Disabled Living Annual Report 2019-20

Annual Report 2019-2020

Registered Charity No: 224742

Our Mission & Vision Our Mission is...

To be the leading voluntary organisation in the North West providing advice and information about assistive technology (equipment and products) to help disabled and older people make more informed choices which enables easier, safer and more independent living.

Our Vision is...

To work for a society where disabled people and their families and carers can achieve optimum independence and self determination.

Disabled Living's Trustees President - Gerry Yeung OBE, DL Chairman - Dean Styger Treasurer - Paula Brown Phil Downs MBE

Sarah Jones

Jamaine Campbell

Jaime Gee

Alan Norton

Tippie Malgwi

Gary Owen

Disabled Living would welcome new Trustees to join the Management Board, to support the development of new and existing services. Although a charity, we work to a business model and the Chairman would be delighted to hear from any individual who would be willing to offer their knowledge, expertise or lived experience to ensure Disabled Living remains relevant and progressive for the people we support.

President's Message The world has changed so much since our Annual Meeting last October, but I am pleased to confirm that Disabled Living is not only weathering the storm but strongly rowing for the shore.

The good news is that our board has been strengthened by the added commitment, talent and youthful exuberance of Tippie Malgwi and Sarah Jones; and financially, as our Treasurer has reported, we have improved our financial prowess by returning to a surplus in 2019-20.

I would like to use this report to formally record our thanks and tribute to Fred Booth. His passing has robbed Disabled Living of a longstanding friend and Trustee and Manchester of a special son.

Disabled Living will forever be indebted to him for his entrepreneurial insight, as well as his extensive connections, generosity and kindness.

Of course, like everyone else, what we could not have foreseen was COVID-19, although thankfully we have been able to secure a Business Interruption Loan to help Disabled Living through and enable us to remain financially sustainable.

Perhaps one of the things that we should learn from the pandemic is the need to continually find more and more innovative ways to develop our services and operation for the future. For example, as more people work from home, how do we help disabled people and our own staff to do this in the best possible way?

Our 122nd Annual Meeting is unprecedented. The pandemic has necessitated and technology has enabled our Annual Meeting, for the first time in our long history, to take place virtually. It has been suggested that we could organise our future board meeting in the same manner, which will save travelling time, as well as allowing us to recruit trustees from a far wider geographical area.

Something that has come out of the blue is learning that the invaluable Dean Styger is sadly resigning his post as our Chairman. I have personally enjoyed and appreciated working alongside him and am regularly awed by his wisdom. On behalf of the whole Board, I would like to thank him for his excellent service to the charity. We all wish him health and happiness in the future. Luckily, he is remaining with us as a Trustee, so we will still have access to his undoubted experience and bountiful talents; as well as being able to hear about his adventures as he travels the world.

Keep safe, stay committed and let’s take Disabled Living out into the ‘new normal’ with added strength and vigour.

Kui Man Gerry Yeung OBE DL President

Chairman's Message It is with an equal amount of both sadness and pride that I write my last Chairman’s statement. Due to a number of family reasons, all of which present great opportunities for us, I informed both Debra and Gerry of my intention to resign recently. I am delighted that Paula Brown has agreed to become the new Chair. I have agreed to remain a trustee for at least the next 12 months to ensure a comprehensive hand over.

Looking back over the last 13 years, my initial thought is where has that time gone? It seems like yesterday when I met with John Parkinson (Treasurer), Marie Hendry (Chief Executive) and Stephen White (Chair). The problems the charity faced were severe, and at times it looked like its very existence was in doubt. But following a thorough re-organisation and hard work by both trustees and the Disabled Living team, we managed to not only survive the crisis but move to a strong, stable financial platform, ensuring we could continue to offer quality services to our clients.

There are many things that stick in my mind over the years. Some not so good, like the fire at Redbank House in 2009. My overall memory though will be the smiles and laughter that came from the children and adults at the Kidz to Adultz Exhibitions I attended. To see a small child beam when they saw Fred the Red or Sharky made everything worthwhile.

I could write an essay just thanking everyone who has help me in both Treasurer and Chairman roles. So, a very big thank you to you all, the team at Disabled Living, the Trustees and our professional advisors. I must mention though Debra Evans and Gerry Yeung. I can remember speaking to Debra just before she accepted the role of Chief Executive. I knew that she would be a phenomenal success and that has proved to be the case. In Gerry, we are lucky to have one of the most respected businessmen in the North West as our President. His advice has proved invaluable over the years.

