Charnwood Borough Council

“The Mayor’s Appeal for Glebe House” has clearly touched the hearts of the residents of Charnwood and with 3 months of the Appeal still to run, the Mayor of Charnwood, Councillor Roger Wilson, has already been able to use some of the money raised to make a difference to the lives of local people coping with severe learning difficulties.
Set up over twenty years ago by the local branch of Mencap, and occupying a Victorian House in Forest Road, Loughborough, the Glebe House Project offers day care activities and respite care for people with challenging conditions such as autism and Downs Syndrome.
The House is equipped with a self contained flat where users of the Project can spend a weekend, giving them valuable life experience of living on their own, overseen by professional helpers, whilst providing their normal home-carers with a weekend respite.
The cost of providing each weekend has meant that the Project can only make the flat available to 3 people each month, but through the funds raised for the Mayor’s Appeal, Councillor Wilson is hoping to pay for an extra 6 people to benefit from the experience.
The first of these extra weekends took place in February 2006 and the Mayor was delighted to hand over a cheque for £1500 to Project Manager Sue McGrath.
Sue McGrath, Project Manager at Glebe House, said “We are delighted that the Mayor has chosen to support local Charnwood people with learning disabilities, by funding extra weekend breaks for individuals who would not otherwise have this chance. The first weekend was a great success and others are already planned.”
The Mayor’s Appeal runs until May and with the fund currently standing at nearly £8000 the Mayor commented “Every penny we raise will enable somebody with learning difficulties to experience a little more freedom and give their carers some much needed time off. It’s great to see this locally raised money benefiting some local families who have to cope with extreme learning difficulties.”