Members of our Club recently visited The Fifth Trust, a Canterbury based charity that supports people with learning difficulties.
The Trust's mission is to provide a safe and fulfilling way of life for adults with learning difficulties in East Kent, coaching each individual to achieve their potential.
The Trust provides a number of services over its two sites - the main one at Elham Valley Vineyard and also at Greenhills in Barham. There, students get to learn a number of skills and also get work experience. Their work is divided into three 'areas': grown (horticultural work), create (art, craft and design, including woodwork) and baked (products cooked by their students - which may be served in their cafe).
Last April the (then) Fifth Trust Chairman Mike Donnelly gave us a lunchtime talk on the launch of a financial campaign for the expansion of the Trust, aimed at catering for a much larger number of adult students from East Kent with learning difficulties, both residential and day care.
The financial campaign, fronted by the well-known actress Pam Ferris, is proceeding well. Meanwhile we learned from the Trust that the woodwork section was badly in need of some new equipment: three special hand sanders and two mobile sanding benches.
In response the Community Service Committee allocated £500 to cover the cost of these. On 25 January our President Sharon Jordan and some Committee members went to the Elham Valley Vineyard headquarters, to present the cheque for the sum to the General Manager Nikki Marley. While there our members were able to watch the students improving their woodworking skills and producing useful and decorative items for sale.
Picture: President Sharon Jordan with donation to Fifth Trust, pictured with General Manager Nikki Marley and some of the adults with whom the Trust works. Picture credit: Alan Forrest.
For more information about Fifth Trust, visit their website.
Also see the Facebook pages about the Trust's various activities:
The Fifth Trust Teashop, Elham Valley Vineyard
