a message and we will get back to you.
1
June 2015
Issue no. 56
Encouraging Special Children ** Supporting Families ** Unlocking Potential
www.escapesupportgroup.com
Registered Charity No. 1081446
NEW COMBINED SUMMER AND
AUTUMN EDITION
2
Index Page No.
Chairmans Letter 3
Newsletter changes 4
15th Birthday Bash 5
Important Swimming Update 6 & 7
Summer Trips 8 –13
Congratulations 14
September Bootcamp 16
Reply Forms (Summer and Autumn) 17—24
Family Fun Afternoon 25
Autumn Trips and Activities 26-29
The Hub Club - Escapes New Venture supported by Children in Need
30
Fundraising News 32
Fundraising Updates and Opportunities 34
Who’s Who 38—39
Correspondence details Back Page
A personal thank you to Sara, from me. Sara has worked really hard
recently putting this newsletter together, she has taken the job on to
relieve me of some workload will be the first one to admit she isn’t
confident in the software used, but I think she has done a grand job
Hello to you all; I have recently been appointed your new
Chairperson, as with previous new ‘Chairs’ it falls to me
to say a few words. I want to start with saying; The Es-
cape family are very lucky this year, as well as a Chairperson we have a Vice
Chair Mandy. As some of you will realise, I have only been on the com-
mittee a very short time, and am really grateful to have the extra support of
Mandy, I feel it really will be a case of two heads are better than one!
I have two sons the younger of the two has Aspergers. As a single mum it
was really difficult going on days out as a family, as my son would have a
time of not coping and my eldest son getting frustrated when part of the
day was spent in a quiet place or even cut short. That was until I became a
member of Escape. Escape gave me a life line. I was no longer the lone
parent with the ‘different child’, nor did I have to worry about my son hav-
ing a ‘wobbly’ moment ( or as people without an additional needs child
would of said ‘a temper tantrum’ – how many times have insensitive
adults said that to you ?) as another member of Escape would ask could
they help. The real bonus as the boys got older, was the friendships they
made amongst themselves. This had hidden benefits, both my sons enjoyed
the day to the best of their ability and my eldest son, realised he was not
the only person to have a sibling who viewed the world from a different
angle. Both my sons are now adults, both still talk about some of the amaz-
ing times as a family we have had with Escape.
I am looking forward to Escape’s 15th Big Birthday Bash. I hope you and your
family will be there too.
Regards
Denise Gilbert
A Letter from Denise our new
Chairperson
4
You will notice that this Newsletter has more pages than
usual. In an attempt to cut down on the costs involved in
printing and postage we have decided to combine both
the summer and Autumn newsletters in this one issue.
As a result you will see that there are actually two reply
forms, we don’t expect you to book now for the Autumn
events but if you keep our newsletter in a safe place you
will then have it ready for booking in September. Don’t
worry you will still be hearing from us, we will email an
electronic ‘Whats On’ just to remind you! For the few of
you without email access we will post you a copy.
If we hold an email address for you but you no longer use
it or if you have not informed us of a new email address
please let us know.
Newsletter
Changes
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Have you heard about ‘The Local Offer’ ?
The Children and Families Act has brought in major changes in the way that children with special educational needs, disabilities and their families are supported. This means that local authorities have to provide a website called Local Offer. This provides information about local services available to any young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities aged up to 25. The Local offer website www.somerset.local-offer.org has lots of in-formation about services available in Somerset. It’s jam packed full with lots of information, both the official and recreational.
So what does this actually mean? It covers information and advice on:- Education, health and care provision . Education Health Care (EHC) Needs Assessments. Other education provision (outside of schools or colleges such as sports or arts provision) training provision, including apprentice-ships. Arrangements for travel to and from schools, post 16 establish-ments and early years providers. Transition between phases of education and to prepare for adulthood. Financial help, parent carer forums, support groups, childcare and leisure activities; How to make complaints or resolve disagreements.
Hannah Taunton raised a really amazing £1043.20 in sponsorship
for her Half Marathon run.
Well Done Hannah!
A big ‘Well Done’ and ‘Thank You’ to
our 2015 half Marathon runners
We are so grateful to the team from the Cresta Leisure Centre in Chard who between them
raised over £2600
5
ARE YOU
COMING?
SO FAR OVER 200 OF YOU ARE, BUT ITS NOT TOO LATE TO COME IF YOU
HAVEN’T BOOKED YET, GIVE US A CALL OR SEND US AN EMAIL TO RESERVE
YOUR TICKETS.