Finally, can I wish you all every success in the future and I am confident Disabled Living will carry on helping people for many years to come.

Thank you. It has been an honour.

Dean Styger FCMA Chairman

Chief Executive's Report The year started on a positive note with several of the partnerships the team had been working on over the past year coming to fruition.

There continues to be a marked increase in the requirement for Disabled Living’s services, both through our charitable objectives and commercial activity. The work we provide from a charitable perspective has no boundaries, with more people accessing the services nationally. As I report each year, the growing waiting lists for services provided by the statutory sector is the catalyst for the increase. What has been evident this year, is the increase in the complexity of the enquiries.

From a commercial perspective, some sectors of our service are considered market leaders in the UK, and a partnership with Disabled Living can offer a wide range of advantages, including access to our vast networks of influential contacts and clients, combined with the expertise of our team.

The team continue to evaluate their services through regular consultation with our stakeholders to ensure they are relevant and accessible. With a small team, the expertise of our trustees and access to a wide range of professional support, we can update and diversify our services in a timely manner.

We still have challenges with our IT systems, which has been time consuming. However, this has not impacted on the services provided to our clients. With the systems we are developing, we are hoping to put Disabled Living ‘one step ahead’ as we consider how to reach a wider audience in the future.

A marketing team was established to work across the organisation, to raise the profile of all our services, specifically through social media and create branding guidelines for our website and publications. Marketing packages have been devised providing affordable options for even fledgling companies to interact with our clients.

The year continued very much on track as highlighted in last year’s Annual Report. At the end of January there were two confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the UK, by mid-February there started to be a slight impact on our business activities as a small number of organisations cancelled exhibition stands at the Kidz to Adultz Middle event, due to take place at the beginning of March. As the weeks progressed, we noticed increased trends, a reduction of visitors registering to attend the exhibitions, sensurround room clients cancelling, together with training room and course cancellations.

In March 2020, a Coronavirus pandemic was declared by the World Health Organisation. On the 19th March, Redbank House closed and all Disabled Living staff started to work from home. Almost all income stopped overnight. However, our charitable services continued seamlessly as staff worked remotely.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff, trustees, our partners and volunteers for the support they have given over the past year.

Debra Evans Chief Executive

Equipz Providing advice and information about equipment is at the heart of Disabled Living’s charitable objectives.

We have seen yet another year of increasing enquiries, with again an increase in email enquiries. Although the telephone enquiries continue, it is obvious more and more people wish to contact us via other means and our work throughout the year to make information and services more accessible is relative to our client’s requirements.

We know through our years of experience the question asked by clients in an email is usually the ‘tip of an iceberg’ in relation to a particular enquiry. To have the personal touch is what our team pride themselves on, and over 75% of enquiries result in follow up telephone calls, with our clients very pleased to receive a call from someone who has the time to listen to problems and is able to provide practical solutions.

Our team of clinical staff, trusted assessors and knowledgeable advisors have a vast range of experience of working in different health and social care settings. If you combine this, with their personal experiences, we can offer our clients a comprehensive information, equipment, adaptation and signposting service to support independence and improve quality of life.

We continue to provide access audits, and this is an area of our work, which has certainly not turned out to be a local service.

This year has had a musical slant with us visiting music colleges in Guildford and Birmingham to assess access for the students attending and living at the college.

Our team continue to develop RROTA (Remote Real-Time Occupational Therapy Assessment), with an evidence based model used to form the assessment interface now in place, the system will support Occupational Therapists (OT’s) to undertake evidence based, robust assessments. The development process has highlighted wider applications for the interface.

People continue to attend the equipment showroom at Burrows House to take advantage of the free charitable basic OT assessments, we are able to provide. 84 people benefited from this service in the past year, with the team again, helping to keep people safe and independent at home.

Private OT assessments also play an important part of our service. With individuals ever more able and willing to self-fund in order to gain specialist advice from private companies and release the burden for local authorities we are able to assist in providing fast and reliable expert OT assessments in the North West.

Equipz Often, these assessments lead to recommendations regarding equipment and this service involves the companies who support the charity.

Over the past year, Disabled Living have become more engaged with local Manchester charities to become part of an Action Group alongside Manchester Foundation Trust and MACC to develop a Memorandum of Understanding between the NHS and charities in the community who fulfil a vital role. The work is undertaken on a quite adhoc basis apart from the larger charities working inside the Manchester hospitals e.g. Red Cross. The group is continually looking at ways to bring cross working to be efficient, and for people working across the sector to be aware of the value charities can bring, whilst recognising the capacity and funding required. Charitable services are not ‘free for all’ services. This work has enabled us to promote Disabled Living further across Manchester.

