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Lucy and Ali at the Compassionate City Awards

Compassionate City Awards 2022 Winners

 SNAPS are award winners!

Last night – Thursday 1st December 2022 – SNAPS attended the Compassionate City Awards 2022 as a nominated finalised in the category of Health and Wellbeing.
 
SNAPS had been nominated by one of our parents, Kathy Louca, in the category of Health and Wellbeing for our Family Support work. Our Family Support work is wide reaching from making everyone welcome at all our sites and services, to offering specific parent and carer sessions of support, as well as support activities and events. 
 
We are delighted to announce that SNAPS were the winners of the Health & Wellbeing Award! We are incredibly excited and thankful to everyone who was able to make this happen.

Lucy Owen and Ali Mitchell, who attended the  event, were presented the award by Pat McGeever, the CEO from Health for All.
 
Lucy Owen had this to say about our fantastic achievement: “We were absolutely thrilled just to have been nominated for this award and so win is the icing on the cake for everyone at SNAPS! Listening to the nominations on the night, it was clear that there are a multitude of people doing wonderful things across the city. 
 
“Therefore, for SNAPS to win this category is a testament to the incredible hard work of the staff and volunteers and of all our families who come together to make SNAPS the truly wonderful place it is.  I hope this award shows our families that they are not alone, that SNAPS and the city of Leeds recognises their journey and celebrates everything they have achieved.  We collected this award on behalf of you all.  We should all celebrate this win as the SNAPS family!”

To find out more about the Compassionate City Awards, please visit their website here.

Football instructor helping a young boy with his gloves

SNAPS Football Club

We are very excited at SNAPS to share the news that we are starting another football club with the Leeds United Foundation.
 
Football Club number two will run every Saturday in term time at Broomfield South SILC from 10am – 11am. Football Club is £3 per session and siblings can also join in with Football Club.
 
We have places available to start from April with us and also have some free taster sessions available.
 
Please email jo@snapsyorkshire.org  for more information or to book your place.
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Donation from Sovereign Health Care

We are delighted to be one of the chosen charities to be supported by the Sovereign Health Care Community Programme. 

Sovereign is a Bradford-based company, which has been concerned with the health and wellbeing of local people for over 149 years and this ethos is reflected in the community organisations and charities they support.

Through the Community Programme, we have received a donation of over £3,486, which will help to fund our stay and play sessions.

These sessions provide an opportunity for children to play, make friends and take part in activities such as music therapy and arts and crafts, in a safe and welcoming environment. They are also a chance for parents and carers to get together and talk to other parents who may have similar experiences. 

SNAPS hires specially trained teachers to deliver classes such as sign and sing, dance and drama, which the children love taking part in. These classes are important as children aren’t able to attend the mainstream versions, and they help to develop confidence, creativity and expression.

Russ Piper, Chief Executive at Sovereign Health Care, says:  “SNAPS plays an important role in the lives of children and families in West Yorkshire and it’s rewarding to know our donation can make such a difference to the Stay and Play sessions they provide”

Lisa Morton, senior fundraising manager at SNAPS, adds: “Everyone at SNAPS was delighted to receive such a generous donation from Sovereign Health Care! This donation will allow SNAPS to continue providing vital services while further developing our services to meet local need. We are so grateful to have been selected.”

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Site Manager Vacancies

We are recruiting two Site Managers at SNAPS!
 
 SNAPS is a Leeds based charity that supports children with additional needs and their families. We deliver opportunities for our service users to take part in physiotherapy, swimming, arts and crafts, dance, signing and football sessions. SNAPS is now 18 years old and over the last 7 years has seen a steady expansion of our service provision. 

As the need for our services to continue to grow, we are looking for two enthusiastic, fun, organised, professional and caring individuals to join our amazing team at SNAPS! 

