Charity Information

The Hydrosense Charitable Organisation

Mission Statement

The Hydrosense Charitable Organisation
(Registered Charity No 1109619
(“The Hydrosense Appeal”)

This relatively new registered charity is dedicated to providing profoundly disabled children and adults with year round access to specialist facilities such as hydrotherapy. The charity was registered in June 2005 and its first task was quickly agreed to be that of raising sufficient capital with which to demolish some derelict buildings at Barrs Court Special School and replace them with:
• A hydrotherapy pool;
• Disabled changing facilities for children and adults;
• Community reception area;
• Wheelchair store;
• Art gallery;
• Interactive performing arts studio.

Barrs Court Special School is Herefordshire’s only dedicated secondary phase school that caters specifically for pupils who have severe, profound and multiple learning disabilities. The school serves the whole of the County and a number of pupils are also drawn from surrounding regions. Although a small school, Barrs Court enjoys a wonderful national reputation for the very high quality of its provision and in October 2007 OfSTED declared the school to be outstanding in all categories of school inspection. However, the numbers of disabled children who now need to access the school means that urgent action is required to install specialist facilities such a hydrotherapy pool. Having a hydrotherapy pool is especially important as the numbers of children with profound and multiple physical disabilities is growing rapidly across the region and the demand for specialist facilities such as hydrotherapy will increase by 20% over the next two years. There is no hydrotherapy pool in Herefordshire that is suitable for use by disabled teenagers and adults so, when in place, the pool will open out of school hours, all year round to ensure the disabled community of Herefordshire get maximum benefit from this important facility. Similarly the interactive performing arts studio will be open out of school hours to encourage disabled children and adults to engage in the performing arts. Once the new facilities have been built The Hydrosense Appeal will continue to operate on a much smaller scale to assist with operating costs and subsidise charges to the community.

The cost of the Hydrosense Appeal facilities was first estimated at £750,000 but with inflation and the impact on the building industry associated with the Olympic Games, the cost has since risen to £1.1 million. Despite this formidable fund raising challenge, at time of writing the charity has already raised over £820,000. All of the charity’s administration, publicity and web page maintenance is donated free of charge so sponsors can be assured that every penny donated will go towards fulfilling the charity’s objectives. I do hope that potential donors will appreciate the massive amount of energy and commitment that our small community has already made towards raising the £820,000 achieved thus far and be assured that, if you select the Hydrosense Appeal as your preferred charity, you would be supporting a wonderful, but very needy minority group of children and adults, assured in the knowledge that the board of trustees is absolutely committed to ensuring a successful outcome to this worthy cause and to continuing to facilitate timely and effective support for the region’s most profoundly disabled community.

Richard Aird
Chairman of the Hydrosense Appeal

Ways to Give

Charity Contact Details x

Christine Tait - Finance Officer

Tel: 01432 265035
Email: finance@barrscourt.hereford.sch.uk

Registered Charity No: 1109619

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