This Christmas I want Santa to support the charity I work for; Guideposts, as it turns 46! I am counting on you all to be my little santas and support this fabulous charity to continue its much needed work. Their vision? A society where all people are valued and have equality of opportunity.

Each year Guideposts supports thousands of people living with learning disabilities, mental health issues, dementia, and their carers to live more independent and meaningful lives and to promote their wellbeing.

The charity achieves it's mission by delivering a range of information, advice and guidance and community based services. Here are a few examples of what we do:

- Our services in Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Gloucestershire offer opportunities for adults with learning disabilities to improve their life skills to become more independent, to be part of activities in the community and make friends as they are often isolated, and to access work placements and improve their employability skills.

- Our services in Watford offer opportunities for people with mental health issues to access peer-support groups to help them manage their conditions, and improve their wellbeing;

- Our services offer opportunities for older people with dementia to take part in social and arts groups to promote their wellbeing and to enable them to have opportunities to socialise.

- Finally we support thousands of carers to ensure they can continue their role, looking after their loved ones, through training, sharing their experiences in peer-groups and providing them with well deserved breaks from their caring role.

Like all charities we rely on donations to sustain our work and would value your support so that we can continue to run our services and projects. Many thanks!!!!