Last but not least; Disabled Living have officially become a partner of Cadent Gas. Whilst this may seem an unusual collaboration, it becomes clear as we find out they are known as the ‘fourth emergency service’. Disabled Living can offer Cadent Gas opportunities to highlight the services they provide to inform and support their vulnerable customers even more.

Bladder & Bowel UK Bladder & Bowel UK (BBUK) is the only charitable service supporting adults and children with bladder and bowel problems and the professionals who work with them.

Bladder and bowel issues are very common amongst all age groups, with many who contact us, either being unaware services are available for them to access, or that they find it difficult to step forward for help, or in a number of cases, some simply assume a certain inevitability about experiencing problems.

With the success of the Bolton Symposium, we decided to keep this event in our calendar and introduced an additional Symposium at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. The event, proved to be hugely successful, attracting over 120 delegates and 30 companies and was sponsored by Ontex.

Enquiries to the BBUK service continue to increase year on year resulting in employing additional staff to answer helpline enquiries. We are grateful to the companies for their financial support to ensure this valuable service continues to operate to the level expected by our clients.

One of the key priorities, is for the BBUK team to continue offering their expertise, via our various portals, such as the helpline services, thus supporting and providing information and advice, not only to the general public, but also providing clinical advice, information, and training to patient groups, NHS clinicians and other professionals and organisations. The team are committed to providing the charitable objectives, whilst also proactively offering other services and expertise such as working with the commercial sector and being at the forefront of research and product development.

The ever-popular annual BBUK widened its reach this year, which in the main, was the team responding to the many requests by health care professionals, asking for a similar event in other areas of the country.

The programme was supported by clinical speakers who came from all corners of the country. The success of this additional event has given the team the confidence to plan future events in other areas of the UK, making them more accessible to our clinical colleagues.

This year, BBUK has continued to extend its reach to provide training and education across the UK to different groups. Training was delivered to a number of carers’ groups and networks, delivering informal information sessions, providing advice and directly helping to solve the practical issues raised by attendees, regarding the relatives or families they look after with bladder and bowel issues. This included the Bolton Asian Carer’s Network and Greater Manchester Carers Network.

Bladder & Bowel UK The team continue to deliver specific training regarding children with bladder and bowel problems throughout the UK with study days in Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.

All the sessions were fully attended with excellent feedback.

Not only are BBUK working nationally, but internationally, as a member of eUROGEN which is part of the European Reference Network for rare and complex urogenital diseases and related conditions, with presentations in Amsterdam. Staff have travelled throughout Europe to be involved in a number of events which called upon their expertise.

The BBUK newsletter for professionals is circulated bi-monthly and proving a useful resource for professionals, as are the resources available on the website. New this year, is the introduction of a digital quarterly newsletter, Talk About... The publication is aimed at the general public – adults and children with bladder, bowel and toileting issues.

BBUK clinicians continue to be serving members of several national professional groups and organisations, influencing opinion, policy and practice by providing a third sector opinion for those with bladder and bowel issues.

Collaborative projects are second nature to our team as they link with many organisations to raise awareness of issues or to impart their expertise. One project in partnership with Positive about Down’s, has resulted in establishing new Facebook pages, Zoom meetings and webinars for parents of children with Down’s syndrome to encourage and support parents while toilet training their children. This group has also published a guide, Pants4School to support the initiative.

The team have been involved in several national projects - the National Paediatric Ferring project has continued, and this year also brought on board the Adult Ferring project which focused on Nocturia in Adults. The work undertaken for this project has included publications, recruiting expert patients to collaborate with BBUK on a joint video for educational promotion. We have also been working across the four nations with the specialist bladder and bowel services, planning and delivering training whilst also contributing content to the company websites and developing other educational materials.

Training Disabled Living is recognised nationally from their accredited training programmes.

What a year for the training department!

Last year we reported on the frustrations of working on projects, involving many ‘person hours,' which did not generate income. The time spent tendering, waiting for the outcome, competing for the mini competitions, waiting to see if you have been awarded the contract, then arranging and delivering the actual training courses can take up to twelve months. One area of our work, with the potential to generate significant income is through training contracts.

However, this year the hard work of the team the previous year is now evident.

continue to deliver an increasing number of courses to their staff. Moving and handling refreshers and inductions formed the initial contract, with staff from the reablement and mental health teams amongst the delegates.