SATURDAY 11TH JULY
KINGS HALL PREPARATORY SCHOOL, TAUNTON, TA2 8AA
2.30 TIL 9PM
£5 PER ADULT, £2.50 PER CHILD AGE 2-18, BABIES FREE
REFER TO YOUR LAST NEWSLETTER OR OUR FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE FOR
THE FULL DETAILS.
*****************************
NOW WE ALSO NEED YOUR HELP
AN EVENT SUCH AS THIS REQUIRES A LOT OF HANDS ON HELP DURING THE
DAY, SO WE THOUGHT THAT AS GUESTS YOU MAY BE ABLE TO GIVE US 30-
60 MINS OR SO TO HELP, AREAS WHERE HELP ARE REQUIRED ARE;-
SETTING UP
HELPING WITH TEAS/COFFEES
MANN A BOUNCY CASTLE
KEEPING AN EYE ON OUR SIDE STALLS
LOOKING AFTER THE SKITTLE ALLEY
PICKING UP RUBBISH
CLEARING AWAY
IF ENOUGH OF YOU OFFER A LITTLE OF YOUR TIME THEN WE CAN HAVE A
ROTA IN PLACE, SO THAT EVERYONES TIME IS SHARED FAIRLY.
PERHAPS A GRANDPARENT IS COMING ALONG AND COULD HELP, MAYBE
YOU HAVE OLDER SIBLINGS THAT WOULD LIKE A JOB TO KEEP THEM OCCU-
PIED, OR MAYBE YOU ARE COMING AS 2 ADULTS AND ONE OF YOU CAN
SPARE A LITTLE WHILE.
PLEASE EMAIL OR CALL US TO VOLUNTEER YOUR HELP
THANK YOU AND SEE YOU ALL THERE.
6
Save
Our
Swimming !!
Swimming is appearing at the beginning of our Newsletter as we have reached a critical situation.
Our swimming sessions have played a huge part in Escapes history, in fact that’s where it all started. We
believe they continue to play an important part of what Escape has to offer our families but just lately our numbers have got seriously low, so low that we
are having to consider whether we can continue running them.
Our Easter swimming session only saw one family attending and our after school swims are only aver-aging 3 families, so just as a reminder these are the details of our swimming sessions and we hope that you will be able to support us and attend some of
them.
Please don’t skip over our swimming advert!
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Did you know that we have a seller ac-count on ebay? Check out our current auctions and Buy It Now lots on ebay. Search for EscapeTaunton to find us. Don’t forget to add us to your favour-
ites and share our lots on your social media.
We are looking for donations to sell on our ebay pages. This is a great way for us to raise money for ESCAPE. Within the last two months we have made over £50. Rather than take your unwanted bits and bobs to the charity shop, consider our ebay page instead.
All we ask is that the items are clean, complete (if possible) and in good condition. We particularly need donations of the following:
Warhammer Figures
Warhammer Novels
Children’s Clothes - Ages
Designer or branded clothes (Good high street brand, such as Monsoon, Next & M&S)
Board Games, eg Monopoly, Role Playing Games, Vintage Board Games
Fiction Books, Books by Silvia Daty, Vina Jackson etc sell well (think 50 Shades and you are on the right track)
Costume Jewellery
Children’s ToyRus, especially ELC, Playmobil, Britains Farm Ani-mals and Toys
Star Wars Merchandise
If you have anything that you would like to donate, please contact Rosemary on [email protected] and we will arrange how best to collect the items.
An idea from our new vice Chair, Mandy;- This year is Escape's 15th year. I, like many of you would like it to continue for many more years. Escape relies completely on donations and grants to enable it to run, sadly these last months it has proven hard to find grants that apply to us, we have secured a few but nothing like the amount we need to cover all our running costs.
This is where I appeal to you, our members. Could you give up an hour or so a month? What I would like to try and set up is little groups of members local to each other who would be able to put on some fund raising events. For example, a group of members in the Bridgwater area getting together and arranging maybe a plant sale or a jumble sale. Maybe you could approach your local school and ask them to hold a non uniform day in Escapes name?
We could have groups of maybe 6 members in areas such as Wellington, Burnham, Chard, Taunton and Bridgwater etc who could put their heads together and come up with some fab ideas to raise some much needed funds. We could share ideas around the groups. Maybe invite friends to help?
