The Mayor's Charities

The Mayor supports the work of a number of charities each year.

N.S.P.C.C.

The NSPCC runs around 180 services for children, young people and their families across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands, including one in Somerset.

The Somerset Child Protection Centre, which is based in Taunton is one of 39 NSPCC therapeutic services across the country supporting children who have suffered all types of abuse. The majority of requests for the service taken on by the NSPCC are sex abuse-related and demand on the services is more than can be met.

Since opening in 1992 the Somerset centre has helped more than 1,000 children and young people across the county.

A team of five highly skilled and experienced practitioners offer one-to-one therapeutic sessions to children and young people and support and advice to their families and carers. The centre also works closely with the local social services department, child and adolescent mental health services, and other agencies working with children and young people.

The centre costs around £316,000 annually to run and because 85 per cent of NSPCC income comes from voluntary donations, the Society is heavily reliant on the generosity of the general public.

The aim of the N.S.P.C.C. is for a society where all children are loved, valued and able to fulfill their potential.

Somerset Unit for Radiotherapy Equipment - S.U.R.E.

S.U.R.E. came into being some five years ago with the specific aim of ending the need for local Cancer patients, requiring radiotherapy treatment, having to travel to Bristol to obtain their treatment or planning for their treatment. The journey to Bristol is a round trip of 100 miles and for many patients considerably more. A team, who have all been victims of Cancer or have been affected indirectly by the illness of a close friend or relative, now organises the day-to-day operations of S.U.R.E. They give of their time freely and S.U.R.E is justifiably proud that of every pound donated in excess of 99.5p goes into the fund for the new Oncology Centre that is to be built at Musgrove Park.

The cost of such a machine will be £500,000 and the installation and first three years running costs are estimated to be another £120,000 -£140,000. In addition to this S.U.R.E. has decided to fund a facility for making screening masks for patients with facial or throat cancers. This is a service that is at also at present carried out in Bristol but will in future be done locally.

There is still much to be done but, with the support there is in the community, it should be possible to help Musgrove Park Hospital provide Cancer care that will lack for nothing.