We have always enjoyed strong support from
The Northampton Rugby Club and next year will be no exception.
The Virgin London Marathon takes place on
25th April 2010: six runners
from the Saints: Jim Mallinder, Allan Robson,
Brian Facer, Ross Stewart, Nicola Cobley,
and Andrew Kendrick have bravely committed
to representing Autism Concern in this world
famous event.
If you want to help them in reaching their
target of £6,000 you can donate and
leave a message of support for them via their
Just Giving page on
Many of you will have followed the progress
of Jon Sleightholme our president and his
team as they cycled from Northampton to Poitiers
then onto Marburg to complete the Twin Towns
Challenge in June 2009.This fund raising initiative was in response
to our appeal for funds in October 2008 and
has on its own raised over £35K, by
far our largest single fund raiser in our
history.
Other events have followed on from its success
much of our fund raising in 2010 are as a
direct result of the increased profile the
project has brought us.
Huge thanks to Jon, Peter and all the team
for this magnificent effort.
Autism Concern now runs
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LATEST NEWS
Activity Day Project
Autism Concern has a long history of providing
holiday activity days for children on the
autistic spectrum. We recognise how
important it is for our children to be able
to access structured play activities in a
safe environment supported by a knowledgeable
staff team. Demand for places
consistently outstrips supply particularly
in the Northampton area.
As a specialist provider of services we were
delighted to be able to increase our
provision in 2009 to encompass a new holiday
scheme in Daventry. 18 new families
were able to enjoy the Holiday scheme run
from Ashby Fields School. This site will
be added to the existing schemes which we
run from Northampton and Kettering during Summer
and Easter. Additional half term days
are also being planned.
I am also delighted to be able to report
that were have started a Saturday
provision, again funded by the aiming High
initiative. We have long been aware
of the need to increase the leisure opportunities
for our children at the weekend in keeping
with their peers and the importance
of providing short break for mums and dads
to spend time with other family members.
At the moment this is a pilot project for
children aged 8-16 from in the Northampton
area. Plans to roll out this project
to other areas are currently being assessed.
Part of our commitment to this service is
the recruitment of a dedicated Coordinator
to manage the day to day operations in addition
to acting on other initiatives and opportunities.
Previously we engaged Barbara Payne, a name
familiar to many parents, to manage the first
wave of this expansion. In October
she was joined by Sandie Evans who is currently
working on the Saturday programme and now
available to answer any questions you have.
Welcome
Autism Concern is a charity which provides support and
options to people affected by all forms of
autism in gaining independence and control
of their lives.
