ORGANISATIONS demonstrating imaginative, engaging, and impactful approaches to working with families have recently been recognised as part of a national celebration of learning.  Winners of this year’s Family Learning Awards include a programme to encourage more male family members into learning with their families, a wide suite of well-being initiatives to support resilience and wellness, a reading initiative, and a library festival to support digital and STEM learning. The Family Learning Awards, run by the social inclusion and lifelong learning initiative Campaign for Learning, is a ..read more

GLOBAL’S Make Some Noise – the official charity of Global, the Media & Entertainment group has announced grants totalling over £2.6 million for life-changing projects in local communities across the UK.  The funding provides a vital lifeline in communities – with the charity’s continued vision that nobody in the UK should face life’s toughest challenges alone, tackling issues such as mental health, poverty and homelessness.  Global’s Make Some Noise supports hundreds of small charities across the UK delivering vital support, many of whom are facing growing waiting lists and unpre ..read more

TWO adults supported by learning disability charity Hft are celebrating today after their success in the Learning Disability and Autism Leaders’ List Awards 2024, held at the O2 in London recently. Richard, a learning disabled man from Telford, won the Work and Education category for his tireless volunteering work for a local hospice and the children’s charity, Barnardo’s, while Rachael, from Halifax, was a finalist in the Advocacy, policy and the media category. Richard, who has been supported in Ironbridge by Hft since 1988, likes to keep busy and says he likes to volunteer because he wants ..read more

MUSCULAR Dystrophy UK has been awarded the PIF TICK – the UK’s only assessed quality mark for print and online health and care information. Muscular Dystrophy UK, the leading charity for more than 110,000 children and adults in the UK living with one of over 60 muscle wasting and weakening conditions, had to undergo an assessment showing it met 10 key criteria to become a ‘trusted information creator’. The PIF Tick shows the charity’s health information has been through a professional and robust creation and review process. This includes evidence sources, digital and health inequalities ..read more

Tony Flower writes TALKBACK’S Got Talent seems such an obvious statement. When we work with our members on a daily basis, we all know that talent shines from each and every one of them. On 9th April, we were privileged to attend the first Talkback’s Got Talent show. And what an amazing day it proved to be! No one should underestimate the courage it takes to stand on stage and perform in front of peers, parents and staff. A fantastic festival of song, dance and entertainment, the show was also a testament to the dedication of our staff who put it all together. The Theatre Group set the mood for ..read more

GIRLGUIDING, the UK’s largest youth organisation dedicated completely to girls has launched its environmental sustainability strategy outlining long-term commitments across the entire movement to become more sustainable and protect the planet. In setting its target, last year the charity looked into the carbon footprint of the entire Girlguiding movement in the UK, from its headquarters and trading, through to the buildings owned by Girlguiding’s nine countries and regions and guiding activities. The organisation also took into account the carbon produced through buying and sell ..read more

A blind veteran from the Isle of Wight has organised a fundraising walk with a difference to raise money for Blind Veterans UK, the national charity for vision-impaired ex-Service men and women, which has turned his life around after sight loss.  Ian Summers, 44, from Shanklin, has organised the ‘Blindfolded Bimble’ in response to Blind Veterans UK’s Armed Forces Month campaign, which calls on people to organise activities to celebrate and commemorate key dates in the month of June while raising vital funds to support its work.    Ian is challenging walkers to pair up, taking it ..read more

SINCE 1970, Earth Day has been marked annually on 22 April to encourage people to take time to appreciate the environment around them. When the team at Duckyls Farm, a care home for adults with learning disabilities, discussed Earth Day’s steadfast commitment to end plastics for the sake of human and planetary health, they decided that they wanted to participate in some small way. The team decided that their residents might enjoy recycling some plastic from the farm. Thinking creatively, they decided to use plastic water bottles as bird feeders on their 100-acre farm. Residents Glen and Jason ..read more

CHILDREN’S book Are You a Monster, by Guilherme Karsten and published by Happy Yak has been recognised as the best new book for sharing with young children, by the UK’s leading children’s reading charity, BookTrust.   Are You a Monster, which is also illustrated by Karsten, was awarded the prestigious BookTrust Storytime 2024 Prize at an award ceremony today. The awards, which are now in their fifth year, were virtually attended by a host of authors and stakeholders from the children’s book sector. The winning book was voted for by librarians and families up and down the country and ..read more

A turkey farmer from the Midlands has helped raise more than £150,000 for charity after rowing 3,200 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. Rod Adlington and his Brightsides crew completed the epic trans-Atlantic crossing in aid of the Get A-Head Charitable Trust, which supports people with head and neck disease, and Meningitis Now, the UK’s leading meningitis charity which provides awareness, research and vital support to people affected by the devastating disease. Rod, who runs Adlington Turkey Farms at Balsall Common, in between Coventry and Solihull, along with crewmate Guy Minshull, an arable f ..read more