​It’s 25 years since the CASE charity was launched in Hull to provide support and training for young adults with learning disabilities. Andy Mortimer went to chat to one of the people behind its continuing success . . .

Louise Kirlew, of Yorkshire Bank, Claire Cockayne, CASE operations manager, Alison Peach, Louise Thompson and John Rotherham, of Yorkshire Bank

For most 16-year-olds, leaving school is a time of celebration. Exams are over, teachers can no longer nag for homework and the important subject of “getting a life” begins.

But imagine leaving school with very few – if any – qualifications, having struggled with a learning disability throughout your formative years. The problems faced can be immense, with an inevitable strain put on family life.

Thankfully, for some young adults help is at hand, all because of a pioneering charity set up by a group of Hull parents 25 years ago.

CASE Training was the idea of Mary and Andrew Peach; initially designed for their daughter Alison, who suffers from Down’s Syndrome, but brought to fruition with the help of a group of other parents whose children also had learning disabilities.

The idea was to help Alison and others to become more independent and, eventually, find employment.

Fast-forward to 2010 and CASE has proved to be one of the region’s biggest success stories. It now supports more than 70 young adults from Hull and a further 40 from the East Riding, providing them with practical lessons, work placements and, increasingly, employment, from their headquarters in Charles Street, Hull.

An important part of the unique team making the parents’ dreams come true is Claire Cockayne, the operations manager, who joined the charity four years ago. She said: “Before CASE came along, when a child with learning disabilities left school at 16, there was nowhere for them to go, other than day centres.

“For some, day centres may feel somewhat demeaning while staying at home can put added pressure on carers. So, the idea was to create somewhere they could further their skills and gain some qualifications.

“But it’s not just work skills we are trying to improve. The young adults that come here grow so much as people during their time at CASE and that’s something we are very proud of.”

Claire is a former Barclay’s Bank employee who was brought in to CASE to set up their charity shop in Hessle Road, Hull, in November 2005. She advanced from there into a role in personnel development and fundraising and it is this clamour for cash that is now proving to be such a challenge for the charity.

Claire said: “We receive some funding, but we rely on charitable donations to keep the centre, which is located on both sides of Freetown Way, in Hull, running.

“We apply for grants and we have set up programmes such as our Ready To Work scheme to get young people into work. But it’s always a challenge to find more money.

“One area we do really well in, however, is support from local business. We set up a lot of work placements thanks to our contacts with local firms and the 250 Club – a networking group of local businesses who all contribute a minimum annual subscription of £250 – is incredibly popular.”

Training manager Jackie Charleton (left) and tutor Roanna Morrison taking a training session

Today, CASE is an accredited training organisation providing meaningful, effective training and work experience opportunities. Trainees develop vocational and other skills at their own pace with the aim of improving quality of life and enhancing future prospects.

Subjects that can be studied include woodwork, soft craft, printing, catering, IT and gardening. And while these offer practical skills, hidden within each of these are key numeracy and literacy skills that each trainee will need for later life.

Claire said: “Depending on the level of learning disability of each trainee, they can be at the centre different amounts of time during the week studying for their qualifications.

“And every trainee who takes part in a course absolutely loves their time here.

“There are never any cases of bullying between trainees and whenever one of them sees you in the street or even just in the CASE canteen, they are always asking you if you are okay and what you’ve been doing on the weekends. They care about people and that’s something that improves the more time they spend with us.”

Over the years, hundreds of young people have come through the doors at CASE and gone on to lead better lives. And this list includes the girl who effectively started it all, Alison Peach.

The daughter of founders Andrew and Mary, she was born with Down’s Syndrome, but, in part thanks to CASE, now lives almost completely independently at her home in Willerby. And mum Mary (69) says she could not be more proud.

She said: “Alison is the reason CASE exists today and she has benefited so much from what she has done as a trainee there.

“We, of course, still support her and help out around her house, but other than that she is totally independent.

“She has friends she has made from CASE and she cooks for them of an evening. Without the input from CASE, this may not have been possible.”

With Alison acting as the main inspiration, CASE was launched in the lounge of Andrew and Mary’s home in Kirkella in 1985 over a cup of coffee and a donated £5 note.

Mary said: “When Alison left school we worked hard to get her onto a course at Hull College in a department for people with special needs. But we knew we had to do something more, so we got together with some other people at our house and decided to open a centre with sheltered workshops.

“At the time, we had no money or a building from which to work and we had given ourselves just four months to get the centre opened. It was a tough ask.”

But from this meeting, great things started to happen. A Methodist Church hall in Waltham Street, behind Bhs in Hull city centre, became the group’s premises free of charge and various organisations offered funding and grants, including Social Services and the European Social Fund.

And when it opened on 23rd September 1985, six trainees, including Alison, were waiting at the doors. “It was absolutely amazing when we started because we could see how the trainees were progressing,” says Mary.

“We soon needed bigger premises and moved to the former Blundell’s department store, on Freetown Way, in April 1987, and that is where we remain to this day.

“We are really proud of what we have achieved at CASE. Somewhere in the region of 300 to 400 trainees have passed through the doors and we are so happy with how it has gone.

“But it’s not just about what we have done because so many people have been involved over the years and we want to say a massive thank you to them, too. It’s made a huge different to a lot of people’s lives.”

The 250 Club is a CASE business support group. For a minimum donation of £250, companies receive a membership certificate, quarterly newsletters and invitations to attend networking events. Current members include Hull City AFC, Jenko, The Sewell Group, Smith & Nephew and Princes Quay Shopping Centre. For more information on the 250 Club, call: (01482) 320200.