Minibus Fundraising Appeal - A new 14-seater minibus for The Mount Camphill Community

A minibus is part of our daily life here and we rely on it to transport our 34 young people to many offsite activities throughout the week and at the weekend that they choose to take part in, enhancing their timetable and lives. Our current minibus has reached the ripe old age of 20 and has travelled over 74,000 miles now! Sadly, it is no longer a reliable source of transport, and the maintenance and repair costs are extortionate. We have decided that it needs to be replaced.

We strive to provide the fullest possible life for those who live and learn with us. Core educational, housing and support costs are met through local authority funding. The personalised, enriched experience we hope to offer is possible through the funding we receive from voluntary donations and our fundraising activities.

Local people, day students, work experience, social enterprise and many cultural and leisure activities make a lively mix, with growing outreach and integration in the wider community. Our students and cohousers take part in a varied timetable here on campus and out in the local community. During the week they attend swimming lessons at Crowborough leisure centre, education trips to various locations and ferrying to and from work experience placements all over East Sussex and Kent.

Educational visits are part of the varied curriculum here, such as visits to a contact who specialises in growing willow as part of College 1’s basket weaving topic; a trip to the Houses of Parliament to meet our local MP; and more recently the fire station in Tunbridge Wells. Students who are transitioning from The Mount are taken to visit supported living provisions for their lives beyond The Mount. In addition to these special journeys, more frequent trips are made as part of our Life Skills Curriculum when students shop for their cooking ingredients at local supermarkets.

At the weekend, cohousers and students enjoy trips out to the coast, countryside parks and local National Trust properties.

Our cohousers take part in weekly sailing lessons at Chipstead Lakes and horse-riding lessons in Sevenoaks, as well as shopping trips to Tunbridge Wells and a disco club in Tonbridge.

The camping trip for our College 1 group to South Downs is an annual summer event, as is the biography retreat for our graduating students to destinations around the country to the Isle of Wight, Dorset, Whitstable and Norfolk. A minibus is a very necessary transport solution for The Mount to take them, equipment, and luggage.

Although we advocate the use of public transport and walking as much as we can, it is a vital part of life here to transport groups safely from our remote location in Wadhurst as we live on a busy commuter link road to the station, which is not conducive to walking along with no pavement.

Founded in 1970, The Mount is a charity as well as a Camphill College offering craft-based education for 18 young adults with learning disabilities aged 16-25 years old. Alongside the college is a thriving cohousing community, offering a home to 16 young adults within The Mount Camphill Community and in the local village of Wadhurst, East Sussex.

PLEASE HELP US REACH OUR AMBITIOUS TOTAL OF £65,000 TO BUY OUR NEW MINIBUS INC VAT, DELIVERY, EXCISE DUTY, REGISTRATION FEE, NUMBER PLATES AND VAT, AND 14-SEATER MINIBUS TRAINING FOR STAFF.