Merchant Taylors’ and St. Helen’s Schools in Middlesex hosted another successful residential Phab Week in April. Students and staff warmly welcomed 21 young people who are disabled or otherwise disadvantaged for a fun-packed week together. Everyone had a wonderful time enjoying amongst many other things horse riding, the climbing wall, planting a sensory garden, arts and crafts, an amazing musical workshop with Electric Umbrella, and a visit to Thames Valley Park. This is what one mother said to the students and staff after collecting her daughter, “Thank you so much for everything that you do for our children/young adults, I know my daughter had an amazing week, made new friends and did some lovely things. You are a real credit, without your help and commitment there are limited places for our children/young adults to go.” And we are immensely grateful to Renee Nosmis who for her 50th birthday chose to motorcycle 4,000 miles across New Zealand in aid of Phab. Sponsorship money raised is being split between the Merchant Taylor's and St Helen's residential week and Phab for its own Inclusive Living Experience Residential Projects during 2019.
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Phab’s annual Volunteer Awards Reception took place in the Cholmondeley Room at The House of Lords, Westminster, on October 16th to acknowledge the outstanding contribution to Phab from 20 nominated volunteers from across England and Wales. The event was kindly hosted by Phab’s Vice President, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton. John Corless, Chairman of Phab, warmly welcomed Phab volunteers and supporters and special guests Baroness Thomas of Winchester, Lady Irene Morris, Lord Lloyd of Berwick, Lady Jane Lloyd and Anita Dobson, President of Phab. Three awards were made and all nominees received a dedicated certificate to recognise their individual achievements. Louis Goldberg Award nominees were Shannon Reynolds from Wisbech Phab, Jai Howell from I am Phab Bebington, Paul Mitchell from Torquay Phab, Lucy Barnes from Oldham Phab, and Flo Thomas from Kaos Youth Phab. And the Award winner was Perry Orr from Uckfield Phab (pictured below with Lord Lloyd of Berwick). Paul Hope Award nominees were Byron Dyer of Torquay Phab, Luke Tritton of Uckfield Phab, Rita Taylor of Merthyr Phab, Emma Clancy of Oldham Phab, Andrew Laycock of Chester Phab, James Caddy of Multiple Abilities Phab, Sarah Pilbeam of Wisbech Phab, June Gluning of Nene Valley Phab, Karen Chittock of Epping Forest Phab, Darren Parsons of Kaos Youth Phab, and Lorna Howell of I am Phab Bebington. And the winner was Barry Bryant-Kobil of Banbury Phab (pictured below with Baroness Campbell of Surbiton and Anita Dobson, President of Phab). The Lord Morris of Manchester Award, presented by Lady Irene Morris, was awarded to Andrea Cawthorne and the Reverend Daniel Bond for their work developing and promoting Phab Clubs and holiday projects run by schools and universities (both pictured below with Lady Morris and John Corless, Chairman of Phab). Congratulations to all Phab nominees and winners for their outstanding achievements in supporting Phab, and our thanks to all who attended this very special event. To see all the pictures from the event, please click here for our Facebook page.
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Rob Kelliher, a member of staff from St Helen's School in Middlesex, is raising vital funds for Phab Kids and the Phab Club run jointly by St Helen’s & Merchant Taylors' School by taking part in the Vitality Half Marathon in March 2019. Rob is pictured here with students and members from the Phab Club.
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Birmingham Phab Camps have produced a wonderful film showcasing their 50-year history, with footage from their first camp in 1967, interviews with the original founders and volunteers and people who attended the first camps all those years ago, as well as volunteers and children today and great footage of all the fun they have on their camps – past and present. To see the film, click here.
