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North Lancashire Down Syndrome Support Group
Written on August 1st, 2025
We were delighted to hear from Dr Deborah Thompson, Public Health Consultant and Chair of North Lancashire Down Syndrome Family and Carer Group (registered charity no.1187348), about how your Pennies micro donations over 2024/2025 have made a difference. The group were the nominated charity of your Scotforth and Garstang stores last year.
Every year your stores nominate their charities of the year and dedicate a lot of time to raising funds and awareness for them. Part of this is our Pennies programme, where customers can choose to make a small donation a the till when they pay by card. These small donations really add up, and have a significant impact on our local communities. The whole donation goes to charity, 90% to the nominated charity, and 10% to Pennies, registered charity no. 1122489.
“The Pennies donations have made a big difference to our charity —we’ve been able to support more people with a disability by offering inclusive activities and helping them learn in school. This year with your donations we have:
Arts
We’ve increased access to inclusive arts in Morecambe Bay. We hosted 2 family fiestas full of drama, music, Makaton karaoke, dance, sculpture and yoga!
See video from our first fiesta here filmed by our community reporter Claire May Minnett:
Next year we will be continuing our weekly Dance classes in Lancaster for young adults with and without disabilities — all teens/adults welcome of all abilities!
Watch a video here:
We’ve also used the Pennies funds to bid for match funding from Lancashire County Council Culture and Sports Fund so we can continue with the fiestas, dance and creative arts workshops.
Play
We’ve continued to offer reduced price sensory play sessions at the Space Centre, Preston. Families across the north west come together to offer social support whilst kids enjoy the amazing facilities!
Teaching
We’ve partnered with East Lancashire Down Syndrome Group to offer a specialist teaching service to schools across Lancashire. This service makes sure education settings understand the learning profile of children with Down Syndrome so they can help them learn best.”