A new course introduced this year to Disabled Living’s training programme is Positive Behaviour training. This is an intense two-day course, specifically for staff working with challenging and vulnerable people. The course is delivered by a highly regarded trainer and we have been able to deliver this course to MCC staff.

Other courses introduced to our training portfolio include Safe Handling and Administration of Medicines. Working with MCC, we developed a bespoke course for their staff which was integral to MCC policies, enabling staff to feel confident and competent in administering medication.

As predicted, there has been a significant increase in local authorities going out to tender for training contracts, offering Disabled Living increased opportunities to deliver a wider range of courses and our team to cascade their knowledge and expertise. We have been awarded a place on Cumbria Council’s Learning and Development Programme which enable us to apply to deliver Trusted Assessor for the community teams and a whole range of courses in schools.

Building on relationships in the past year and having successfully been awarded a place on Manchester City Council’s (MCC) Learning and Development Framework, Disabled Living

Our ability to work closely with different organisations to develop bespoke courses will provide excellent opportunities to enable learning and development departments to offer relevant courses to their staff.

Training Our reach has been far and wide this year with the team travelling throughout the UK to deliver training. Never ones to turn down a trip, our team can travel nationwide to deliver our courses.

This year, the team delivered an adapted version of the ‘In the Dock’ workshop in a very different setting, to construction workers.

We continue to work with the fantastic Manchester Carers to deliver group sessions in moving and handling to families across Manchester, with the team attending workshops on weekends at The People’s History Museum for a day of music, dance and learning. This is outreach work at its best!

The trainers at Disabled Living have been working with the Safeguarding Team at Cadent Gas for the past year to develop courses which will enable engineers to gain an awareness of the risks vulnerable people may be facing in their homes, apart from the gas problems they are there to solve. By teaching this awareness, the engineers visiting people at home will be able to identify those people who are not on any radar, but who may be at risk of not remaining safe and independent at home.

Although, the team have yet to deliver the training programme to the engineers, Cadent are active in the community and have attended the Kidz to Adultz Exhibitions, bringing plenty of attention to their schools programme with Safety Seymour, a cuddly caped crusader, a bear on a mission to protect ourselves and our homes from carbon monoxide!

The management team at Phoenix Road Surfacing, an extremely forward-thinking company, arranged for an adapted version of the workshop during their annual training update to highlight the importance of following health and safety regulations. A solicitor from Clarke Wilmott LLP used real case scenarios to highlight where health and safety law fits into their work role and the responsibilities of the employee. The session was totally interactive, using real life case scenarios which enabled the workers to relate the experience to the session. The company didn’t realise they had so many budding actors!

Kidz to Adultz Exhibitions The Kidz to Adultz Exhibitions are collectively the largest FREE UK events totally dedicated to children and young adults up to 25 years with disabilities and additional needs, their parents, carers and the professionals who support them.

It has been a truly amazing year for the Kidz to Adultz team. Our events calendar started off in May with Kidz to Adultz South held at Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre.

Having been previously held in Cardiff, Kidz to Adultz Wales & West returned to Bristol for the second year in July, offering visitors from Bristol, South Wales and the South West much easier access to our events. We are pleased to announce this event will relocate to the very prestigious, purpose-built exhibition and conference venue, ICC Wales in Newport in 2021.

Our flag ship event, Kidz to Adultz North, was once again held at EventCity, Manchester in November.

It’s astonishing to see how this event has grown year on year since it was established in 2001, and like many of our Kidz to Adultz events now has a reserve list of exhibitors queuing to attend.

We finished our year of exhibitions in March 2020 with Kidz to Adultz Middle once again held at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry for eleventh year. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, which was becoming more prevalent, there was a noticeable decrease in the number of people attending as our visitors could be amongst the most vulnerable.

Even if the children didn’t attend in person, some parents and professionals took the decision not to attend to ensure they were reducing any potential risks to the minimum.

10,606 visitors joined in the Kidz to Adultz experience! We have always known these very popular events are an extremely valuable and key source of information and advice for many, many people. It was a privilege to meet so many amazing children and young people with their families and carers from right across the UK (and some further afield). We also welcomed thousands of dedicated health and social care professionals who work tirelessly to support them. These events are always a very humbling experience for the whole team at Disabled Living who are very passionate about helping to transform the lives of children and young adults with disabilities and life-limiting illnesses.

