While the sunshine was still out, our Yorkshire committee were busy presenting Sunshine Coaches to schools in region, thanks to the support of two local sponsors.

Lydgate School located in New Mill, Holmfirth, took delivery of its brand new Variety Sunshine Coach just in time to transport some of the pupils to Hadrian’s Wall where they successfully walked the 80 miles of Roman wall.

In 2006, Lydgate was one of the first special schools in the UK to walk the whole of Hadrian’s Wall. The coach was presented to the school by sponsors Land Securities, long time supporters of the Yorkshire region ofVariety, the Children’s Charity.

Nicky Rogers, head teacher of Lydgate school which has 68 pupils with ages ranging from four to 16 years old, said:

“The new Variety Sunshine Coach is a welcome replacement for our old coach, which was 15 years old and had done lots of sterling work, but was getting a little ‘tired’.The replacement coach is bigger and will enable us to continue to give our pupils the opportunity to get out into the community to take part in a wide range of activities.”

Nicky added:

“Without the lifeline of this transport, some of our children would miss out on outings which include attending college, visits to local amenities and after school clubs. We are extremely proud of all of our pupils and would like to thank Variety and their supporters for helping to enrich their lives.”

The committee had also presented a new Variety Sunshine Coach to the pupils a Broomfield South SILC in Belle Isle, Leeds, which was part-funded by Lisle International Licencing.

Sharon Crowther, a senior learning support coordinator at the school, said:

“The new coach will be invaluable to the school. Our pupils are very excited about having a new minibus and have already been making suggestions for places of interest to visit.”