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For the last 46 years two schools, Merchant Taylors’ and St Helen’s,in Northwood, Middlesex, have run a residential Phab week providing a programme of exciting activities for disabled teenagers. Applications are now open for children to come on their 47th Phab Week from Monday 8th to Sunday 14th April. The Schools welcome applications from children and young people (approximately aged 13 to 19 years with some flexibility depending on circumstances) who have a physical, sensory or learning disability, multiple or complex medical needs, autism, or who are disadvantaged in some way having perhaps experienced bereavement or neglect. They also welcome applications from siblings. There are 10 spaces for boys and 11 spaces for girls this year. Application forms need to be in by Monday 25th February. For more details, email David Gibbons at dgibbons@mtsn.org.uk for male applicants, or Andrea Cawthorne at andrea.cawthorne@sthelens.london for female applicants.
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Phab has been invited by the ACT Foundation to become one of their selected Charity Partners, working even more closely with the Foundation to enhance the quality of life of disabled young adults. The ACT Foundation has supported Phab for many years, with donations towards our Inclusive Living Experience Residential Projects for children and young people, and last year visited our Project taking place at Avon Tyrrell outdoor activity centre in the New Forest. Following that visit the Foundation made a generous £10,000 general donation towards the 2019 ILX Projects and also invited Phab to put in a proposal for a new Project for disabled young people aged 18 to 25. This has led to a further donation of £10,000 towards a new Transition Plus Project for this older age range. This weekend Project will be held at Bendrigg Lodge’s fully accessible Outdoor Activity Centre in the Lake District and will enable young people to build their personal and practical skills, confidence and independence through a whole range of exciting and challenging activities and just having great fun together. Phab is delighted to become a Charity Partner with the ACT Foundation and to be able, with their generous support, to develop the new Transition Plus Project. We look forward to building a lasting relationship with the Foundation and together making a real difference to the lives and aspirations of many disabled young people in the years to come. Note: The ACT Foundation has recently changed its name to "The Edward Gostling Foundation" in memory of their founding Chairman and President Emeritus, Edward "Ted" Gostling CBE. February 2019
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Cecil Green Arts have been working with Bradford Phab club over the last few months to create lovely things for a fashion show, and here they are at their dress rehearsal before the real thing in December. Cecil Green Arts said “It's been a real privilege for us to work alongside folks at Phab and we've loved it”. Please see more photos and videos of the show here.
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Members of Selby Phab Club travelled to Strathpeffer in Scotland for a wonderful short break. They went with Shearings Holidays and stayed at the Highlands hotel which is a lovely old château. Whilst away they toured all around the highlands and visited Loch Ness, the Firth of Morey and the Firth of Forth and travelled over the new bridge. Pat Thompson, Club Leader, said “It was beautiful to visit in the autumn because it was very peaceful and colourful.” There was entertainment in the evenings including highland dancing and a fantastic singer and the food was excellent. It was a long journey - 12 hours in total - but everyone agreed it was well worth it!
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Phab's Volunteer of the Month - Stephen Dingley from Berkshire Phab! Stephen has volunteered in their kitchen for many years and has obtained his level 2 food safety award during that time. He has served more lunches than he can probably remember! Stephen joined the Phab family over 15 years ago when he joined the Saturday youth club as a member. Thank you Stephen! If you know someone from your club who is an outstanding volunteer - please send your recommendation and a picture to george.whittingham@phab.org.uk
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Mick Oxley of I AM Phab Bebington has been a member of Phab for many years. He was originally a member of the Birkenhead Phab Club and joined I AM Phab Bebington about four years ago. He has been a very valuable member by helping out in the club setting up Phab activities and running indoor accessible golf nights. He also collects equipment and is happy to do anything else that would benefit the club. Mick has helped organise the clubs Pontins holidays and provides transportation for other Phab members so that as many people as possible can attend. Mick also works in the very busy Phab shop two days a week and helps out immensely ensuring that we can raise as much money as possible for the club. Mick makes everyone smile with his witty sense of humour and his chatty and friendly personality. His wife Wendy also helps massively and together they are known as the Caped Crusaders because they always come to the rescue when things need to be done! Thank you Mick!
