Linkage Community Trust

PEOPLE with learning disabilities, autism or both should have opportunities and choice and be supported to achieve their aspirations.

That is the vision of Linkage Community Trust, a charity providing a range of high-quality services – including specialist further education, care, adult day services, and employability and support services –to enable individuals to develop skills and behaviours to live independent lives.

Linkage was established in 1976 in recognition that there was a distinct shortage of appropriate support to help people with varying degrees of learning difficulties and disabilities to lead creative and purposeful lives in the community. Today, the trust has almost 700 staff, working across 60 locations across Greater Lincolnshire and East Riding of Yorkshire, to provide opportunities that improve the lives of individuals. n

Donating to Good Causes

St Barnabas Hospice

Jerry Green Dog Rescue

ALL DOGS deserve a good life and a safe home. That was the belief of Jerry Green who founded a charity in 1961 to rescue and rehome stray and unwanted dogs. Today the charity has centres in Broughton, North Lincolnshire and near Boston.

The charity has a Meet & Match process to matchmake potential owners with the dogs in its care to ensure a happy ending and lots of waggy tales. n

People gave £11.3 billion to charity in the UK in 2020, up from £10.6 billion in 2019. The average monthly donation in the UK in 2021 was £49.

Source: www.nptuk.org

St Barnabas is the county’s leading charity providing palliative and end-of-life care to adults living with a life-limiting or terminal illness, with a vision that dignity, compassion and having choices are all fundamental rights throughout a person’s life.

Established in 1982, and with both an 11-bed unit in Lincoln and a six-bed unit in Grantham, the charity spends around £12m each year and in 2021/22 provided 600 people with over 2,300 hours of one-to-one counselling support, answering the phone to 798 calls to its Bereavement Helpine.

In 2021/2022, 2,905 people were cared for in their own home, whilst 335 people received specialist inpatient care courtesy of the service, too.

The charity is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2022/2023, and in recognition, the Morriston Orpheus Choir is making its fourth return visit to Lincoln Cathedral on 4th March with an 52-strong choir performing traditional and original songs to raise funds for the charity. Also this month, St Barnabas launches its spring raffle, with tickets on sale now, and a top prize of £2,023 plus additional prices of £500, £250 and 5 x £50; tickets are available online. n