Grace Eyre Neurodiverse City

From: Jennifer Good <JGood@grace-eyre.org>

Subject: It’s time for Neurodiverse-city – thank you mencap!

Date: 6 August 2026 at 19:47:31 BST

After hundreds of hours and months of planning, tis the eve of Neurodiverse-city! “Brighton Celebrates All Our Different Minds”.

Thank you all for your continued support over the years! As I dig out my bubble machine, bunting and flowers from funfest for the finishing touches, I’m reminded how it’s all because of you that this was even possible. And how many years in the making this has been. Remember when we just took 6 people to the park? And now we’re gathering 40 partners/local businesses & showcasing almost 50 people on stage tomorrow eve.

All day as we set up people stopped to tell me about their own neurodivergent experience. It’s happening, the awareness, the conversations, are already happening! And tomorrow there will be even more education, and celebration too! It feels like the communities we support will get a big voice and presence. Neurodiverse-city is right in the centre of town!

Thanks Brighton and Hove mencap! Our little funfest has gotten a bit bigger…

Brighton Pebbles Update for Brighton & Hove Mencap

We’ve had a busy few weeks over the Christmas holidays, with several trips and activities for families. These included: –

· SEN Session at Out of Bounds Activity Centre – enjoyed by 6 families

· A trip on the Bluebell Railway – 6 families

· Bowling at Brighton Marina – 5 families

· Sky High trampolining = 5 families

· Peter Pan Pantomime in Eastbourne – 11 families

We also had a Christmas Party held at the venue we normally have our weekly drop-in sessions, with the addition of a bouncy castle and a visit from Father Christmas!

21 families joined in the fun, which was lovely, if a little loud!

In addition, we organised an ice skating trip at Brighton Pavilion where 3 families came along and 5 families from our Over 18s group had lunch at the Sportsman Carvery together.

Looking ahead to February half term, we have limited our activities to Sky High trampolining and Bowling at the marina – choosing indoor activities whilst the weather is not so likely to be good!

Hopefully as the weather improves moving into Spring, we can get out and about again during the Easter holidays.

Thank you as always for your continuing support to Brighton Pebbles – we are very grateful.

Hill Park School

Good afternoon

On behalf of all our pupils, families, and staff, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks for your incredibly generous contribution towards our residential trip to Lodge Hill.

Your support played a vital role in making this experience possible. Quite simply, without your funding, the residential trip would not have been able to take place. Thanks to your generosity, we were able to provide an unforgettable opportunity for our pupils, creating memories and experiences that will stay with them for years to come.

This year marked our third residential visit to Lodge Hill and, thanks in part to your funding, we were able to extend the trip to two nights and book the entire venue. This allowed us to welcome more pupils than ever before and provide a fully inclusive experience tailored to the diverse needs of our cohort, including pupils with PMLD, SLD, and MLD.

The funding enabled us to maintain the high levels of staffing and support required to ensure every pupil could participate safely, confidently, and successfully. Having the appropriate staff-to-pupil ratio meant that each child received the individual support they needed, allowing them to fully engage in every aspect of the residential experience. Your contribution also helped reduce the financial burden on families, and in a couple cases enabled us to majority fund places for families experiencing financial hardship. This ensured that every pupil had an equal opportunity to take part, regardless of their circumstances.

Lodge Hill provided a fantastic environment for learning, adventure and personal growth, set against the stunning backdrop of the South Downs. Throughout the trip, pupils challenged themselves through a wide range of exciting activities including archery, sno-tubing, zip-wiring, adapted biking, tunnelling, and for the first time this year, go-karting. Many pupils achieved things they never thought possible, building confidence, resilience, independence and self-belief along the way.

The evenings were equally special, with discos, games, films, and opportunities for pupils to socialise, relax, and strengthen friendships outside of the classroom. These shared experiences helped develop communication skills, teamwork, and social confidence in a way that simply cannot be replicated within a school setting.

The staff at Lodge Hill were exceptional, demonstrating kindness, flexibility, and a genuine commitment to ensuring our pupils and staff felt supported throughout our stay. Their dedication helped create a welcoming atmosphere where every child could thrive.

Your generosity has had a truly meaningful impact on the lives of our pupils. You have helped provide opportunities for adventure, achievement, friendship, independence, and joy. We are incredibly grateful for your continued support and for helping us create such a positive and enriching experience for the young people in our care.

Thank you once again for making this wonderful opportunity possible.

Over the course of three days, around 87 pupils participated, either through day visits or overnight stays.

Included below is some feedback from our staff teams who supported our pupils at Lodge Hill:

“I think most if not all staff this year said that it was the best residential trip we have done so far.”

“The good amount of staffing allowed this residential to be one of the best and lead to students having the focussed support to get the most out of every activity.”

“Some years students have missed the odd opportunity because we have not had the staff to support them as fully to give them the confidence to take part in every event.”

“The kids really loved it and the more that we are using Lodge Hill, the more new activities we are getting to try”

I have also attached a selection of photos from the residential.

On behalf of Hill Park School, we would like to express our heartfelt thanks to Mencap for your continued support. These opportunities would not be possible without your generous funding.

Very kind regards

Matt Hurley

Head of KS4 (Upper Site)

Science coordinator

Hill Park School

We have had a fun filled summer with lots of activities for families. We have been to Washbrooks Farm, Thames Valley Adventure Playground, Fisher’s Farm Park, Bluebell Railway, Tilgate Park, Cirque Show at the Brighton Centre, Pizza & Bowling, Knockhatch Adventure Playground and the favourite – a boat trip from Brighton Marina!

