minibuses
For 44 years we have donated our iconic green minibuses to special educational needs (SEN) schools and organisations. Our specially adapted buses not only enable young people to get to and from school but enable them to get out and physically active in their local community, enjoying new experiences, accessing a wide range of sporting, educational and recreational activities.
Helping disabled young people experience a range of different environments and engage with their communities is critical to their wellbeing and development of life skills. Confidence, social skills, the ability to make friends – these and many more all help young people to fulfil their potential and play an active and valuable part in the world we live in.
Play and Sensory equipment
Play and sensory facilities have a significant impact on the mental, physical and emotional wellbeing of young disabled people while simultaneously offering a unique environment that improves interaction with staff and other pupils.
Sensory equipment provides a huge boost for young people living with disabilities who have communication difficulties. They can help create positive coping mechanisms for neurodiverse young people who experience processing or behavioural issues.
Sports Wheelchairs
We offered clubs and young individuals financial support to purchase starter sports wheelchairs, allowing disabled young people to regularly play, train and compete in sport at grassroots level.
We support British Wheelchair Basketball and Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby. By funding their junior development programmes we help them develop their youth engagement.
Bexley Snap minibus
18 months after their minibus was first donated, the new vehicle is still making a difference to young people living with disabilities at the school.
”One parent from a family we support is a single parent and she is not a confident driver. She has a six-year-old son living with autism and a 10-year-old daughter who has very few friends due to the behaviour and demands of her brother. The family were extremely isolated, with Mum very anxious about going out because of how her son would behave and the public judgement that may come as a result.
“With Bexley Snap’s early years and siblings projects, the whole family have benefitted from going out on every trip they can in our Lord’s Taverners minibus. With the combined support of Bexley Snap staff and other families, the daughter has made friends with other siblings and the whole family’s life has been enriched by new places and experiences. In a huge step forward Mum’s confidence is building to the point where she is now considering taking her family back to one of the venues she visited in the minibus.”
Rose Robb, Director at Bexley Snap (Kent)
Grants update
We continue to support the Johnners Trust and Fields in Trust. The Johnners Trust (formerly known as the Brian Johnston Memorial Trust), supports the development of young visually impaired cricketers and provides financial support to promising young cricketers in hardship to enable them to develop their skills within county academies.
Our current funding for Fields in Trust is to support their five-year project creating a green space legacy with links to the Wicketz programme. This aims to ensure that communities in areas of high deprivation have access to outdoor recreational spaces, protected in perpetuity.
As we now look to concentrate on our four flagship cricket programmes, 2020 saw our final year of funding for sports wheelchairs and play and sensory equipment in special educational needs organisations.
