Lady Sylvia is special guest at summer school graduation

Patron of a Summer School for people with disabilities Lady Sylvia presented certificates to participants at the special ceremony.

Over 40 people with disabilities aged 18-65 took part in this year’s Summer School, a successful scheme that has been up and running now for 16 years.

The programme of activities was jointly organised by The Cedar Foundation, Well 2 and South Eastern Regional College (SERC).

Classes included, cookery, light decorative metalwork, arts and crafts, and horticulture were delivered across five SERC campuses; Bangor, Newtownards, Lisburn, Downpatrick and Newcastle during July and the first week in August.

Speaking at the graduation Lady Hermon said, “The success of the School is demonstrated by the fact that this year it extended its reach beyond North Down and Lisburn, welcoming people in South Down through the Well 2 Project.

“The Summer School provides an excellent opportunity for people with disabilities to sample something new whilst also allowing them to experience life at college with the view to them hopefully availing of courses in the future.”

Sylvia Gawley from Lisburn on receiving her certificate of achievement said; “I really enjoyed the arts and crafts class. It didn’t matter if you’d never done anything like that before you didn’t feel uncomfortable trying. I would love to do another course again, for me this week’s class was an escape.”

The Cedar Foundation works in partnership with disabled people across Northern Ireland providing quality support, care, accommodation and training services to enable disabled adults and children to participate in all aspects of community life. Phone 028 9066 6188 or visit www.cedar-foundation.org to find out more.

Well 2 is a project aimed at 16-25 year olds with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, mental ill health or Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The project is a partnership between the South Eastern Trust, Action Mental Health and the Cedar Foundation. For more info contact Caroline Digney on 028 4483 8943.

SERC provides a range of courses, for everyone in the community, from entry level to degrees. The focus of many courses is to help students reach their full potential, developing social and personal skills as well as their technical ability. The college partners with a number of community based organisations to ensure wide access to high quality education. Such organisations can contact Fiona Neely on 028 9267 7225 Ext. 1808 or email fneely@serc.ac.uk to discuss opportunities.