At last week’s meeting of Aberystwyth Rotary Club, members were very pleased to welcome Habi Bah from the Gambia in western Africa.

Habi is a member of Rotaract, a worldwide organisation for young Rotarians, and is currently studying for a degree in accounting and finance at Aberystwyth University.

The guest speaker at the meeting was Ben Freeman, manager of the local charity DASH Ceredigion.

Established in 1978, DASH organises a variety of leisure schemes for children with additional needs and disabled children and young people in Ceredigion.

A range of activities is provided which include holiday schemes, respite weekends, the development of independent learning skills and youth clubs.

Their aim is to help improve the quality of life for disabled children and their families while giving parents time to recharge their batteries; disabled children and young people also get time of their own for personal, social and creative development.

Local financial support for DASH, such as that provided recently from the Rotary Club’s Christmas collection, is greatly appreciated, especially given that large national organisations are now less likely to provide funds.

Local funding is also more flexible with fewer constraints than that received from nationwide funding sources whose understanding of local needs may be more limited.

The consequences of lockdown, at the height of the Covid pandemic, had been challenging for families, children were now less familiar with being together and public self-regulation skills were less practiced. DASH’s objectives for the immediate future are to continue its current work while expanding services back to pre-Covid levels and also to recruit and retain more staff during what is currently a difficult climate.

Significantly, parents and carers have been expressing a need for a centre to support transition age children in developing independent skills. Such a facility would be a major benefit and could include a café which older children could staff. DASH is therefore actively seeking a suitable building, ideally in Aberystwyth, for this purpose.

Rotarians continue to show much interest in the activities undertaken by DASH and Ben’s talk led to a number of questions before club president, Hywel Davies, thanked him for an illuminating account of the charity’s excellent work.

Are you a member of a group in your community? Do you have news, photos and videos of your latest activities to share? Send them to [email protected]