Background
We have been active in one form or another for many years. We are a registered charity (Registered Charity Number: 1102495) and received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services in 2005 for providing support, social and educational opportunities for people with all types of disabilities in West Somerset. We are lucky to be able to operate from The Seahorse Centre, the local day centre for disabled adults run by Somerset County Council. We have a service agreement with the SCC, whereby they give us the use of a room to use as a computer centre and and the use of other facilities as and when we require them. Our side is covered by our IT instructor, who teaches Seahorse learners computing and related skills.
As an organisation we are completely independent and run by a purely voluntary committee who receive no payments whatsoever for their services. We are funded by grants from as many sources as we can find. These grant applications take a great deal of time and effort filling in detailed forms and keeping records so that we can report back to the donors exactly how their money has been spent. This is required by the donors as a condition of their giving us a grant. Our members also raise funds for the organisation through raffles, coffee mornings, barbecues, and any other opportunity that arises.
We meet monthly at The Seahorse Centre on the last Monday of the month from 2.00pm to 4.00pm, except for August and December, when we are on holiday. We are always happy to welcome newcomers at the meetings, either as new members or holiday makers who are interested to meet us and have a coffee or tea and biscuits. This is a way for all of us to make new friends.