Elmbridge Community Link

Promoting the relief of all persons with a learning difficulty

Elmbridge Community Link's (ECL) original aim was to promote the relief of all persons with a learning difficulty within the area of Elmbridge Borough Council and to assist those persons to realise their full potential to lead fulfilling lives. Fifteen years later they do this by providing five weekly projects and a monthly workshop for 140 members who have varying degrees of learning difficulty. All this is achieved on a budget of approximately £45,000 a year with no regular core funding in place.

The Charity has a total inclusion policy and treats each member as an individual who is valued with equal respect. “We see the person and not the disability”.  As a result members can access leisure and learning opportunities with the support of experienced charity staff, local trusted volunteers and professional guest speakers. Members come from the ‘high need’ end of the learning difficulty spectrum to the more able. The more able members are encouraged to become volunteers within the various projects which helps with their self esteem and character development.

The Charity is particularly able to support those young people who are in the difficult transition period between education and adulthood. Members gain empowerment, independence, confidence and self esteem by improving their social and creative skills and integration into the wider Elmbridge Community.

The Charity offers the families and carers of our members much needed and appreciated respite from their caring duties by offering activities outside the normal day care centre.

They are the only charity working solely in the local Borough that offers people with a learning difficulty the opportunity to master new skills as well as an opportunity to meet socially, thus broadening many horizons.

Although Elmbridge, and Surrey, are perceived to be a rich Borough and County, within its boundaries are recognised areas of deprivation, and it is from these pockets that most of their members come. The Charity, too, is not cash rich, and although it has a reserve fund for urgent contingencies, it is always reliant on donations. They do not have our own transport, much time is spent in ensuring the safety of members whilst travelling to and from activities.

ECL's volunteers are their main resource and they are greatly valued and welcomed by the Charity’s directors and part-time staff. They come from all sections of the community and are young, and not so young, with many different talents. The main skill required is an ability to listen, befriend, laugh and have fun. At this time they have five young people who are working toward their Duke of Edinburgh Awards.One recent volunteer left school to pursue a degree in social work as a direct result of their involvement with ECL.

The Charity is an extended family and most of the volunteers stay friends and continue to offer their services for many years. Volunteers have their own social network within the Charity which adds to the richness of the experience.  

ECL network within the community and link up with other organisations for social and community events. Recently this has included joint fund raising with the Molesey Boat Club, having a stall at Heritage Day, members taking part in the Christmas candle light procession through Walton Town Centre, theatre trips organised with Elmbridge Mencap and Love of Learning and a Valentine’s Dance with One-to-One.

Most people who visit ECL come back again and again to support one or more of their activities. For example, they invite the Mayor to the Christmas Concert every year and have done so since they started their Music Workshops eight years ago. Without exception the outgoing Mayor will request to have an invitation to the Concert the following year and our list of councillors and people attending the show grows annually.  

Clients, too, when they move, mostly keep in touch and the Charity encourages this by keeping in regular contact. ECL encourages community and friendship.

A special mention must be made of the debt the organisation owes to Elmbridge Borough Council, The Learning Disability Development Fund allocated via Surrey County Council, and the invaluable support offered by successive mayors of the Borough.

Contact

Elmbridge Community Link
c/o Walton Methodist Church,
Terrace Road,
Walton on Thames,
Surrey KT12 2SR           
Tel: 01932 241988          
Email: eclwalton@hotmail.com