Friends of St Rose’s is a dedicated group of volunteers who work to raise money for St Rose’s and St Martin’s to support its inspiring and specialist work to provide education, therapy and care for children and students with a range of disabilities. We run several events each year to raise funds.

We are a small group of staff, friends and parents of past pupils, who meet once every half term for about an hour. New members are always welcome.  It’s fun, rewarding and inspiring – and there are many different ways to contribute, depending on your interests and skills. You can help by collecting raffle prizes and goods to sell, making cakes, selling raffle tickets, publicising events, helping with set-up on the day to set up and dismantle equipment.

Each year we need to raise thousands of pounds to pay for specialist equipment to empower the children and students of St Rose’s  and St Martin’s family to grow and achieve their full potential. This includes tools to empower and overcome challenges of daily life, such as being able to communicate, having mobility, accessing education and learning new skills.

Each year we hold a classic car show, garden fete and Christmas coffee morning. We also enjoy carol singing at Tesco’s. Every other year we hold the Rainbow memory ball, a showstopper event to celebrate and remember our amazing students and children. We organise many other smaller events such as fashion shows, pamper evenings and car boot sales.

Recently the money we have raised has funded the refurbishment of the dining room and the common room for post-16 students. We have also raised funds for new specialist resources for the library and to help pay for a Christmas party and presents for the children and students.

We welcome and are very grateful for the support we receive from students’ families and friends, staff and the local community. Without all of their support we could not achieve all of the inspiring work that St Rose’s does for children and students.

Our Income from events has grown over recent years thanks to the wonderful generosity of our supporters so, we decided it was about time to register as a charity to continue to give our donors the confidence we are handling their money properly!  As a registered charity we can also claim Gift Aid which means we can claim an extra 25p for every £1 donated by anyone in the UK who is a taxpayer.

The ‘Friends have also become a member of Parentkind; the leading organisation for parent teacher associations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The benefits of membership include access to expert advice and information, insurance cover and funding opportunities.

If you would like to join Friends of St Rose’s, please contact Elaine Shipway, Chair at admin@stroses.org.uk.

Registered Charity No: 1190368