Here are some ideas that might get you started;
- A pub quiz
- Jumble sale
- Coffee Morning/bake sale
- Non Uniform days
- Asking your work place to have a penny pot
- Plant sale
- Craft fayre
- Fun run
I hope you have read this and thought yes I could do this. If you think you can commit a little time to fundraising then please email me along with your local area (Example: [email protected] Chard Group) then hopefully if theres enough of you in your area I can put you in touch with each other so that you can get started.
Come and join us for one of our most popular summer activities, a day out at Crealy Park, where
there is something for everyone to enjoy.
There is a new Rollercoaster due to open this
Summer, ‘The Twister’, but if rollercoasters aren’t your thing then there is still plenty to see and do including the animals, soft play areas, other rides
and lots more, check out all the details on their website www.crealy.co.uk/Devon
Coaches will leave Bridgwater from Sedgemoor
Auction Centre/Cattle Market at J24 at 9.00am and Taunton Football Club at 9.30am, Wellington Sky-lark at 10.00am. Coach will leave Crealy at 4pm
Cost £8.00 per person to include transport
£5 per person for self drive
Closing date 13th July
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A massive thank you to Susan Col-man and family for all their hard
work and congratulations on raising a stonking £479.75 at their Escape
Coffee Morning .
Huge Congratulations to Jamie Edwards who completed London's Mini Marathon in 17mins beating his PB by 6 minutes. Jamie raised a fantastic £455 sponsor-ship for Escape. Thank you and well
done Jamie
Extra Special thanks should go to Members Jamie Ed-
wards, Susan Colman and Bev and Rebecca Clarke who
have all fundraised for us recently, here is how;
Bev and Rebecca Clarke raised wonder £188 with their
very enjoyable fundraising lunch and raffle, a hearty
Running Forever, a further £51.91 has been donated following
their Christmas Santa Run.
Following the passing Dorothy Stockwell the Grandmother of
the Sheppard Family £131.22 has been donated.
Beryl Parsons, grandmother of the Farrow Family has passed
and £267.17 has been donated.
North Curry School have donated £71.15
An Anonymous and unexpected donation has been received for
£3000!!!
A further anonymous, although this time expected, grant has
been awarded for £10,000 which is contributing towards the
PGL holiday
Our local Child Support Agency have chosen ESCAPE as their
charity for some recent fundraising and have donated £86.87
Peggy Hendriksen, Grandmother of Fraser and Alistair Peebles
has donated £20
Lister House Doctors Surgery held a book sale donating the
profits of £70 to ESCAPE.
Linda Fisher has done another presentation and £25 has been
donated as a result
£92 has been received following our last Bag Collection
9
Tuesday 28th July Day trip to London
Whether it’s a visit to the museums, or to visit some of the sights or a spot of shopping, there is always something to
do on a day out to London.
Travelling on the coach will mean that you are refreshed and ready for your day out at the Capital city, there are
two drop off points and you can choose to be dropped off at either The London Museums or The Embankment on the Southbank London Eye side. THIS WILL BE A LONG
DAY, BE PREPARED.
If you need some ideas for what to do on your day out there are several websites giving suggestions try visiting
www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do
Coaches will leave Wellington Skylark 7.15am, Taunton Football club 7.30am, Bridgwater Sedgemoor Auction
Centre/Cattle Market at J24 at 7.50am. We envisage arriving in London between 11 & Noon. At the end of the day the coach will pick up at The Embankment at 5.30pm and The London Museums at 6pm. Please state your re-
quired drop off/pick up point on the reply form
Cost: £9 per person
Closing date 13th July
10
Monday 3rd August With lots of things to do above and below decks, you're in for a real voyage of discovery at Living Coasts, Torquay’s
Coastal Zoo and Aquarium.
This is an all weather attraction, with famous penguin beach, stunning seals and beautiful bird species outside and a magical sea life aquarium and viewing tanks inside.
As an alternative you may prefer to just spend the day in
Torquay
Coaches will leave Bridgwater Junction 24 Sedgemoor Auction Centre/
Cattle Market 9.00am Taunton Football Ground 9.30am
Wellington Skylark 10.00am Leaving Torquay to return home at 4.30pm
COST— £10 per person for coach and entry to Living Coasts
or £5 per person coach only
Closing date 13th July
31
If you are not coming to the 15 Birthday Bash and
would like to pass on to us some ideas for the club
then please feel free to email at the usual address
We are delighted to report that Escape has been granted a one year grant to enable us to introduce a
new activity to ESCAPE, a monthly club will be start-ing in September, catering for two different age
groups.
