News

Update: Edward has continued with his challenge and has now completed 253.2km – exceeding his goal of 240km (150 miles)! Well done Edward!

Thank you to everyone that has donated – all of us at SKY are incredibly grateful as every donation will help us to continue to support our group members at this challenging time.

We will provide a final update on Edward’s fundraising total soon!

Edward (son of Sue and David Higgs, who have been members of SKY since the early days) has been challenged by his school to raise £100 during June/July for a charity of his choice.

Edward has decided he wishes to support SKY and has challenged himself to cycle 150 miles (240km) during this time. So far, Edward has cycled 49.36 km and is therefore well on the way towards his target. We will be providing an update on how far Ed has cycled each week so watch this space!

As SKY doesn’t yet have a Justgiving account or equivalent, if you or anyone you know would like to sponsor Edward, you may wish to make a direct bank transfer to the Charity’s bank account:

Account name: Special Kind of Youth
Sort code: 53-81-33
Account number: 85597074

If you do decide to do this, please add reference “Ed Cycle” to your donation.

If relevant and if you have time, to enable SKY to claim gift aid on your donation, please email Sue Higgs at davidandsuehiggs@gmail.com with the following details, which she will add to the Sponsorship and Gift Aid declaration form:

Your full name:
Your home address including postcode:
Donation amount:
Date paid:

If you can gift aid, this will help us to get an extra 25% on top of your donation. So for every £1 you donate, we will get an extra 25p from HMRC for no extra cost to you.  For a donation of £10, this is £2.50! 

IMPORTANT: To be able to claim gift aid, you need to be able to confirm that you are a UK Income or Capital Gains Taxpayer for this tax year 2020/21. 

Please feel free to share this message with others you know.

Good luck Edward – and thank you from all of us at SKY!!

Rosie is a member of our Women’s group and has given us permission to share some of her wonderful poetry. We think it is so important to share the creative skills of our group members and to learn more about how their creativity helps them within their lives.

All of us at SKY feel proud to have such talented individuals in our groups!

Rosie is a twenty one year old woman, she uses poetry and other creative writing as a means to express her anxiety and other emotions. Communicating through writing gives Rosie a way to connect with those who have similar interests and may also experience anxiety and other barriers. Rosie finds that writing helps to relax her and acts as a way to release stress.  

Nature Poems

Spring in Malvern

Exploring the peaceful environment, the only noise is that of the individual songs of wildlife creatures. The breeze whistling through the trees and rustling through the plant life. Slowly walking through nature looking at the bluebell meadow, in the far distance the farmer’s deep golden fields stand amongst the green patchwork of endless countryside that runs on for miles. The gentle breeze cools me from the spring sun.     

The Spider

Spindly legs that look like fine strands of hair, a small framed body that looks like a clump of dust. Fast moving, scuttling across the room, the world’s finest gymnast. It scrambles away from the big predator eyes, seamlessly slipping into shadow, into safety where it watches the world go by.

The Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye 

The sky is filled with brooding ever present dark granite clouds, that loom over the swirling green sea of grasses. Small termite mounds like pyramids rise above the ground covered in silky pale grass, shaping this serene landscape. I stand there huddled in my waterproof coat as I try to stay warm against the stream of cool air that passes through me.  

Sammy is a member of our 16+ group and has given us permission to share a link to his YouTube channel.

Sammy says:

“I am Sammy G, a 21 year old YouTuber who does a bunch of different things, including movie reviews, animations, singing covers and vlogs. I make content and try to promote the idea that people with mental health issues an do anything they put their mind to.”

Sammy also has some great videos about Autism on his channel that all of us at SKY have found really inspiring. We feel privileged to be able to share some of the talent of our group members!

To check out Sammy’s YouTube channel please follow the link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC40dTldZe1eiKP9quSfSG3w

In May 2020 SKY Autism was awarded a funding grant by Worcestershire Community Foundation.

More information can be found here:

https://www.worcscf.org.uk/covid-19-charity-appeal.aspx

This funding is currently enabling us to:

• Run social groups for young people and adults with autism, and to offer support to parents. During the Covid-19 situation we are offering this support remotely.
• Run closed Facebook groups for parents and for the over 16 social group members. We use the social media pages to share ideas and to keep everybody up to date with SKY activities. We have been able to increase our social media presence during the current situation.
• Run weekly Zoom meetings for the over 16 social group members and to start a server on the Discord platform. Using this channel we have been able to bring the group together to play games, share pictures and engage in social chat.
• Provide 1-1 support by telephone and Zoom for current social group members where this is needed.
• Run film nights for social group members.
• Support parents through online contact including regular Zoom meetings.

We have been able to use the funding to maintain a high level of support during this difficult time, and to help prevent our group members from becoming too isolated and anxious.

Emma completed a 15 mile Malvern Hill walk to raise money for SKY yesterday.

A few people joined her on route, so it was lots of fun and the weather was kind! She has raised £830!

If you want to follow in Emma’s footsteps, get in touch to talk about fundraising and sponsorship opportunities.