Who we help

Introducing some of our Members

We support people with mild and moderate learning disabilities, from the age of 14 onwards. Some of our Members also have a physical disability. We are dedicated and passionate about what we do, and ensure that people we support with varied needs have choice and the opportunity to access our unique and popular services where they can enjoy themselves but also improve their skills, physical health and wellbeing, communication, social skills, self-esteem as they reach their own potential.

Adrian

Adrian

Adrian

Empowering Adrian through teaching him life skills is crucial to foster his independence and confidence.  Adrian particularly enjoys being outdoors around vehicles and is both an excellent artist and has also developed many practical skills in basic vehicle maintenance, helping to keep our fleet of vehicles on the road.  Adrian takes responsibility for helping to check brake lights, keeping vehicles clean and fuelled so that they are always safe and ready to go for our many community-based activities such as walking, rambling, sports, visiting the supermarket or library or playing a meaningful role in helping to deliver plants, logs, compost and even Christmas trees!

Life skills are key to fostering independence and confidence for our Members, our weekly shopping group regularly check with catering for ingredients to write a shopping list, budget and collect supplies at the supermarket helping them to use money and navigate.

Your donation will enable us to give people like Adrian real life based opportunities to develop his independence and self-esteem.

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Annie

Annie

Annie

Supported work in our very own café and shop provides so many benefits for Annie.  Social interaction has helped to enhance her communication skills and confidence. Regular interaction with customers has helped Annie to feel she belongs and to build her independence and responsibility, all crucial for growing her self-esteem which we have seen soar as she is supported to undertake tasks.

Annie’s newly learned practical skills, such as recognising and handling money, which enhances her numeracy skills and literacy skills whilst taking orders helps to boost her memory and organisational skills which she applies to other daily living tasks.  The structured environment supported by staff and volunteers help Annie to learn to multitask and manage her time as she develops her reliability.

For all our café and retail workers they experience a real sense of inclusion and community belonging, overcoming barriers to disability. Annie regularly showcases her capabilities and is proud of her work. The supportive environment in the café and shop helps to contribute to her personal growth and her independence.

Support people like Annie and help us improve people’s independence and choice and provide hope for their future by donating to Ripon Walled Garden.

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Ellen

Ellen

Ellen

Ellen enjoys swimming which is excellent physical activity and improves her health whilst having a great time with friends. It also helps to develop routines and responsibilities and independence, Ellen has to  for pack and bring her swimming kit and get changed. Swimming helps Members to be active and central to the local community.

Ellen also participates in Drama.  Drama helps to develop physical, cognitive and social skills and importantly builds her confidence and helps her express herself.  Participating in drama builds both verbal and non-verbal communication skills, which supports her wider communication and being part of a cast helps her with teamwork and co-operation with others respecting everyone’s valuable contributions.

Help us to offer opportunities that make a real difference to peoples mental and physical health.

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James

James

James

James is partially sighted and in a wheelchair, however, this never stops him from achieving great things.  In our workshop he has been supported with specifically adapted jigs to create incredible work – he has even made a rocking horse for his niece!

James has benefited from working closely with his 1:1 volunteer support to focus on much larger projects in the workshop and this has required great determination and creative thinking.  James is very proud of his work and loves gifting his items to friends and loved ones.  James is always happy to talk with us about our stock levels for woodwork items in our shop and he plays a key role in stocking up our shelves with beautiful chopping boards, coasters and trinket boxes, which are hugely popular with our customers.

Your donation helps us to provide skilled staff and tools and equipment so that our Members can be supported to learn new skills.

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Philippa

Philippa

Philippa

Autism can sometimes affect a person’s social interaction, communication and behaviour.  Through Sing and Sign, Philippa can communicate effectively.  She enjoys learning sign language in a fun and non pressured way which has helped her grasp basic signing skills so that she can communicate with different people around her who may also use Sign as a form of communicating their needs and expressing themselves. From weekly practices to stage performances, Philippa has grown in confidence and made friends in a calm, enjoyable and fun environment and looks forward to coming to her session every week.

Philippa has also derived great benefit from the weekly lunch group, where she is supported to make her own lunch, expanding her knowledge and helping her to learn new life skills and develop more independence, whilst learning to prepare food for herself and eat with her friends in a sociable way, which many of us take for granted.

Your donation will help people with autism to learn new skills to help build their independence.

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James

James

James

James is supported to develop his catering skills which provides valuable life skills.  Our catering sessions are all delivered in a specially adapted dedicated catering environment which means that people like James can be fully included and supported to focus on practical hands-on catering.  James has learned essential kitchen skills such as chopping, weighing, mixing and cooking as he helps prepares items for sale in the café. These have all helped to improve hand eye co-ordination, concentration and problem-solving skills. James has also completed his Food Hygiene Awareness certificate as part of his catering session, so that he can work in a safe environment which helps him both here and in his wider independent living.

Help us, to help our Members to learn skills they make a meaningful difference to their lives.

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Simon

Simon

Simon

Gardening is a mood booster which helps us all with our physical and emotional health. Simon very much agrees and loves gardening, where he is encouraged to make his own choices and has learned new skills and how to problem solve.  Simon’s hand eye co-ordination has improved along with his concentration and patience from growing plants from seeds or carefully tending to the plants in the sales area and watering.

The garden offers enormous variety in tasks as the seasons change, this offers Simon and his fellow gardeners the chance to work on new projects and gain confidence. As well as appreciating how gardening keeps him fit, Simon enjoys the social side of being part of a team with a common goal and making a difference, helping his confidence grow as well as his plants!

Our Head Gardener Emma says “Simon has gained independence and responsibility whilst learning new life skills, he is an important member of the team and we rely on his skills and smiles to help our gardens grow”

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Stuart

Stuart

Stuart

Stuart really enjoys DIY, and is always happy to help when something needs repairing on site.  He has shared his DIY knowledge with other Members and we have really seen his confidence grow in lots of areas of his life.  Stuart regularly contributes in our Member Voice meetings and he takes this role of being the representative for all the Members in the garden with pride.  This has helped Stuart gain confidence in more formal settings to express his views.

Stuart has also learnt new skills and enjoyed having the opportunity to plaster and decorate when we had our new café and shop built, he enjoys being part of a team and is a good problem solver and we have encouraged Stuart to use these skills when we have had building projects on site.

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Matthew

Matthew

Matthew

Matthew loves to perform and has really enjoyed the opportunity to perform in our production of Mary Poppins with the Drama group.  Matthew also attends our Sing and Sign session and the group have performed at Ripon Cathedral and many other local venues.  Matthew and his friend Stevie, who also attends Ripon Community Link,  are lead singers in their band Music Men and they rehearse each week with the support of two of our wonderful volunteers.  The band has quite a local following and Matthew and Stevie love to play to an audience, and you can see their confidence grow using their acting skills from Drama to get into role and encourage the audience to participate.

This confidence when in the community and in social situations is a great life skill and one that they are able to use again and again when in new situations or meeting people for the first time.

Matthew is always keen to try something new and doesn’t like to miss out on any opportunity. He will always throw himself into a new challenge and give it 100%.  Matthew doesn’t do half hearted or half measures at anything he does!

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