A SMALL charity has been busy this year providing help to children with special needs in West Devon.

The Mary Budding Trust aims to support children aged up to eleven with special needs by providing grants and equipment.

The charity's goal is to give such children living in West Devon a full and rich life by providing them with opportunities that may not be available to them without additional financial support.

Recently, the trust has helped children throughout the area by providing a wheelchair for a student, a Soundfield system to enable a child to attend mainstream school, special books to assist children with dyslexia, a specialist car seat for a child with CHARGE syndrome, training in sign language skills to help a special needs child with his homework and a specialist tricycle to enable a child with impaired balance to join in with family activities.

The late Dr Mary Budding, whom the trust is named after, was the district medical officer for health for West Devon and through her work she met many families which had children with severe difficulties.

The Mary Budding Centre, a diagnostic and assessment unit, was set up in 1984 to provide structured support for them and this small pre-school unit was later amalgamated with other special needs provision and moved to the Tavistock Community Primary School in 1991, where it continues its work.

The Mary Budding Charitable Trust was then formed in 2002, to provide support to children outside and independently of the Mary Budding Centre.

This year, with the generous support of the community, the trust has raised funds through sponsorships, a celebrity chef cooking demonstration, a school mufti day, grant applications, an open gardens scheme, a pub quiz, a school bun sale and by donations from local schools and the general public.

Anyone who knows a family that would benefit from the help of the trust, or anyone who would like to support this beneficial work, please contact the honorary secretary Ann McDonald at 4, Oak Road, Tavistock, PL19 8RG, 01822 614580 or email [email protected]">[email protected]