One Site Manager will be based at Broomfield South SILC and one Site Manager will be based at Penny Field North SILC. Site Manager’s will need to be onsite between 8.30am and 2pm on the Saturdays we are open in term time. They will also need to carry out 1 hour of administration duties (flexible time) during the week, every week the project is open. Site Managers will take responsibility for the smooth running of SNAPS sessions each week. This will involve on site staff and volunteer management, supporting families and planning and managing activities. 

Site Managers will play a key role in SNAPS’s service delivery as they are the friendly faces that our families will get to know each week. Site Managers will work closely with the Assistant Managers on Site and the Children’s Services Manager who oversees the services we provide for children. 

Joining SNAPS as a Site Manager is a wonderful chance to help with children with additional needs and their families whilst having lots of fun! SNAPS is a supportive employer, and we aim to help our employees reach their own personal and career goals. 

For more information, please email Jo – jo@snapsyorkshire.org for the Job Description and Person Specification and application form. To apply complete an application form and send it to Jo Milburn – jo@snapsyorkshire.org by 09.03.2022
 
Swimming badges

SNAPS Swimming Badges

We are very excited to share the news that we will now be following the Rockhopper swimming certificates at SNAPS! And we hope everybody will be excited to start achieving their first swimming certificates with us. 

Rockhopper Series – STA.co.uk 

For further information on SNAPS Swimming or further information on the badges please do get in touch with Jo – jo@snapsyorkshire.org 

SNAPS Super Kids Awards 2022

SNAPS Super Kids Awards 2022

SNAPS Super Kids Awards offer the chance for us to celebrate the amazing children and families we are working with every week at SNAPS!

We are all about making the impossible possible for the children we support and these events are an opportunity to celebrate everyone and their achievements.

You can nominate your child for anything you wish from their beaming smile to achieving their physio goals, we want to celebrate every child we are working with and give all the children at SNAPS the opportunity to accept an award, including siblings.

To make your nomination, simply click on the link below to fill out the details in the nomination form and pick which awards event you’d like to attend. Each child will receive their award and a special treat to celebrate their awesomeness!

Nominations close 9th March 2022.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A NOMINATION

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End of year message

As we near the end of 2021 and have finished our first term back after lockdown, I wanted to wish you, our lovely families, a really happy and healthy Christmas and New Year.

As we all know, 2021 continued to challenge us all and we remain amazed at your reliance and determination.  You have shown us how you keep putting one foot in front of the other and in doing so achieve the very best for your family and community. 

At SNAPS the highlight of the year was opening our doors again in September and finally seeing your smiling faces in person!  Thank you for bearing with us as we worked out the logistics of PPE, waiting times, booking systems and facility issues.  I’m sure you agree that the staff and volunteer team have done a superb job of making sure we deliver brilliant services to you all despite the difficulties and restrictions.

We have loved seeing the kids back in the pool, on the trampoline, having fun in the hall and playing football at our football sessions. Our family support walk and talks and indoor meetings are going from strength to strength and it’s been wonderful to be able to provide counselling sessions for those who needed more in-depth support.

At SNAPS, our aim has always been and will always be to meet YOUR needs, so please keep talking to us and letting us know how we can support you.  We know that there will be more hurdles to overcome in 2022 but we are looking forward to getting stuck into the new year and delivering more fantastic services.   We appreciate our waiting lists are long at the moment and we are working hard to see what we can put in place to grow the number of families that we can support next year.

Until then, I hope you can all enjoy some happy Christmas times with your family and friends and we look forward to seeing you in January for lots more fun with your SNAPS family.

Merry Christmas!

Lucy Owen
Chief Executive
SNAPS

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Notice of SNAPS’ AGM: Tuesday 30th Nov, via Zoom

We are delighted to announce that we will be holding SNAPS’ Annual General Meeting at 7pm Tuesday 30th November 2021.  We would normally do this at one of our sites, but as we did last year, we will be holding this AGM via Zoom.  We would love as many parents as possible to join us virtually to hear about SNAPS’ last year of service delivery, more about the finances and management of the charity and this is also your opportunity to raise any suggestions or concerns you may have.  We are driven by our families’ needs and so your feedback and input in incredibly important to us.

