We think it’s worth celebrating how Nottinghamshire Down’s Syndrome Support Group has grown in the past 3 years, and to say thank you to all of you!
Today, we have 300 Facebook members, constituting over 200 families – each one a parent/carer of a child with DS, or a person with DS themselves. In January 2020, before Covid lockdown, NDSSG we had 60 Facebook members.
Now, in less than 3 years, we have 5 times that number! And on top of that, we have 20 or so families who don’t use social media. Each member is a person or a family who uses NDSSG for support, friendship, advice, activities or networking. Or for all of them.
The NDSSG trustees and organising committee have worked so hard the past 3 years to ensure there are loads of good quality opportunities for our members, and that everything we do is done to a high standard.
3 years ago, we were a committee of 3 people, who organised a summer fun day, and Christmas party each year. To be honest, that was pretty much all we did!
Now …
We have 12 trustees and a further 10 people who make up the organising committee.
We run 2 football sessions in Nottingham every week for anyone 5+ years (and are looking to expand this to north Notts)
We run 2 dance sessions in Nottingham each week for anyone 6+ years
We organise 5 big events for all our members every year which take place in different areas of the county
We make at least 2 signed videos to include all our children/adults and promote our group
We create and give new baby packs to all babies born in Notts and work closely with the DS paediatricians
We run a regular baby/toddler group in Nottingham, and do an annual trip with all our U5s families
We have a monthly Saturday drop in in Mansfield
We run monthly activities for our older teenagers (16+) and adults
We have a fab website, as well as social media pages on Instagram and Facebook
We are hoping and planning to produce our own book to give out to all new families, featuring our current members to support, encourage and inspire the readers
We attract funding to cover much of the cost of our activities so we can offer them to you at a very cheap price
And perhaps the biggest thing is we are now a registered charity!
We don’t know about you, but we want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has helped make this group what it is now, and puts in so much time and effort each week/month.
You are all amazing!