Fear of cuts earlier in the year forgotten
Mark Pirie
The chair of Special Needs Adventure Playground (SNAP) was delighted to celebrate a successful 25th year of the play scheme – after saving the club’s transport and protecting the “most vulnerable.”
Last week staff and youngsters were able to celebrate as they welcomed parents to their annual open day to round off the term and mark a big milestone for SNAP.
Parents were invited to the school for cakes and tea – with raffles and stalls also available to raise funds for the play scheme.
Sheila Halford, who founded SNAP in 1992, is proud of another positive year for the additional support needs summer club.
SNAP’s daily bus service to their base at Blacklaw Primary School was saved in May following a petition from angry parents, which forced South Lanarkshire Council into a U-turn on funding cuts.
Buses provided by the local authority take youngsters to and from the base at the school and also transport the kids out and about on organised trips, providing a lifeline for vulnerable families across South Lanarkshire.
Sheila, who is also a teacher at Greenburn Primary, admits she had feared the cuts would have had a huge impact on SNAP, but she is thrilled to have kept the transport in place.
She said: “The worst thing would have been that the children who are the most vulnerable wouldn’t have been able to get here.
“They could still have been transported in by parents, but for people who don’t have cars or can’t afford alternative transport, they couldn’t have got here every day.
“We cover such a wide area. Kids come from as far away as Halfway to come here.
“We have been able to run the scheme again thanks to them and the council.”
SNAP provides a five-day-a-week play scheme for 30 children a day aged between five and 16.
Young people up to the age of 18 also go along and help as volunteers.
Sheila revealed that this year had seen the highest demand for places – and she can only see that increasing next year with kids from across Lanarkshire in attendance.
“It has been a successful year once again,” she said.
“It’s been smooth and the buses play a big part in that, so we’re delighted to have them back.
“We’ve had 65 kids on the books this year – our largest number ever – so we have had to share places out and share part-time places.
“We want to give everyone a chance even if it’s just for one or two days.
“There have been a couple of late applicants that came through during the play scheme and we have been able to give them a couple of days to try it out. “Then, they can apply next year. “It’s great to see that we are so highly regarded, and still in demand after all these years.”