...providing support and information on down syndrome in the essex area

 

For this year’s AGM we went back to the Essex Police Sports Ground and Pavilion in Chelmsford, where our charity was officially launched exactly three years ago. It is a fantastic venue for us, with a big field for the children to run around in, a lovely patio with furniture to relax and a big and cool room to have the official meeting in.

Just like three years ago, the weather was perfect – a lovely warm and sunny day, and the entertainment provided after the official part had been got out of the way was outstanding! First of all we enjoyed several dance numbers by Dance 21, who were then joined by the Gateway Club for a rendition of that all time favourite, Grease Lighting. The Essex Steam Railway Association ran some of their engines along a 200 feet track at the side of the field, and young and old could be seen queuing up for their tickets all afternoon long. Two bouncy castles kept the children busy until two Essex police dog handlers came in their shiny patrol cars with their dogs, who were firm favourites for the rest of the afternoon. The kids also made the most from the opportunity to sit in the cars and pretend to be on a high speed chase – or maybe to escape from the sun and heat outside for a while! Later, parent member Tony Williams set up his keyboard and entertained us with a selection of popular tunes and songs, inspiring some of the younger members to fill in for him when he took a well deserved break!

Everybody agreed that we had a wonderful day, and we would like to thank Essex Police, especially Christian Robinson from the Essex Police Sports Association and the two dog handlers who gave up their Sunday afternoon, very much for making it possible.

Chairman’s Report

In the three years since the launch, our charity has gone from strength to strength. Our membership now stands at 185 families, and 242 schools and other professionals are receiving regular information via our newsletter. We have had several requests for materials by schools, and for support at Down Syndrome Information days in schools. Last autumn, we organised three very successful Information Days in collaboration with two LEAs in our area, Essex and Barking & Dagenham, one for parents, the other two for teaching professionals. The days itself were run by the experts from the Down Syndrome Education Consortium, and the response we had from amongst the 200 plus delegates was excellent. The LEA have expressed their desire to collaborate for Info Days like those on a regular basis, maybe every two years.

We have always enjoyed good support for our social events – apart from the Race Night planned for October, which we had to cancel due to lack of interest. Last year we had a Barn Dance and the traditional children’s Christmas Party. In January 22 families went to see Snow White at Cliffs Pavillion in Southend, and we have already put an option on tickets for this year’s pantomime. We are trying to organise more activities for our teenagers, and as a start we had a very successful Valentine Disco in February. The next one is already planned for 22nd July, and we’ll have another one in November, because we feel the teenagers are a bit too old for our traditional Christmas Party. Last June a group of 6 teenagers with their Mums went to the dress rehearsal of Verdi’s opera Falstaff at Stanley Hall in Halsted, this year 15 plus 15 carers are going and also taking part in a workshop before. We are also exploring possibilities for sporting events and a drama/art course. Other events for all our members planned for later this year are the Ball and the children’s Christmas Party.

Members are continuing to support our fund raising efforts through donations, participation in our ever popular go-kart event, which again this year was very successful. Several people collected sponsor money by taking part in charity runs, and we have just heard that the Mayor of Braintree has chosen us as one of his charities for the year, at the suggestion of our patron, Councillor Joe Pike.

As you have seen from the accounts, our bank balance remains healthy, despite some rather large expenses last year. This is due to the ongoing commitment of our fundraising team and the support of our members. If you have thought of any other activities we could organise or causes you feel we should support, please come and talk to one of the committee members. However, if we do extra things, we will need more active members, either on the committee or just taking over the organisation of one particular activity. Please think about it, and if you feel you could spare some time, maybe to organise some more activities for teenagers like bowling, football etc. please come and talk to us.

Committee News

Two of our current committee members had to stand down this year, either due to work commitments or because they are moving out of the area. We would like Andrew Pike and Karen Lush very much for all the support they have given to the charity over the years. However, we have managed to fill the vacancies with two other volunteers from our membership, and I’m very pleased to welcome Ann Irvine and Rob Eveleigh onto the committee.

After five years as Chairperson of the charity – two of them while we were still the North East Thames Branch – I have finally decided to step down and make room for someone else at the top. I’m very happy to say that Greg Stuttle has agreed to take over from me, I’m sure he’ll be an excellent chairman. For the first year I will stay on as Vice-chair to ease him into his new responsibilities, and I will also continue to edit the newsletter. I really enjoyed the challenges over the last five years, especially our successful transformation into Down Syndrome Extra 21. It has been very rewarding to see the charity grow over the past three years and see that we are actually making a real difference to people. At this point I’d like to thank my fellow committee members, whose hard work and support have made my job so satisfying.

Sabine Nussey