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We run a range of activities at the centre. We have an Over 55s Lunch Club to reduce isolation in the area, we promote healthy living decisions, and our Step Forward programme gives advice and support on income maximisation, family health, housing, employment and training. In addition to this, we run a drop-in cafe working with different organisations across the borough of Merton to provide information about services that can help local people, providing free tea and coffee, a warm place to sit and social and exercise events. We would love to continue to thrive to support our community even more. Please follow our project and share our work with your community.

The NAS Transitions Day Service in Croydon is open to any adult with a diagnosis of autism or Asperger syndrome in the area. The activities we offer at the day service offer residents of Croydon with autism a better lifestyle, promoting independent living skills, social interaction and integration into the local community. Ultimately, the day service provides adults with autism in Croydon with a sense of self-worth and self-esteem. £1,644 would fund a full month of December activities for the users of the day service. This would include Musictherapy from Nordoff Robbins, Cycling, Golf/Bowling and Outing, Aromatherapy, Music/Singing, Allotment, Art, and Film Making activities.

We will create a contemporary theatre piece with adults with learning disabilities, to be presented alongside professional work at our DRUNKEN NIGHTS events. The project has 3 aims: 1- Provide a platform for learning disabled artists to show work in a professional context; 2- Increase awareness of Stay Up Late - a charity promoting rights of people with learning disabilities to have a choice about how they live their lives; 3- Champion work by disabled artists to a wider audience, increasing audience exposure to diverse work. We will work with 10 members of Club Soda, a group of artists with disabilities run by Croydon Council, with whom we are associate artists. Our successful DRUNKEN NIGHTS project is now in its fourth year - producing free performance events in public bar spaces of local pubs, and providing development support for early career artists. As part of this year’s project, we will create a short performance with Club Soda, which will be presented at DRUNKEN NIGHTS events at the George Tavern in East London in March 2016. This performance will be contemporary, experimental and based on ideas and interests of the participants. When we work with community groups we retain much of our own theatre-making ethos - we don’t patronise participants by over simplifying performance making processes, and our approach will be bold and challenging. The project will provide participants with opportunities to work with professional theatre-makers and perform alongside practicing artists to public audiences. It is important to us to provide experiences for artists with learning disabilities outside of institutionalised events. Club Soda normally perform at disabled events, to audiences of friends, peers and family. We will integrate their work into events, helping them to feel less isolated and more empowered. The project will provide a unique opportunity for participants to develop confidence and skills, and to feel more independent and positive about their place in the world. It will promote the work of artists with learning disabilities to a wider audience, promoting the rights and equalities of disabled people, and removing stigma and misunderstanding associated with disability.