Hello!!

Thanks for taking a second out of your day to read another sponsorship page. I know its that season so i will try an keep this relatively short (I probably wont.... Soz) Please read the full story below... it would mean a lot to me.

 As we all know... I love a run. Those of you who do not know me, thanks you for checking out this page firstly.... but those that don't know me may not know I am a barefoot runner. I love to do this. It make me feel like a kid an always brings a smile to my face and on the 18th of may i will be running the Richmond Park Trail Marathon barefoot. 

I am undertaking this little jaunt around the most beautiful place in world for my work. 

I work for a disabled children's Charity called KIDS at Lady Allen Playground. This place means the world to me, it truly is a unique and special place, a little utopia offering a huge outdoor setting for children to explore without limitations.

We cater for children across the entire range of disabilities, from the profoundly multiply disabled to children with ADHD and a whole host in between.  Our largest single group, however, are children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).  We also see a number of children with emotional and behavioral problems and a large number of children with moderate or severe learning disabilities.

Disabled children and children with special educational needs often face real difficulties in using “mainstream” facilities, not only because of physical access but also (more often) because of the reactions of the other children and their parents.  They stare, they tease, they complain or they ignore and move away.

Places like ours are very rare and becoming rarer.  Here the disabled children are the “norm” and the mainstream children have to adapt.  This allows our children to feel that the playground is theirs, that they have ownership and this gives them confidence and allows them to be themselves in a place where they are safe from other people’s prejudice.

The playground at its best is a community of children, held together by the adults who work here.  Acceptance and attachment form the basis of what we do.  Children are accepted for who they are and valued for what they bring.

The reason i am running is to help fund our Saturday bus service. We currently have around over forty families that rely on our bus service that collects and drops home disabled children and their siblings when they are booked in. As of the beginning of April, this bus service is no longer affordable and we have had to cancel it, leaving most of these families stranded and unable to get their children to the playground. This makes me and everyone that works at Lady Allen really sad to be honest as every single one of us loves working here and the children that come here.

 

To run the Bus service just for Saturday for a whole year costs £6,600. OBVIOUSLY i have no intention of this page raising that much, but we are all pulling together to try and raise this and this is my little contribution. 

Now. Your bit.. I would love you to contribute towards this total, whatever you offer is wonderful and me, Lady Allen, all our staff every family that uses our setting will directly or indirectly be thankful..

My main message however with this is to make this a co-operative fundraising experience.... stick with me.

Basically i have no presence on any social media, internet or the modern world (i have a phone though, BAM!) If you can tell ten people about my page you are a diamond and I love you. With the vast expanse of social media, if you were to tweetbookergram this page and get the message out to as many people as possible. that.. THAT would mean the world to me. The more people who see this hopefully the closer the families of disabled children in Wandsworth will be able to once again get the bus service that is vital to them.

 

Thank you so much for looking at my page. What I have offered you here is the opportunity to be directly involved with a contribution to a cause that is close to my heart. I know exactly where every penny of the money raised will go and that is into a kitty to get our bus back. Its vital to us, to Lady Allen but most importantly t the families left stranded by there being no bus to pick them up any more.

 

Thank you. 

Lots of love,

Tom