To join the meeting please email Lucy Owen at lucy@snapsyorkshire.org to register your place.  You will then be sent the Zoom Link.

We look forward to seeing you there!

  1. Notice of the Annual General Meeting
  2. Minutes of SNAPS’ AGM 2020
  3. Nominations – November 2021
  4. Summary of Accounts – April 2020 to March 2021
  5. SNAPS CIO Annual Accounts – April 2020 to March 2021
  6. SNAPS Review of the Year – April 2020 to March 2021

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SNAPS Reopens!

SNAPS was able to reopen at Penny Field and Broomfield on Saturday 19th September.

After 18 months closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Government restrictions, families were able to attend site to restart physiotherapy, hydrotherapy and rebound therapy with our physio team. For the first time this year, families were able to meet up face to face and restart vital support services that have been sorely missed throughout lockdown.

Two special guests was also at Broomfield site to welcome everyone back. Spiderman and Spidergwen made an appearance at our stay and play session.

It is great to see everyone again, and SNAPS is happy to be able to provide the support needed to children with additional needs and their parents. We have lots of exciting plans ahead now we have reopened so keep an eye on our website and social media pages for more information over the coming weeks and months.

Our football sessions start again on Saturday 26th September at Middleton Leisure Centre in South Leeds.

Louise Tait-Simpson

Louise’s Online Raffle For Ava

Louise is grandma to Ava, who has been attending SNAPS sessions since October. Louise decided to hold an online raffle to support SNAPS, and she and her friends and family raised an incredible £2,775.50 in seven days! We are so grateful to everyone who supported Louise and the raffle – THANK YOU!!!

Ava Rose

Here is Louise’s story:

“I am nannie to Ava, who is 2.5 years old. Ava was diagnosed with cerebral palsy over a year ago when she struggled with her walking. This was a MASSIVE shock. Ava’s parents ,Joe (my son) and Nicola, had no idea her difficult birth had resulted in Ava getting brain damage. They had no support in place at all and found they were asking questions but were not getting answers, advice or information from hospitals and doctors.

“We have a very close family friend who accesses SNAPS at Penny Field with her son and family. She suggested we went to meet the group on a Saturday morning.

“Dean greeted us and from that moment on, we became part of the SNAPS family. That first visit filled us with every emotion: happiness, joy and sadness, as we realised we were now a ‘special’ family’,  but there was something for us and Ava. Nicola was immediately cocooned by the wonderful lady who started the group, and began to offer emotional and practical support.

“As the weeks went by, Ava met new friends, enjoyed new activities, started rebound therapy and had a hydro session. 

Raffle prizes

We felt to fundraise a few ‘quid’ would help with teas and coffees and the Christmas party. We live in Tadcaster, a small brewery town, and when friends heard we were fundraising ONLY eight days ago they started to offer prizes such as a free MOT, free plumbing, beauty/ hair vouchers, champagne, wine, a dog hamper, dog walking sessions, meals, cleaning hampers, hand made wall art, dog training sessions and a signed rugby ball.

“Friends and family started donating and it grew and grew soon over the £500 mark. We decided to have a raffle draw in the local pub and hoped to fill the snaps donation tin up…unfortunately this all stopped due to Covid-19. We soon changed plans and had close family to do the draw at Ava’s house. We did a live Facebook stream so that everyone could watch from their homes.

“We ended up raising £2785 ( inc gift aid and inc cash). This was amazing from our little town. Gifts were delivered and left on doorsteps so it’s been like Christmas in Tadcaster for a number of people!

“The response was amazing during this extraordinary life changing time. It was so easy to fundraise via social media and we were so surprised how easy it was to use the Virgin Money Giving site. It was all done whilst doing my full time job from my phone.

“Everyone is at home at the moment and it’s an ideal time to raise awareness of children with extra special needs and what charities like SNAPS provide. It was great to get the children involved making up the hamper and then bringing a bit of joy to people who are having to stay inside.”

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