Tag: letters

Letters: Volunteers Week and Big Help Out

Dear Editor

This June brings two celebrations of the amazing work carried out by people who give up their spare time to help charities across the UK. Cats Protection will be marking these events – Volunteers Week (3-9 June) and The Big Help Out (7-9 June) – by saying a huge thank you to our 9,000 volunteers who help 157,000 cats every year.

From hands-on cat care, helping in our shops or running fundraising events, Cats Protection volunteers make an incredible difference to help cats and their owners. Thanks to them, we’re able to rehome around 30,000 cats every year, run services to support cat owners fleeing domestic abuse and those grieving the loss of a cat, and campaign for better animal welfare legislation.

Our volunteers come from all walks of life and all ages, united by a shared love of cats. We’re always happy to welcome new volunteers, whether it’s a one-off for a couple of hours or a long-term slot.

Volunteering is a great way to meet new people, learn new skills and make a difference in the community.

To find out more about volunteer opportunities at Cats Protection, please visit cats.org.uk/volunteering

Yours sincerely

Julie Meredith 

Head of Volunteering, Organisational Engagement and Inclusion

People and Culture

Cats Protection 

Letter: Education must be at heart of general election campaign

Dear editor

For too long, our children’s education has been sidelined and underfunded. The general election is a critical moment for politicians of all parties to change this.

Parents and teachers will be expecting politicians to explain how they will solve the growing crises in education – affecting everything from crumbling, unsafe school buildings, to the worst teacher recruitment and retention crisis in a generation, and special educational needs provision – where there is a huge and increasing mismatch between children’s needs and the resources available for schools to support them.

School leaders and their staff nevertheless do everything in their power to ensure children receive the best possible education. But it is becoming harder to shield pupils from the impact of these problems.

NAHT’s election manifesto for England sets out solutions to the crises facing our schools which have been informed by dedicated school leaders who know better than anyone what is needed.

We are calling for immediate practical steps – including urgent plans to invest in school buildings, help for schools to support children with special educational needs, and the school workforce.

A series of pay rises are needed for teachers and school leaders over the course of the next parliament to restore the value of pay following years of real-terms cuts and once again make teaching a competitive graduate career.

All candidates and political parties must prioritise education in this election campaign, and heed these proposed solutions – committing the funding to deliver them and help ensure all children receive the education they deserve.

Doing so is not only vital for children’s learning and social development, it will also set them up for a happy and productive adulthood in which they contribute to the country’s future economic prosperity.

Paul Whiteman,

general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT

Letter: Deaf Awareness Week – More than a quarter of deaf people ignored in public

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Major new research from charity RNID has revealed the negative attitudes and behaviours that deaf people and people with hearing loss experience on a regular basis.  

The research of 8,151 people found that more than a quarter (27%) of deaf people and people with hearing loss are ignored by most people in public settings.

More than two thirds (67%) told us they have experienced negative attitudes or behaviours in the last year, and almost half (48%) said they also experience this from their own family members.  

54% said people tell them ‘It doesn’t matter’ when they struggle to understand, which we know can make people feel like they don’t matter. 47% have experienced people shouting at them.

The impact of this can be huge: people tell us they feel excluded, lonely, and disrespected. Often these experiences cause people to withdraw, to avoid others, and even hide that they are deaf or have hearing loss. 

We want people across the UK to stand with us and say that the way deaf people and people with hearing loss are treated really does matter. We know the public want to help, so we’re urging people to follow our three simple tips to be more inclusive, and learn some simple BSL phrases for everyday conversation.

To get involved, visit rnid.org.uk  

Yours sincerely,

Crystal Rolfe, Director of Strategy at RNID

Letter: You’re not alone …

Dear Editor

This May we celebrate Deaf Awareness Week (6-12 May).

Did you know that nine out of ten deaf children are born to hearing parents? A great many parents tell us they knew very little or even nothing at all about deafness before they had a deaf child.

So it’s hardly surprising that many such parents find themselves feeling confused, unprepared and worried about what the future might hold.

The National Deaf Children’s Society is here to help you give your deaf child the very best start in life. With the right support, there’s absolutely no reason why they shouldn’t grow up confident, happy and fulfilled.

We’re here for you. We can provide support for all of you who are new to the journey, through our extensive resources – from our Helpline, 0808 800 8880, and our wealth of expertise, right through to the friendship and reassurance of our fantastic community.

