In 2019, our grant of £75,000 was for a new skills centre. It was our second grant to the Trust, after one of £11,000 in 2013 towards the refurbishment of its other site.

Organisation

The Fifth Trust is a Kent-based charity that supports adults with learning difficulties. It provides day care facilities on two sites near Canterbury for more than 120 students, half of whom live locally in residential homes associated with the Trust. The charity provides an environment to live a safe and fulfilling life, helping each individual to achieve their full potential through the provision of enjoyable and productive work in the local community and in the Trust’s garden centre and café, complemented by a broad range of creative, horticultural and academic activities designed to develop essential life skills.

skills centre project

With the two wooden huts used as skills centres no longer fit for purpose, and a significant increase in the number of students, the Trust launched an appeal to replace the existing facility with an energy-efficient building better  suited to the needs of students. The new facility will provide a central hub for all activities including an Amenity Pavilion, an Art Pavilion and a Horticultural Pavilion. As well as providing increased capacity, it will enable the Trust to create three new services: a life skills programme for students transitioning from full-time education in special schools, support for learning-disabled students with profound physical conditions, and a unit to support learning-disabled people with dementia.

At the time of appication, the organisation has raised £700,000 of the £950,000 project budget. We awarded a grant of £75,000.