Our History

Staff had an attitude that the main purpose of their job was to ‘stand guard’ and not let the children or adults escape. They did not understand that their residents were people and that they were due some sort of life.

It was clear to us that we had to act as role models and show the staff by example, rather than us just telling them, so some of our early efforts were to take the children out on trips to the local town, where they were seen for the first time. Prior to our trips these children and adults had been hidden away for most of their lives. Through accessing the community we were able to show the staff and the local community that this large group of people with learning disabilities were living in their midst and we hoped that they would recognise that they had a duty to care for them.

On a trip with twelve children to a local restaurant, we once had a situation where restaurant staff removed the cutlery from the table , whilst one of our volunteers wrestled the table cloths back from the waitress who was trying to remove them !

Since 1991 it has been a regular activity of the charity to continue to take as many children out as possible, preferably the most disabled, who without our help may never get to go out.

We have had to agree to limit the institutions that we support in order not to spread ourselves to thinly. At present we have input into Brincovenesti Castle, which is ‘home’ to 350 children and adults, mostly with some form of disability.

We support a unit for abandoned babies and toddlers at St George Du padore. We support a unit for abandoned babies and toddlers in a town called Reghin.

We support the family of a severely disabled young girl called ‘Anna‘ who lives in appalling conditions in a forest.

We have always set out to offer real practical help to those people that we support.

One of our first projects was to raise funds to buy a mini bus, which we bought, filled with useful items and then drove over. This would give Brincovenesti the opportunity to access the community for themselves.

The following year we fundraised again through discos, raffles, murder mystery evenings and marathon running for sufficient funds to bring three staff over to England. The staff worked in residential care homes for adults with learning disabilities in the hope that they would learn good practice and take new ideas back to assist with their care of the residents of Brincovenesti.

In the local town, just a few miles away from the castle we set up a scheme with a local dentist, as the children from the castles teeth were appalling. We paid this dentist regularly to see groups of children every Monday and they would sit awaiting their turn alongside other folk from the town. We kept this scheme going for about three years and now feel the urge to set up a similar scheme again.

To take a lorry to Romania is extremely expensive. In 2000 we were offered 76 wheelchairs by Southmead hospital, they were of course chairs with no MOT’s and could not be used in this country. We gave 24 to another group going to Bosnia and we took 52 to Romania. The trip proved expensive even with the drivers sleeping in the lorry. We had major problems with Romanian customs, who thought we were taking the chairs into the country to sell. The drivers eventually made it into Romania after having been held up on the border for three days! Despite all of the hassles and difficulties we are pleased that many of the children are still using these wheelchairs today.

Our policy now is to never drive again. For the £2000 that it would cost to take a lorry, our view is that we are better off flying out and taking that cash with us to spend on whatever the people tell us they need. All of our volunteers pay for their own international flight, so practically all of the money that we fundraise goes directly to the people that it is destined for. The charity has no administration costs.

We ask all volunteers to make an effort to raise money for their trips.