Find out more by visiting our website www.ndcs.org.uk

Susan Daniels OBE,

Chief Executive, the National Deaf Children’s Society

Letters: Saving our Songbirds

Dear Editor

With spring in the air, Cats Protection and Songbird Survival have teamed up to offer advice on the best ways to help reduce hunting of songbirds by pet cats in the hope of protecting the threatened population.

A survey of 1,000 cat owners, conducted by Songbird Survival, revealed almost half of cat owners (46%) aren’t aware of ways to reduce cat predation. 

Hunting is a natural, innate behaviour for cats and they feel driven to do it. Not all cats hunt and it generally reduces as they age. However, just a few simple strategies can protect birds and benefit your cat’s welfare too.

Spring is a particularly vulnerable time for songbirds as we are in the nesting and breeding season, which runs up to July as they gather materials to make nests and fledglings begin to leave their nests.

It’s important to protect songbird populations from decline and cat owners and bird lovers alike can make a big difference by putting up nest boxes as well as not using pesticides in their gardens.

Top tips for reducing hunting:

  • Play with your cat for 5-10 minutes every day as it allows them to exhibit their natural hunting behaviour and reduces their motivation to seek out prey. Pick out a toy that mimics prey movement – such as a fishing-rod toy    
  • Feed cats with a premium, meat-rich food as it’s been scientifically shown to reduce hunting tendencies 
  • Keep cats in at night to help songbird populations and to reduce the chances of your cat being involved in a road traffic accident.

For further advice, please visit Songbird Survival’s Get EduCated campaign at https://songbirdsos.org/get-educated or Cats Protection’s website at www.cats.org.uk/garden-and-outdoors  

Yours faithfully,

Nicky Trevorrow, Cats Protection Behaviour Manager

Susan Morgan, CEO of Songbird Survival

Scottish Apprenticeship Week: Look Beyond the Label

Dear Editor

This week marks Scottish Apprenticeship Week (4th – 8th March), a fantastic opportunity to shine a light on the vital role apprenticeships play in supporting people, employers and the economy.

Modern Apprenticeships allow people from diverse backgrounds, no matter their background and abilities, to gain and develop skills for every business no matter its size or sector.

The rewards of getting young people who are disabled or care experienced into work are well worth it. They bring passion, skills, dedication and drive to the workplace.

Recruiting a Modern Apprentice enables employers to fill the skills gaps that exist within their current workforce, as apprentices begin to learn sector-specific skills from day one, developing specialist knowledge that will positively affect the bottom line.

However, as always, we can do more and support for businesses and other employers is key as it is they who clearly make the vital difference.

As we mark Scottish Apprenticeship Week, we would urge Scotland’s employers to look beyond the label and take on a Modern Apprentice who may have an additional need, taking advantage of the excellent skills offered by many of these young people.

Yours faithfully 

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition:

Kenny Graham, Falkland House School

Lynn Bell, LOVE Learning

Stephen McGhee, Spark of Genius

Niall Kelly, Young Foundations

Letter: We need young women to lead a campaign that tackles unhealthy relationships

Dear Editor,

Alongside The Young Women’s Movement we are looking for six young women aged 16–18 from across Scotland to be part of a National Champions group to support the design and delivery of the national Young Women Know campaign.

This is a great opportunity to learn new skills, meet new people and make a difference to the lives of young women and girls in Scotland.

The Young Women Know project is a partnership project being run by NSPCC Scotland and The Young Women’s Movement. It was set up following an investigation into sexual harassment in Scottish schools carried out by the YWCA’s Young Women Lead committee in 2018. 

It found that in Scotland in 2018, one of the things girls can experience in school is sexual harassment and the impact of this on young women is significant and can be long-lasting. It can negatively impact everything from their mental health to their relationships and career choices.

The investigation also found that young people were most likely to turn to the internet or their friends for advice on sex and relationships and almost half of students and teaching staff surveyed said the current curriculum did not adequately cover the issue of consent. 

The national Young Women Know campaign aims to tackle unhealthy relationships and peer sexual abuse, with young women leading the change.

To apply to be a National Champion, visit: https://shorturl.at/binpS

The deadline is Wednesday, March 6.