We really hope you will come along and make the most of this great opportunity.
We already have lots of ideas for the club but we
would still like to hear yours, so if you are coming to the 15th Birthday Bash, then we would really like to hear from you, so look out for the consultation table
and lets make this new venture a great success.
We will be looking to have opportunities to try differ-ent things during the course of the club so if we have any parents / carers who have any particular abilities that they would like to share, then we would like to
hear from you, any cooks, crafts people, gardeners etc please get in touch.
11
‘A grand day out’ in Bristol
Tuesday 11th August
Dropping you off at Millennium Square, nr @ Bristol you then have the freedom to explore the city of
Bristol searching for Shaun the Sheep Sculptures, or enjoy a bit of shopping, basically its up to you, you just need to be back at Millennium Square at
4pm for the return journey.
Cost : £5 per person
Pick Up times; Wellington, The Skylark 9am Taunton Football Ground 9.30am Bridgwater Junction 24 Sedgemoor Auction Centre 10.00am
Friday 21st August Covering over 42 acres, Apex Lei-sure and Wildlife Park offers visi-tors a chance to relax. Apex was once an area of clay digging where several pits were excavated and when these were later flooded, they became lakes which are now home to many types of wildlife. There is also a tradi-tional style play area designated for toddlers and juniors this includes swings, a slide, a round-about, seesaw and a tyre swing. For more adven-turous older children and adults there is a trim trail which runs parallel to the footpath around the lake. It has various pieces of keep fit appa-ratus at intervals along its length. A perfect op-portunity for a picnic with friends in scenic sur-roundings. Meeting at 11..30am by the play area. This is a FREE activity to those who self drive however we will provide transport at a cost of £3 per person.
Pick Up Wellington Skylark 10.00am, Taunton 10.30am and Bridgwater junction 24 Sedgemoor Auction Centre 11.00. Reply by 13th July
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The Annual Pantomime trip is always one of Escapes most popular trips and we are sure this year will be no exception.
The popular Joe Swash is playing in this years performance of Cinderella.
Tickets cost £13 per person
Exact coach times will follow at a later date but be prepared to leave around 11.15 and return about 6pm
Just to get you in the festive spirit there are 150 stalls selling handmade gifts and the best food & drink the region has to
offer. Wooden toys, artisan jewellery, homeware, fine clothes & accessories are all here in abundance.
Enjoy live music including brass bands, choirs, buskers, and an old time barrel organ, alongside a huge traditional carousel,
children’s art and craft activities, Victorian games, real ale tav-ern, micro brewery and the Waterways Museum.
Stars of the show are the larger than life wondering charac-ters, all guaranteed to surprise, amuse and entertain visitors
with their exploits. All of this against the splendid back drop of the City’s historic docks.
Browse, buy, enjoy a mulled wine and soak up the traditional festive atmosphere.
Pick Ups Wellington Skylark 9.00am,
Taunton Football Ground 9.30 Bridgwater Sedgemoor Auction Centre/Cattle Mar-
ket at J24 at 10.00am Leaving Gloucester to return home at 5pm
Closing date Monday 23rd November
Gloucester Quays
Victorian
Christmas Market Saturday 5th December
Cost £6 per person
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Thursday 27th August
Cost £10 per person Lots of fun for all the family… the park is
located just off the A38 within the Dartmoor National Park. There's an adventure around
every corner! Wooden Play Fort
Cows Udders Snake Slides Zip wires Jungle Fun And much much
Commando Assault course (for big and little children!)
Pirate Ship Toddlers beach Toddlers Playground Spiders web
In addition to the action-packed fun there are lovely scenic walks through woodland and alongside the beautiful River Dart, including nature and tree trails. For full details of these activities and some extra activities which will incur an extra charge please visit their website at www.riverdart.co.uk
Coaches will be leaving
Junction 24 Sedgemoor Auction Centre at 9.00am,
Taunton Football Ground at 9.30am
Wellington Skylark at 10.00am, We will leave at 4pm to return home.
to one of our teenage members Ehren Anderson Age 13
who has managed some amazing achievements in Sport
over the past year. He attends a School in Yeovil where he
received an awarded for outstanding achievement in Sport,
as well as qualifying for the National Athletic disability
championships in Coventry this month for running.
