" Service Above Self "

  OUR TREE OF LIGHT CHARITIES FOR 2009 WERE :-

Ludlow and District Riding for the Disabled

Ludlow and District Riding for the Disabled is situated at North Farm Riding Establishment on Whitcliffe, overlooking the historic market town of Ludlow and adjacent to Mortimer Forest.  

• From this superb location, volunteers enable 80 disabled people, adults and children, to ride four  days a week.
• RDA is a federated charity, which relies entirely on fund-raising.  Currently, there are 46 children from Special Needs Units from two senior and six  primary schools.  All the schools are local, i.e. three Ludlow schools, Infants, Junior and Senior; Hopton Wafers which also feeds Lacon Childe Secondary School, Bitterley at Caynham, and Clee Hill School.

Macmillan Cancer Support

Macmillan is campaigning for a better deal for people in Shropshire affected by cancer, now and in the future. We want everyone with cancer to receive the same level of care regardless of who they are and where they live.

Around 2,100 people are diagnosed with cancer in Shropshire every year.

They need treatment  and support. Macmillan helps by providing:

• Health Specialists: People in Shropshire benefit from 27 Macmillan professionals; nurses, doctors and therapists, who are specialists in cancer care. They help people manage their symptoms and aim to make living with cancer easier.
• Someone to talk to: Macmillan supports a network of self-help and support groups around the county.

Midlands Air Ambulance   

 Accidents will always happen, so it is reassuring to know that across the Midlands and Welsh border region we have an Air Ambulance service available 7 days a week, 365 days a year, just in case.

The Charity needs to fund-raise £5.6 million each year to support the work of the helicopter service

This is why so many people generously fundraise for the Midlands Air Ambulance and why we thank you for your continuing support.

The Charity operates three Air Ambulances, covering a geographically area of 6,000 square miles across six Midland counties. Midlands Air Ambulance carries out approximately 3,500 missions each year and has completed in excess of 30,000 life saving missions since it commenced in 1991.

The Town Mayor’s Charity

 " Working together "

 supporting people  with learning disabilities

"Working Together" is a voluntary organisation, affiliated to the Royal Mencap Society, and situated in the beautiful market town of Ludlow.  

It provides support, training, work opportunities and recreational activities for people with learning disabilities, and is firmly rooted in the local community.

 Working Together currently runs a little café in Fish Street, which includes a shop selling items made by the members, together with second hand books, plants and produce.  Craft workshops and training sessions are organised, using the café for this purpose, as well as a whole range of other activities at different local venues.

• Some of the members of Working Together are looking to their future, and have thought up a plan that will give them security, a safe place to live, with meaningful employment, an income, and a social life with companionship as they  (and their parents) grow older.
• Known as FLYING TORTOISES, the project, which is the inspiration of the members, is an imaginative eco community-living concept incorporating sheltered housing, employment, a training centre, holiday accommodation and respite care for learning-disabled adults and their families.

The Chinese regard tortoises as sacred because of their innate wisdom and protective instincts.  And, as Aesop reminds us in his fable, The Hare and the Tortoise, Slow and steady wins the race.