2,919 professionals were able to update their knowledge and boost their CPD by attending a number of the 36 free seminar presentations on offer, running parallel to the events. The presentations covered a number of really hot topics and the timetable is compiled by consulting with our visitors, both parents and professionals to identify the subjects most important to them personally or from a CPD perspective. The experts were on hand throughout the day to support all those visitors who had further questions and helped individuals address some of the major issues they have been experiencing on a daily basis.

Kidz to Adultz Exhibitions

539 companies, service providers and charities were at the events to help our visitors with essential advice and information on a wide range of equipment, products and much more.

Having access to the right equipment and to vital service information is crucial to support children and young adults with disabilities and additional needs in their development, helping to reduce risk of significant injury and pain, as well as support delivery of care – while enabling childhood experiences and encourage independence.

An increasing number of funders joined us this year including, Boparan Trust, Variety, Family Fund, Newlife and many others. They were able to offer visitors information on crucial financial support for essential equipment including beds, buggies, wheelchairs, seating systems, and other items such as washing machines, sensory toys, family breaks, bedding, tablets, furniture, outdoor play equipment, clothing and computers.

Children are always welcome at our events. It’s so important for children and young adults to have their say. Having the right equipment can make a massive difference to an individual’s day to day life and it was pleasing to see that many schools and colleges do permit leave for children to attend the events as an educational visit and as part of their development.

The Kidz to Adultz Magazine circulation list has grown significantly as people register for their personal copy. The content is diverse and extremely relevant to all our readers. There is no shortage of people willing to submit personal stories and achievements, professionals who want to share their knowledge with families and colleagues. Our own team contribute and highlight different aspects of our existing services and new developments. The companies consider the Kidz to Adultz Magazine an important platform to showcase their equipment, especially when launching new products.

Finally, we would like to thank all those involved in helping to put together these amazing events, the team at Disabled Living, our exhibitors, loyal volunteers and our visitors.

Redbank House Redbank House is now well established as a training and meeting venue. Its close proximity to Manchester City Centre provides excellent accommodation for companies and organisations bringing people together from all over the UK. As you read the Annual Report, you will realise many of Disabled Living’s services overlap with others in the organisation and Redbank House is no exception. The substantial training programme delivered to MCC staff is delivered at Redbank House. Many of the delegate faces are instantly recognisable as they return regularly to attend the many different courses now offered by our Training team.

We said goodbye to our tenant, Outreach Community and Residential Services who had leased offices at Redbank House for several years. Outreach have now moved into their own premises in Radcliffe and there may be the possibility of Disabled Living using their premises to deliver training in the future.

Within weeks of Outreach vacating their offices, we welcomed In Health Intelligence who provide the Diabetic Eye Screening Programme to people in Greater Manchester. Initially, booking two small rooms for three months, we are delighted the team are still with us and have extended their booking until the end of March 2021.

This year we have noticed a marked reduction in clients attending the Sensurround Rooms. This is

primarily due to funding issues or carers not being able to bring clients, which is so frustrating as visitors look forward to their sessions.

In addition, and unlike any other year, several of our clients have sadly passed away unexpectedly. However, despite the reduction in numbers clients benefitted from 2,179 sensory sessions.

This year was a particularly busy year for training room bookings, especially during periods where historically it has been quieter – Easter, the end of July, all of August and the run up to Christmas. As we looked into this further, companies who book our rooms regularly and were unable to book their firstchoice date, booked the less popular dates to remain at our venue. However, it worked for them and we continue to receive more bookings to remain at our venue.

We have been delighted to welcome 8,568 people through the Redbank House doors.

Disabled Living's Statistics We reached 509,219 people 4,024 people have used our helpline & assessment services 6,993 have received Training and CPD

Website 456,845 views Traffic 94,075 more views 52% organic searches 34,936 new users

Supplier Directory 85,480 views +25,221 increase Suppliers are continuing to report the Supplier Directory as a repeat referral platform

E-newsletters & Bulletins All of the e-newsletters and bulletins highlight aspects of our services and link to the website.

41% open rate increase 62% total clicks increase

Kidz to Adultz Exhibitions & Magazine 10,606 visitors Over 500 exhibitors 306,785 Kidz to Adultz Magazines were distributed

Social Media 30,251 followers 32% mentions increase Impressions increased 25% when getting involved with campaigns

Blogs Sponsored blog posts published has increased by 150% Blog views increased by 103% as we launched our increased social media campaign

Year Ahead As I write this section of the Annual Report, it is the end of September and I have the benefit, not of a crystal ball, but the reality of six months into the new financial year. The year ahead is unpredictable, however, the team have used their time during lock-down to consider how services may be delivered differently in the future. We have scrutinised in fine detail our expenditure to consider how we can work more efficiently.

