The Greater Manchester Health & Social Care Partnership has asked for art to brighten the walls of the new NHS Nightingale Hospital North West, at Manchester’s G-Mex Centre. And we at the Together Trust are responding.

The children and young people in our schools and care settings, who in many cases have learning disabilities, complex needs, communications difficulties and autism, have been busy creating art in all shapes and sizes.

Become part of #TeamTogetherTrust by taking on The 2.6 Challenge from Sunday 26th April. Whether you’re running around the balcony for 2.6 miles, baking 26 cupcakes in 26 minutes or completing 26 burpees in a row. Whatever you do, your support will help us continue to provide care, special education and support services for young people, adults and families across the North West.

The Together Trust’s Bridge College in Manchester has been shortlisted for a national award, in recognition for its work in supporting students with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD).

Natspec, the awarding body, shortlisted Bridge College from more than 50 entries from across the county in the ‘Inter-disciplinary Working’ category for the college’s project ‘Innovation in supporting students with PMLD: Achieving integration of learning and therapy through Physiotherapy and Sensory Sport.’          

Rachel Peek is an occupational therapist at the Together Trust and though she’s only been in post for a little over a year she’s already made her mark in her field, having recently had an article published in Occupational Therapy News magazine about the eating disorder Pica.

Pica is characterised by a tendency to eat substances that provide no nutritive value such as soil, chalk, hair or paper.

“As a medical condition it’s been diagnosed in pregnant women, in those with and iron deficiency and in patients who have a mental health condition” Rachel explained.

Daniel Turner, Managing Director of Stockport business William Turner, came to our Cheadle site recently to present us with a cheque for £8,967.41 raised by the company and its employees during its one year charity partnership with the Together Trust.   

The family run business, now in its third generation, has been supplying high quality handmade school and corporate wear through independent retailers for more than fifty years. The company’s products, including school accessories such as bags, are manufactured locally in its own factories in Nelson and Skipton.

The BBC came to see us this week, to learn all about the Together Trust and what we’re doing to mark our 150th anniversary, including our 150 Artists Exhibition at The Lowry Centre in Salford.

A new exhibition at the Lowry Centre has opened this week in which work from children and adults, supported by the Together Trust, as part of the charity’s 150th anniversary celebrations.

Sarah Callander Beckett, the owner of Combermere Abbey, visited the Together Trust in Stockport this month to present the Trust with a cheque for more than £13,000, raised by the Combermere during its one year charity partnership with the charity. 

The Together Trust is 150 years old this year and throughout 2020 we’ll be celebrating 150 years of supporting children, adults and families in the North West of England.