On Monday 26th April the Syston Methodist Ladies meeting presented a cheque £800 to Deborah Hoggar of the Birstall Playgroup for children with special needs. The ladies had raised this amount through various events across the year. One of the group’s members, Irene Mason, has volunteered at the playgroup since she and her husband, the Rev. Ian Mason, arrived in Leicestershire around 10 years ago. Ian has also supported the group by chairing the management committee.Birstall Playgroup for children with special needs has been very much needed and always well used for 39 years. The playgroup was started by a Mum of a child with downs’ syndrome who still helps at the group today. Twice each week during term time, the group provides a warm, stimulating place for children to come and play. Parents who are concerned that their children aren’t meeting the expected developmental milestones can come along and see whether the playgroup suits them and their child, without needing a formal referral from a health care professional.
We meet in the hall at Birstall Methodist Church, on Wanlip Lane in Birstall and children from all over the County and the City attend. Presently we have 20 children who will come on a Monday or a Friday morning or both. The church also provides a coffee shop on site on a Friday, which has become a life line for the Parents and Carers of the children who take the opportunity to get together for a chat and a?coffee whilst the children play next door.
The mission at the group is to ensure that all the children enjoy messy play, imaginative play, creative play and constructive play. They want to help the parents and carers to enjoy their children and share their achievements and successes. There doesn’t seem to be anything too profound about that given that they are a pre-school playgroup! However for a lot of the children that requires a one to one carer, because of their physical disabilities, sensory disabilities, learning disabilities or because of their degree of autism. If they were required to pay all their helpers, nobody could afford them! The beauty and uniqueness of playgroup is that there is one paid leader and one paid deputy leader, the rest of the helpers give their time voluntarily. If they have pre-school children they bring them too. The end result is a busy, diverse mix of children wide ranging in their skills and abilities learning from each other. Parents and carers quickly find the confidence to begin leaving them, often for the very first time with friendly understanding people in a safe environment.
Although the playgroup receives support from the BBC Children in Need Appeal, they do not receive any statutory funding and depend on the sort of generous donations that groups like the Syston Ladies group have managed to raise. Deborah said “We were absolutely amazed by the size of the cheque. We knew that the group had chosen us as their fund raising project this year but had no idea that it would be such a large sum. We are extremely grateful and will spend it carefully.”
They intend to buy some specialised toys and aids to help all the children to participate in the play. The ladies were shown how to sign a greeting that the group use to start their sessions. This was an insight into how simple measures can make a world of difference to both children, parents and carers.
