With your support, CWUHA can continue in its efforts ‘to deliver smiles’.

The CWUHA is raising funds to support the WINSFORD YOUTH & COMMUNITY FORUM

SEN (Special Educational Needs) – Canoeing Group who are in desperate need of new equipment.

Canoeing has been a regular feature of our youth provision/offer to youngsters from the mid-eighties. With the main issue being `challenging behavior` linked to anti-social behavior and the associated issues - as perceived generally. In those days having a `disorder` was unheard of, now we live in a world where many have been identified as a medical condition. All now are generally bracketed under the term `Mental Health` issues. Added to this are those who have multiple complex issues.

For any youth organisation, providing service delivery is a challenging scenario – often with minimal demand at first, which could be met within an integrated session, assuming staffing levels were sufficient and skilled. Our canoeing team responded accordingly, however with increasing numbers, the need to give equal opportunities to all (including others who may have a limiting disability) things had to change.

Three years ago, we managed to obtain grant funding to run a session focusing

solely on this target group – a new dimension to delivery and clearly from the outset, a great need. The challenge for the organisation, the coaches and for our equipment was to learn, adapt and respond to individual needs. Parental input and support was and will always be paramount.

Letters were sent to several Cheshire Special Schools, two of which booked

sessions just for their pupils – this was good PR and helped us in the understanding/support that these youngsters needed. There are opportunities for special schools to participate in outdoor activities but not on a regular basis – we made that offer to their individuals should they want to pursue this sport.

We are now in our third year of delivery (year being April – Oct canoe season)

The most noticeable impact is that those parents/carers involved in supporting their youngsters are determined to ensure that their children get every opportunity that they can get, and the youngsters in turn are determined to keep involved/active in this sport whilst making friends.

My key role is to maintain funding, promote the work and deal with the background admin that is needed to ensure successful delivery. My present dilemma is that the demand seems to be exceeding our capacity to deliver…

Please donate what you can and help deliver a smile.