If that wasn't enough !!! His Under 16 ‘s South West
Cerebal Palsey Football team achieved 3rd place at Eng-
lands St Georges Park against the rest of the Country
CONGRATULATIONS EHREN
and Well Done from all your friends at Escape
We are always delighted to hear
of the achievements of our
young people and we would
like to say a big
Congratulations
We would really like to acknowledge the achievements of
our young members and congratulate them so if your
family have had any exciting attainments that you would
like us to mention please do let us know in the office.
27
SATURDAY 21ST NOVEMBER AT THE COMETYROWE CENTRE,
PITTS CLOSE, GALMINGTON TAUNTON, TA1 4TY
One of our favourite seasonal fundraisers, kindly
hosted by Averil & Matt Long, starting at 6pm
eyes down at 6.15pm.
Bingo books cost £1 and are purchased on the even-
ing. Tea, Coffee and Squash will be available.
Booking is not essential but it would be helpful if
you could indicate on the reply form whether you
intend to attend
EYES DOWN FOR SOME
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Cost: Coach and Ice Skating £9 per person
Coach Only £5 per person
Pick Ups
Bridgwater Sedgemoor Auction Centre/Cattle Market at J24 at 9.15am
Taunton Football Ground Football Ground 9.45
Wellington Skylark 10.15 am,
Coach leaves Plymouth at 4pm Closing date Monday 12th October
The Ice skating session will begin at 12 noon and will last for an hour and a half, after this you will have free time in Plymouth until the return journey. Please note
that the skating session will be a public session and wheelchairs will be allowed on the ice. ‘Penguins’ avail-
able for our littlies
AUTUMN ACTIVITES Autumn activities to be booked on the
September Reply Form
Fancy a day trip to
Plymouth for Ice Skating or maybe just to visit the City of Plymouth
Thursday 29th October Is the day to put in your diary
15
Have you ever thought about the
real cost of a trip?
How much do you think it is to hire a
Berry’s coach to London for the day?
As a member of Escape you will pay £9
per person which contributes £630, do
you think it is .... £700, £900, £1200? It
is £1200.
This is why you are asked to help out as
much as you can with fundraising, vol-
unteering to help bag pack, or voting to
win trips. Money isn’t plentiful for any
of us, and there is less money available
to charities to apply for, any way you
think you can raise any money to help,
please do so, it is true, every penny does
help.
Thinking about fundraising
heres something to think
about from Denise our new
Chairperson
16
You are probably all aware that some of us now take part in a ‘Bootcamp’ fitness class, these happen in 10 week blocks, on Fri-days, 10am-11am at Creech st Michael Recreational Ground. We hope that a new block of sessions will continue in September, so would you like to come too??
This is a weekly, hour long outdoor training session offering a range of fitness exercises that will put you through your paces, helping you to get fit & lose weight. Francesca is a fully qualified personal and will offer nutrition advise, suggest homework and be 24hr email support. www.francescahincksfitness.co.uk will tell you more.
For the classes to go ahead we do have a minimum number, so if we don't get enough take up the class won't happen. There is also a maximum number so will be based on a first come first served. The 10 week course is just £60 for ESCAPE members and this has to be paid with booking. You are welcome to bring a friend (subject to space) at £80 for the course. No refunds if you are unable to make a class and each class will go ahead regardless of the weath-er! A further payment will be required if continuing after half term.
If you would like to come along, send us an email and we will con-tact you again nearer the time.
No. of Children _____ @ £9 Pick Up Point Bridgwater / Taunton / Wellington * Wheelchair Position required on coach Yes / No * Drop off point in London The Museums / The Embankment *(Southbank) Return journey pick up point The Museums / Embankment*
Living Coasts Zoo and Aquarium Torquay Transport and Zoo Coach Only
Number of Adults _____ @ £10 _____ @ £5 Number of children _____ @ £10 _____ @ £5 Age 3 to 15yrs Number of children _____ @ £5 _____ @ £5 Under 3yrs Pick Up Point Bridgwater / Taunton / Wellington * Wheelchair Position require Yes / No *
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River Dart Adventures
No, of Adults _____ @ £9
No. of Children _____ @ £9
Pick Up Point Bridgwater / Taunton / Wellington *
Wheelchair Position require Yes / No * *Please Delete as Applicable