47 families have been on one or more of these trips over the summer – the boat trip alone catered for 23 families (39 people on one trip and 44 on a second as there were too many people for a single trip!)

We have also held our group holiday to Kench Hill in Kent. This was another big success with 13 families getting the opportunity to experience a fun filled break away. We split it into two groups, with the first doing Monday to Friday and the second doing Friday to Monday. This enabled us to offer a holiday to a greater number of families. We were very lucky with the weather which helped. We organised day trips whilst away, had fun in the garden, made fires, and enjoyed the lovely cooking of Marina and her Mum Val, who gave us some delicious meals.

Here’s what one family told us about the holiday: “The Kench Hill Summer Residential is the highlight of our school summer holiday. My grandson T-J spent all year talking about the people he met and the experiences he had and couldn’t wait for the independence this holiday affords him. He has made forever friends, sauntered downstairs to meet them for breakfast cereal, developed a penchant for squirty cream on jelly, cake and ice cream!, basked on beaches, climbed up castle turrets, got up close and personal at a petting zoo, travelled on steam trains, toasted marshmallows over a fire he helped to build, been brave and bold battling with ligt sabres, disco danced and laughed out loud, living his best life. And me? I found comfort and solace, knowing I’m not alone in this topsy turvy SEND world whist filled with abundant joy as I watched our group blossom and grow as beautiful as the flower filled gardens that surrounded us. T-J was not the only one with tears in his eyes as we had to say goodbye … hopefully to do it all again next year.”

We are very grateful for the continued support from everyone at Brighton & Hove Mencap – your grants have helped us deliver these magical experiences for our families. Thank you!

We would all like to say a massive thank you to Mencap for the £2,000 grant in supporting us have a very successful Hindleap residential this year.
With the grant we were able to have enough staff to support our children and pull in extra staff to manage a high ratio of staff to pupil for the residential visits to Hindleap, which was needed.
The grant meant that the costs of the staff being on the trip were not added to the families to keep costs down. Furthermore, we were able to support families financially to enable all pupils could access the trip.
Following the trip we have had some really positive feedback from the staff and pupils. The children got to do the obstacle course, attempt high ropes, archery, climbing wall, catching various creatures including many newts in the pond dipping before having hot chocolates and marshmallows around a campfire in the evening. The activities challenged our pupils in many ways and with the specialist staff and equipment, allowed all our children to access the activities. It also help develop their social communication skills, as they continued to share their excitement alongside their peers and key workers many hours after. Without the grant, our school simply would not have been able to make this visit happen.

From all of us at Hill Park, thank you soo much for your support!

We just wanted to say thank you to Brighton and Hove Mencap for the £1,000 you gave us in 2022.
We used the funding to help subsidise the trips we had planned over the summer holidays. 44 families were able to take part in at least one of these trips, the most popular being the boats trips from Brighton Marina where 25 families (88 people) came along!
Here is some of the lovely feedback we received:
“We are so grateful for the activities that we were able to take part in because of Pebbles this summer. We struggle to get out with our son, who has complex needs, and his siblings, partly due to his needs and partly because I have had to give up work to care for him over the last couple of years and as a family of 5 it makes outings too expensive. One thing that can’t be understated is how nice it is to do an activity with other special needs families. It makes the whole experience so much more fun when you are with other families who can understand your child’s behaviours and you don’t have to worry about looks or comments. I think it also helped my son to feel more relaxed and he had a wonderful time. And if he’s having a wonderful time, so do the rest of us! Thanks for all Pebbles are doing for families like mine. It makes a world of difference.” Gemma
“We so appreciate the days out we are able to do through Pebbles, they’re often the only family trips out we get as we don’t have much spare cash and can’t afford to ‘risk’ it not going well if we spend money on things. These subsidised trips mean we can access places we just wouldn’t be able to normally go to, and it also takes the stress and pressure off in case it doesn’t go quite as well as we’d hoped. The trips we’ve done with Pebbles have been our most memorable family times during holidays for the last few years, and we’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who fundraises and donates as these trips mean such a lot to our family. The boat trip… the most fun our kids had the whole holidays I think! Honestly, for Daisy, I’ve not seen her that happy and excited in such a long time, it was very special to see, and the boys had a great time too!” Jen

Thank you so much for the wonderful grant that you gave to the children for some days out. We are very grateful. Best wishes Marie-Clare, J, B and R xxxxx

Julie and I wanted to write to you and say a HUGE THANK YOU for your generosity and care. The £200 you sent to us means we are able to travel up to Manchester in September to take Julie to our other sister’s house, where she will be cared for whilst I have a longed for break at my daughter’s home with my daughter and my grandchildren. Not only will it be a holidary for her – she also loves to spend time with our other sister.

It would have been a real struggle to arrange this without you help and we truly appreciate it. I have also given out the forms you sent to me to a group of carers at my local community centre and if you need any other help or raising of awareness from me, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Thank you again for your wonderful kindness. Hope you have a lovely summer.

A very grateful phone call from Patricia.A, whose children Katie & Nicholas received grants. She has said the grant has made all the difference and wanted to say thank you to Brighton & Hove Mencap.

Brighton & Hove Mencap,

Thank you so much for our cheque it really helped and made a big difference. We used the money to help pay off our short break holiday to Butlins as we were finding it hard to get the rest of the money together and doing this has also helped us start getting ready to enjoy the build up to our holiday. I know if my son Wyatt understood a little more how much this money has helped he would be very grateful.

Thank you again for all your help.