Sunbeams Community Hub - inclusive sports area

by Sarah Southernwood in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, United Kingdom

Total raised £17,689

raised so far

+ est. £181.00 Gift Aid

81

supporters

Sunbeams wants to upgrade their outside play area to make it more appealing & inclusive by creating a safe, secure & open space for sports.

by Sarah Southernwood in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, United Kingdom

We're still collecting donations

On the 12th January 2025 we'd raised £17,689 with 81 supporters in 76 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.

Who are we?

Sunbeams stands on the site of a previous respite centre for children and young people in Gt Yarmouth, but due to its closure by Ofsted in 2012 families affected by autism were left with no support.

The founder and former manager Monica Bates was initially approached by children’s services and the early years team to ask if she would be interested in setting up a new centre. Following extensive research she found there were no provisions in East Anglia providing respite for parents of children and young people with Autism. Armed with this knowledge andthrough personal experience and a back ground in childcare she agreed.

Sunbeams was formally founded in 2014, and after working with other local charities to initiate contact with families opened with 5 children. Following registration with Ofsted we steadily developed services to incorporate families and grew to the establishment we have now.

Today, Sunbeams Play is an Ofsted registered charity with an outstanding grade supporting children, young people and families affected by autism, a lifelong condition that affects social and communication skills often causing anxiety, depression and emotional turmoil for all concerned. We currently provide specialised out of school activities for 5 – 25 year olds, support for young carers, parents and carers, a late diagnosis support group, Stay and Play as well as individual support and training.

Activities provided are all differentiated and adapted to ensure a comfortable, safe and accessible environment for all those using the services, offering an holistic approach to family well-being, lowering emotional and aggressive outbursts, isolation and exclusion while raising self-esteem, confidence, family and community cohesion.

Sunbeams has a commissioned psycho-therapist who is working closely with members of Sunbeams who have been identified as needing support with wellbeing, stress, anxiety etc.

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Why are we crowdfunding?

Sports England will award Sunbeams £7500 towards their upgrade on the condition Sunbeams can match fund through Crowdfunder, so all support will be very much appreciated!

How we’ll spend the money raised

Sunbeams has worked hard to be able to purchase a new venue which has more outside space for their service users to access, giving them more opportunities to engage in physical activities, take part in team games and exercise in a safe, secure and inclusive environment.

Sunbeams supports the autistic community, their families and their carers, as well as other neurological disorders such as epilepsy, ADHD and dyspraxia.

Sunbeams provides support through a variety of ways including respite, trips and counselling. By developing a fun and interesting outside area for sports activities and games we will be introducing new opportunities that will encourage the development of social skills, teambuilding and turn taking, as well providing the space and tools needed to fully engage in physical activities.

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The project see's the removal of the concrete carpark which will then be replace with top soil and turf. The space will then become a large green area that can be utilised in a number of ways including games of rounders and lawn bowls. Consultation with members who attend Sunbeams services has ascertained that members would like to build assault courses, den building and ball games. Sunbeams currently has an outside table tennis table which will be relocated to the new outside area.

The reason for the move to the new building is due to the sheer numbers of children and young people we have on our waiting lists, many of which are not attending schools due to lack of suitable places that can meet their needs. The new building will allow Sunbeams to reduce their waiting list by 60 children and young people.

All service users were involved with discussions around what they wanted to see happen with the new building, what activities they would like and how they would like the outside area to look. Feedback pointed to a large grassy area where sports and exercise activities could take place and where we could offer a variety of different types of sports, team games and outdoor play.

Sunbeams service users range from birth all the way through to old age and we want this space to provide inclusivity and accessibility for all.

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Community impact

Sunbeams has been running at maximum capacity for over two years now and it feels like a natural progression to be able to move to a larger base, employ more staff and reach out to more of the autistic community who are asking for support.  Sunbeams will strengthen by employing more people with the skills needed to support the autistic community, reaching further out into the community and becoming more prevalent and known in the autistic community.  Sunbeams will also offer training and work experience opportunities to the autistic community.  

Our vision for Sunbeams is for it to expand further into the autistic community and become a recognised name for anyone who needs support around autism, we want to be able to offer learning opportunities to develop life, social and work skills to promote independence.  We want to have a doctor and dentist based at the centre once a week and a hairdresser once a month – as these are areas of difficulty for a majority of our service users.  We have a local surgery who is very interested in moving this forward.

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How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

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Rewards

This project offered rewards

£20 or more

£20 Reward

Thank you card made by the members of Sunbeams

£50 or more

£50 Reward

Sunbeams Community Hub Tote Bag made by members of Sunbeams

£100 or more

£100 Reward

Thank you card and Tote Bag made by members of Sunbeams Name/Business added to our 'Wall of Fame' of supporters that have made the sports area happen.

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