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You can actively support Phab’s work making a real difference to the lives of disabled and non-disabled children, young people and adults by nominating Phab in the Ecclesiastical Insurance 12 days of giving campaign and helping us to win £1,000! Just go to http://www.ecclesiastical.com/12days and complete the short nomination form. You’ll need our charity number which is 283931. Each weekday from 6th to 21st December, 10 charities will win £1,000 through the Ecclesiastical Insurance 12 days of giving campaign. That’s £120,000 to 120 charities in 12 days. The more nominations Phab gets, the greater our chances of winning. Nominations are open until midnight the day before each draw, with those charities not drawn carried over to the next day. So please make sure to follow the link http://www.ecclesiastical.com/12days to nominate Phab and tell your family, friends, work colleagues and anyone else you can think of. And if they want to know more about what we do, they will find us at www.phab.org.uk Thank you from all at Phab!
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Phab’s annual Volunteer Awards Reception took place in the Cholmondeley Room at The House of Lords, Westminster, on October 16th to acknowledge the outstanding contribution to Phab from 20 nominated volunteers from across England and Wales. The event was kindly hosted by Phab’s Vice President, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton. John Corless, Chairman of Phab, warmly welcomed Phab volunteers and supporters and special guests Baroness Thomas of Winchester, Lady Irene Morris, Lord Lloyd of Berwick, Lady Jane Lloyd and Anita Dobson, President of Phab. Three awards were made and all nominees received a dedicated certificate to recognise their individual achievements. Louis Goldberg Award nominees were Shannon Reynolds from Wisbech Phab, Jai Howell from I am Phab Bebington, Paul Mitchell from Torquay Phab, Lucy Barnes from Oldham Phab, and Flo Thomas from Kaos Youth Phab. And the Award winner was Perry Orr from Uckfield Phab (pictured below with Lord Lloyd of Berwick). Paul Hope Award nominees were Byron Dyer of Torquay Phab, Luke Tritton of Uckfield Phab, Rita Taylor of Merthyr Phab, Emma Clancy of Oldham Phab, Andrew Laycock of Chester Phab, James Caddy of Multiple Abilities Phab, Sarah Pilbeam of Wisbech Phab, June Gluning of Nene Valley Phab, Karen Chittock of Epping Forest Phab, Darren Parsons of Kaos Youth Phab, and Lorna Howell of I am Phab Bebington. And the winner was Barry Bryant-Kobil of Banbury Phab (pictured below with Baroness Campbell of Surbiton and Anita Dobson, President of Phab). The Lord Morris of Manchester Award, presented by Lady Irene Morris, was awarded to Andrea Cawthorne and the Reverend Daniel Bond for their work developing and promoting Phab Clubs and holiday projects run by schools and universities (both pictured below with Lady Morris and John Corless, Chairman of Phab). Congratulations to all Phab nominees and winners for their outstanding achievements in supporting Phab, and our thanks to all who attended this very special event. To see all the pictures from the event, please click here for our Facebook page.
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BBC Children in Need have awarded an amazing three year grant to Phab to help deliver our Inclusive Living Experience Residential Projects in 2018, 2019 and 2020! This annual and very generous grant of £45,000 for the next three years means that we can organise our very special programme of ILX Projects well ahead and with confidence – and Pudsey’s thumbs up to the Projects will hopefully encourage other donors to support them too! Each year around 115 children and young people who are disabled or disadvantaged in some way attend the Projects, held at fully accessible outdoor activity centres in the New Forest and the Lake District, and all supported by 100 amazing Phab volunteers, carers and staff. Most of the children are aged between 8 and 18 and many will have complex disabilities or will be away with Phab for the first time. The exciting and challenging activities they can all take on will range from canoeing, caving and cycling to climbing to the tree tops and whooshing down the zip wire! Through living and having great fun together, supporting each other and taking part in all the different physical and social activities, the children will grow in confidence and independence and build their self-belief, practical and communication skills. Families and carers tell us what a real difference they see when their child returns and the impact that their time away with Phab has on what they achieve or aspire to at home, at school and in their local community. Thank you Pudsey!
