2024 Charities – Gaddesden Place Riding for the Disabled and Up on Downs.
All the #stalbanspostboxes toppers are made with love, imagination and possibly some swearing, and at no cost, by volunteers.
Business sponsors generously gave their money.
Admin, emails, phone calls, helpers, web designers and hosters, map artists, app designers, photographers, Facebookers, bloggers, Instagrammers, all donating time and expertise behind the scenes.
We choose charities for the work that they do locally and for the wide range of people they support in and around St Albans.
ALL money received for the topper sponsorship is paid direct to the charities. Admin and support is provided by Clare and team at Atlas Translations; and Candy Stuart and Lucy Dronfield co-ordinate the fabulous volunteers on the yarnbombing team – who work practically all year!
About our 2024 Charities – Gaddesden Place Riding for the Disabled and Up on Downs.
At Gaddesden Place RDA, we believe that “it’s what you can do that counts.”
Our local charity gives children & adults with additional needs and disabilities, confidence, enjoyment and a sense of achievement through horse riding & equine interactions. This special bond between horse and rider has many benefits; increasing core strength, improving co-ordination & balance and building communication and social skills.
We usually have 6 ponies (although we are currently looking for 2 to complete the team) and over 80 volunteers, who ensure that we can provide year round indoor and outdoor therapeutic riding & equine activities, e.g. equine therapy, tea with a pony, hippotherapy and lessons on our riding simulator.
The activities benefit participants with a broad range of disabilities including cerebral palsy, learning difficulties, autism spectrum, muscular dystrophy and sight and hearing impairment.
It costs us over £100,000 each year to run the centre and we receive no regular external funding. So, as a self funding charity, we rely on our active fundraising programme, grants, donations and the generous support of the local community to keep the centre running.
Your support is greatly appreciated by everyone at Gaddesden Place RDA and we look forward to seeing the amazing postbox creations this year.
A member of Riding for the Disabled Association Incorporating Carriage Driving
Registered Charity Number 1140330
Up on Downs
Up on Downs is a parent run organisation which supports families of children with Down’s Syndrome. We support other parents by sharing information and creating opportunities for families to socialise and learn together. We support our children by arranging specific activities and by working with other agencies to increase awareness of Down’s Syndrome and improve the opportunities available to people with the condition.
We welcome parents and practitioners from all over Hertfordshire and the surrounding areas. We are able to offer one to one support for new parents, family meetings with children’s activities, outings to farms, theme parks and places of interest, and workshops and education days. We also run an early development group and specialised speech therapy classes and we distribute regular newsletters and events listings.
Affiliated with the Down’s Syndrome Association.
Charity Number: 1126111
St Albans Postboxes – quick history!
Since we started, we have supported many charities, large and small. All providing support to many sections of the community:
Dec 2018 Earthworks, Counselling Foundation, Ollie Foundation – £10191.60
Dec 2019 Age Concern St Albans, Small Acts of Kindness £12344.44
Summer 2020 covid special St Albans and District Foodbank and Open Door St Albans £3520.56
Dec 2020 St Albans and District Foodbank and Open Door St Albans £26494.52
Dec 2021 The ADD-vance ADHD and Autism Trust and YOUTH TALK £30097.50
Dec 2022 St Albans Community Pantry and St Albans Action for the Homeless £25219.20
Dec 2023 Cancer Hair Care and Hertfordshire MIND Network £25006.75
We stipulate that whoever we support must be a registered charity. They must provide evidence of this, and they must have an official charity bank account, run by Trustees. We also require the charity to be registered with a charity fundraising platform such as Just Giving or Give As You Live Donate. This means donations are made directly to the fundraising platform and split and distributed directly to the charities – no money passing through anybody else.
By changing our charities each year, we are shining a spotlight on different charities each year, and helping different charities. Each charity is different – we believe all are deserving of our support for the work they do in the local community.
We run the postboxes project for the community – and believe it’s a true community project with volunteer makers, local business sponsors and then donations, love and support from the wider community.
Of course there are 100s of causes we could support. Unfortunately, especially with a cost of living crisis, a recession and everything else going on, more people than ever need more support in all sectors.
We work hard to keep the project running as simply as possible. If you have a suggestion for a local registered charity, you are welcome to contact us, or suggest to the charity that they put themselves forward. We also welcome any help with social media and marketing, press etc.