The Community team is pleased to announce three charity’s of choice. We will deliver Events and competitions to support the Charities and will be the official sports deliver for theses charities. Keep up to date with events and competitions and ways to support our charities of choice on our competitions and events page and join our community online newsletter.
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Creating Chances Trust and Stourbridge Rugby Club – a charity partnership between the members, players, coaches, local business people and Dudley Council corporate parent personnel for children in care.
Children in Care are arguably the most vulnerable and powerless members of our society. Of people sleeping rough tonight, around 30% will have spent time in care and around 30% of the prison population is made up of ex children in care. Literacy rates are low but suicide rates are high. Education standards for care children are poor. A care leaver has a greater chance at 18 of being in prison than attending a University. It is not unusual for a child in care at 16 to have lived in 10 or more different homes.
There is no simple solution to the plight of children in care but a critical “protective factor” is better and more advanced education and skills opportunities alongside sporting and social opportunities that often lead to enhanced self confidence, improved social mobility and a degree of financial and personal security.
The core values of Rugby Union could have been written with direct reference to the specific needs of our children in care …. Teamwork, Enjoyment, Respect, Sportsmanship and Discipline. Developing confidence, learning responsibility, respect for self and others, discipline under pressure, realising personal potential and understanding the value of a healthy lifestyle are all critical transferable skills and attributes that are invaluable in underpinning the life chances of any human being. For children in care; providing the environment to develop such skills, can be literally life saving and Stourbridge Rugby Club with its ethics of community and camaraderie is uniquely placed to help children in care who are often the innocent product of “ broken society.”
“ To often sport is the preserve of leafy, middle class areas. Too rarely is it to be found supporting the parts of our country where so many of the failings of our broken society are all too evident. – But there is one vital area which I believe offers young children from difficult backgrounds the opportunity to develop self belief and self respect and turn their lives around. I am talking about sport”. – Iain Duncan Smith. Centre for Social Justice.
For further information please do contact Peter Cox on 01384 817855 or 01746 785309 – peter.cox@dudley.gov.uk
Glasshouse College, Stourbridge
Glasshouse College is situated on the old Royal Dalton glassworks site and that heritage of glass making forms a big part of the work that continues at the college. The college helps young people who have social, behavioural and learning disabilities such as autism, aspergers, ADHD and similar disabilities. The college aims to helps these young people by practical therapeutic skills and traditional crafts. A large part of the crafts offered to the students revolves around the history of the glassworks and includes glass blowing, glass cutting and glass engraving. Some of the teaching staff have been in the glass industry for decades and have been commissioned by royalty in the past so the students really are learning from the masters of their trade. Other crafts available for the students are weaving, jewellery, blacksmithing and bronze casting. The college also has a working farm in Kinver where the students work with livestock and plant and grow vegetables and fruit. The organic produce from the farm is sold through the shop on college site. There is also an area of woodland in Enville where the students have the opportunity to learn pottery, bow making and woodland management . There is a wide variety of activities that help the students to manage their disabilities with a view to helping themselves to become more independent.
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Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research is the only UK charity dedicated to finding better treatments and cures for all blood cancers, including leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma.
We invest in only the best research that brings the most benefit to patients.
With 50 years of experience investing in quality research, we have built unparalleled expertise in the field of blood cancers here in Britain.
For our life-saving work to continue, we need to raise over £20million every year.