Although we regularly review all financial aspects of the business, the reduction in delivery of services gave that extra time to really look at all options. The team at Disabled Living had worked hard over the years to generate cash reserves, not significant amounts but sufficient in the short term. With the addition of a loan, and the business and service development activities as described in the Priorities for 2021, I truly believe that with such a dedicated team of staff and trustees, Disabled Living we will come out of the pandemic more efficient, innovative, less reliant of specific income streams and with a diverse portfolio of services for our stakeholders.

Our priorities for 2020/21 To secure loan/grant funding to ensure Disabled Living's services can continue to operate whilst existing services are not generating income to the level in previous years.

Identify and develop additional income generation opportunities that are not ‘physically’ linked to existing services to ensure reduce risk to the charity overall.

To develop further, any new business development ideas that have been tested and evaluated.

To develop digital and remote options to complement our existing services.

To be totally open to any partnerships that offer diversity without straying from the charity’s core services.

To continue to develop the RROTA project, by securing funding, which had it been at the stage of commercialisation during the pandemic would have offered a platform within health and social care services to continue to offer assessments for people in their home environment.

To consider the wider opportunities for the RROTA platform which have been identified during development.

To consider options to enhance the work/life balance for all our team and options to work remotely.

Treasurer's Message Following a deficit reported in 2018/19, it is extremely pleasing to see the organisation return to a surplus in 2019/20. The thorough review of all income and cost streams has achieved the desired results.

The Kidz to Adultz income performance remains strong, although there was £17k shortfall on Kidz to Adultz South income compared to budget.

This was offset however by a similar cost saving on the same event.

While all other income streams were generally in line with expectations, room hire at Redbank House achieved income levels 20% over budget.

As stated, many times, whilst legacy income is very welcome it cannot be relied upon. This year saw an increase in legacy income, from £70k to £121k. Income can be analysed as follows:Kidz to Adultz Events 50% Training 14% Bladder & Bowel UK 13% Redbank House 9% Legacies 10% Disabled Living Centre 2% Fundraising/ Donations/Grants 1% Management 1% Staff wages and overheads are constantly reviewed to ensure overall expenditure does not exceed budget and costs incurred represent the best value possible. In 2019/20, total costs were 2.75% below budget.

At the end of the 2019/20 financial year the charity remained financially robust. From March onwards, the charity faced substantial challenges caused by COVID 19. The budget was adjusted to assume little or no income throughout the remainder of the year. Cash flows were scrutinised in detail and a business interruption loan of £200k applied for. The loan has been approved and the trustees are confident, against current COVID information, the organisation has sufficient reserves to operate through to next year. Some activity has recommenced and generated un-budgeted income e.g. Training has achieved over £30k income.

The year ahead will be difficult but through careful management of resources, directors and trustees are confident Disabled Living will survive the pandemic.

Paula Brown Honorary Treasurer

Finance

Finance

This is an extract from the full accounts, please contact Disabled Living for a full copy, if required.

Special Thank You Throughout the year, we have been supported by many friends and colleagues, too numerous to mention; but a special thank you must go to: A Roscoe Attends Autumn UK B Braun B Derbyshire Chris Jones Coloplast Convatec D York Disabled Living Volunteers (too numerous to mention) E Hill Elite Dynamics UK Ltd Ferring Pharmaceutical Ford & Barley Exhibitions Gerry Yeung OBE, DL GTC Management I Bradbury IMedicare J Dyer J Howarth J Snowdon J.C. Backhouse K Evans League of Jewish Women

Lloyd Piggott Ltd Lorna Brown (in memory of Pat White) M Owen Manchester Luncheon Club Mangar Healthcare Ontex P Robinson Ray Makin Royal Bank of Scotland Employees S Painter S Rudolfer S Swain S White Sir CDR Rose Slater & Gordon Solicitors The Growth Company

Disabled Living would like to acknowledge the following, who very kindly specified a bequest to the organisation in their wills: Patricia Parker

Disabled Living, Burrows House, 10 Priestley Rd, Wardley Industrial Estate, Worsley, Manchester, M28 2LY Tel: 0161 214 4590 Email: info@disabledliving.co.uk Website: www.disabledliving.co.uk Established in 1897, Disabled Living is a Registered Charity No 224742