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The Santander Foundation has awarded a very generous Discovery Grant of £5,000 to support Phab’s Inclusive Living Experience Residential Projects Programme this year. Around 115 children and young people who are disabled or disadvantaged in some way will attend Phab’s very special ILX Projects, held at fully accessible outdoor activity centres in the New Forest and the Lake District and all supported by 100 enthusiastic Phab volunteers, carers and staff. And there is also the opportunity to take part in an amazing tall ships voyage with the Jubilee Sailing Trust! The children and young people will be aged between 8 and 25, many of them with complex disabilities or away with Phab for the first time. The exciting and challenging activities they can all take on will range from canoeing, caving and cycling to climbing to the tree tops and coming down the zip wire! Through living and having great fun together, supporting each other and taking part in all the different physical and social activities, the children will grow in confidence and independence and build their self-belief, practical and communication skills. Families and carers tell us what a real difference they see when their child comes home and the impact that their time away with Phab has on what they achieve or aspire to at home, at school and in their local community. Thank you Santander for helping us to make that difference!
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Over the summer of 2018, Phab partnered with Freedom in the Air, a not-for-profit organisation working to give children, young people and adults with disabilities the opportunity to pilot a plane. Phab Wings On Tour took off from four locations around the country to offer this amazing experience to our Phab Members. We had 80 “pilots” from 12 different Phab Clubs, both adult and children, with and without disabilities. Each participant took flight with their own personal instructor and, once in the air, even had the opportunity to take over the hand controls, giving them a total sense of freedom. At a height of around 2,000 feet the planes taking off from Barton Airfield had excellent views of the Trafford Centre, Manchester City Centre and Blackpool Tower! Those taking off from Tatenhill Airfield in the Midlands looked down on Alton towers and Uttoxeter Race Course. And for the Phab fliers in the South, taking off from Elstree and Redhill, it was lavender fields and lakes and, closer to London, views of Wembley Stadium and the Shard. We are incredibly grateful to our four air schools – Fly by Light, Redhill Aviation, LAC Flying School and Tatenhill Aviation – for their fantastically well organised flying days. And a huge thank you to Gautam Lewis, founder of Freedom in the Air, for offering our Phab members this once in a lifetime opportunity and to the Florian Charitable Trust for their generous support. Please click here for a video overview of this summer's flying days and use the following links to see Gautam’s videos of the flying days, at Manchester in May, at Redhill and Tatenhill in June, and at Elstree in July.
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Thanks to generous funding from The Florian Charitable Trust, Phab and Freedom in the Air are touring the UK during summer 2018 to provide free flying experiences to around 160 Phab members. The tour kicked off on the Royal Wedding Day 19th May at City Airport, Manchester and our excellent pilots and fleet were provided by LAC Flying School. With perfect weather conditions our Phab pilots and passengers had a bird’s eye view of Manchester and an amazing time was had by all. Learning to fly is not just for the wealthy and the Phab Wings on Tour event is a wonderful opportunity to introduce flying to disabled or disadvantaged people. A day in a light aircraft, safely taking control of the plane for a short period of time is a life changing experience and enables people to feel they can reach for the skies and achieve virtually anything. Further flying days are taking place over the summer at airfields at Tatenhill, Redhill and Elstree, and to see how everyone got on at Tatenhill on 9th June see our Facebook page here.
Read article“The experiences that Harriet has at Phab are having a huge impact on her whole development. A huge thank you to everyone who makes that possible.”
“This adventure gave Sarah time to grow and realise that being away from home is normal. So when she gets into her adulthood it won’t be so scary.”
“My daughter doesn’t get to go out to play with the local children and doesn’t get invited to many parties – but all of these things she enjoys at Phab.”
Please help us make a real difference to the lives of disabled and non-disabled people of all ages. By using Gift Aid, your donation will be worth even more to Phab at no extra cost to yourself. If you are a UK Tax Payer, Phab can claim an extra 25p for every £1 you donate through the Government’s Gift Aid Scheme.