Cash will pay for fun trips
2:00pm Saturday 16th February 2013 in News
Coun Noel Barrett-Morton, Coun Marian Hannaford-Dobson and organisers Sue Bailey and Judy Richardson with volunteers
Marlborough support group Inside Out is looking forward to two outings this year, thanks to a grant from the area board.
The group, which supports people with learning difficulties, was awarded £960 to be split between the two trips.
The Minstead Training Project in the New Forest, which has created its own garden, was brought to the attention of Inside Out’s group leader Sue Bailey at Chelsea Flower Show and she believes it will be a great inspiration for members.
She said: “I’m absolutely over the moon. Councillor Marian Hannaford-Dobson really put herself out there helping us to apply for this grant and I’d really like to thank her because we didn’t even know the money was there.
“We have been given a lot of money but we will put it to good use.
“Furzey Gardens is a gardening and horticultural project that is solely run by people with learning difficulties and they have created a beautiful garden, which they grow and sell vegetables from.
“I think it would be inspirational for people from our group to see just what they can achieve.”
About 20 members of the group and between 12 and 15 carers will go on the trip sometime in April or May, and the rest of Inside Out can get excited about a second outing in the summer which all members are getting involved with.
Mrs Bailey said: “Everybody has got involved making lists of places they’d like to go.
“It’s great because it’s their trip that they can really get involved with.”
“We could just go to the seaside but I think what we will probably do is go on a canal trip or something like that. We’ll organise the trip to Furzey Gardens first, see how much money we have left over and take it from there.”
After the Wyvern Centre and Adult Learning Centre closed in 1998, clients from Marlborough who attended these two facilities had nowhere to go.
Inside Out was set up 18 months ago to fill this void and relies on fundraising and volunteers. It meets from 10.30am-12.30pm every Tuesday at Marlborough Conservative Club, which they use free of charge.