Yours sincerely,

Carla Malseed

NSPCC Scotland Local Campaigns Manager

& Laurie Duffy

Collective Voice & Action Lead, The Young Women’s Movement

Letters: RNIB offers free books for children with vision impairments this World Book Day

Dear Editor,

Children across the UK will be exploring the wonderful world of reading on World Book Day®, Thursday 7 March.

World Book Day® aims to encourage reading for pleasure, especially because it is the biggest indicator of a child’s future success in life. It also aims to make sure every child can have a book of their own to read.

For 2024, the theme is ‘Read Your Way’, and children are being encouraged to read any way they like to, whether it be out loud, in their heads, a sentence, a chapter or a page.

Here at the Royal National Institute of Blind people (RNIB), we want to make sure that children with vision impairments can celebrate the power of reading alongside their sighted peers. This means giving them access to the same books and reading opportunities at school and at home.

That’s why we have accessible versions of all of this year’s World Book Day UK titles available in audio and braille as part of our RNIB Library.

This year’s range of books provides adventure, mystery and laughter and titles include Elmer And The Patchwork Story by David McKee, Loki: Tales Of A Bad God by Louie Stowell and The Doomsday Date by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé.

There’s something to suit beginner readers right through to confident book lovers.

Children can have their very own World Book Day® copy to keep, in either braille or CD! The books can be ordered in their preferred format from RNIB’s Helpline on 0303 123 9999.

They are also all available to download in audio and braille from RNIB Reading services at https://readingservices.rnib.org.uk

On behalf of all at RNIB, we wish you an amazing, book-filled World Book Day!

James Bartlett

Senior Manager Reading Services at RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People)

Letter: Children’s Mental Health Week

Dear Editor

This week marks Children’s Mental Health Week (5th-11th February), shining a spotlight on the importance of children and young people’s mental health.

The rise in such problems over recent years has previously been labelled as a mental health energy and one of the greatest public health challenges of our times.  These problems are even more worrying when they concern the mental fitness of our younger generations, and how we are preparing them to face the growing challenges of entering adulthood.

Against this backdrop, our mental health services are however facing overwhelming and unprecedented pressures, which existed even before the pandemic and are becoming further exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis.

Too many of our young people are waiting too long for treatment and the rapidly escalating number of those seeking support, faced with inadequate services, could potentially lead to a lost generation of vulnerable children and young people who are missing out on the support they vitally need.

Against the perfect storm of a mental health crisis combined with the long shadow of lockdown and the rising cost of living, we must not lose sight of the challenges that our children and young people are facing, renewing our efforts in a national crusade to ensure that they receive adequate mental health support.

Yours faithfully

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition:

Kenny Graham, Falkland House School

Lynn Bell, LOVE Learning

Stephen McGhee, Spark of Genius

Niall Kelly, Young Foundations

42 Charlotte Square

Edinburgh EH2 4HQ

Tel: 0131 603 8996

Letter: This Dry January, head to your local – no, really!

Dear Editor,  

You might be surprised by someone from Alcohol Change UK advocating this, but we’re more than half-way through Dry January® – so maybe it’s time to head to the pub!  

Giving up alcohol shouldn’t mean giving up socialising. Pubs are increasingly supportive of Dry January®, and for good reason. Our research shows that 44% of those going alcohol-free this month are more likely to visit a bar or pub if it serves a good selection of alcohol-free beers, wines or spirits.   

So how about seeing what’s behind the bar at your local? You might find a range of good options already on offer – there’s been a huge increase in the quality and availability of alcohol-free products over recent years. And they can help us cut down the amount of alcohol we drink, while making nights out more inclusive.  

But they’re still not universally easy to find. You can help change that. In fact, many of our supporters have told us that speaking to the landlord of their local has resulted in better alcohol-free options being stocked year-round.   

Of course, some of us doing Dry January® will feel less comfortable in a pub because it might trigger cravings. Alcohol-free alternative drinks are not right for everyone, and that’s fine. But if you’d like to see improved options behind the bar, why not pop into your favourite pub and start a conversation with the staff? Your encouragement might just help make your local even better!  

Check out dryjanuary.org.uk for more info.   

Yours faithfully,   

Joe Marley  

Director, Alcohol Change UK, the charity behind Dry January® 

27 Swinton Street, London WC1X 9NW