5 and a bit years ago, Malc and I had our little boy James.  We were told the day after he was born that he had Down Syndrome.  This was a total shock and we jumped to alot of conclusions about how he would impact on our lives. (couldn't have been more wrong!)

A friend of ours mentioned a support group called 21& Co shortly after that.  We didn't consider ourselves in particular need of a support group but went along to see what it was like and we haven't looked back.

The local authorities are meant to provide services such as Speech Therepy, Physio and Occupational Therapy for our children, but they generally don't have the budget to do this to great effect, if at all.  21 & Co provide communication groups for the children from the age of 1.  There are coffee mornings, nights at the pub for parents, pub quizzes, childrens parties, family days out, education days for parents and specialists, a drama group, a youth club, the list goes on.  Not to mention the support and friendships it enables with people going through the same thing as you.

All of this is reliant on donations and grants.  We need to raise £42,000 per year to keep things running.  We don't have a corporate team running things and a crack fundraising and PR team.  The trustees are 8 mums and dads who all have kids and jobs and organise this in any spare moment they have.  We would really appreciate any donation that helps us help over 140 local families.

Good luck on the 29th August!

Claire, Malc and Matt