The Asda Foundation funds launch of new Tommy's guide to help support parents with premature babies

As part of Tommy’s pledge to support parents who have experienced a pregnancy complication or loss, they’ve put together a new guide for parents who have had – or are at risk of having – a premature baby.

Developed and produced with a grant from the Asda Foundation, the new guide provides parents and parents-to-be who are at risk of pre-term labour with the information and advice needed during their pregnancy, birth, time in hospital and early days at home.

The guide combines advice from health professionals and tips and stories from parents to help mums and dads going through similar experiences.

Louisa, whose son was born at 28 weeks and was in special care of eight weeks, was one of the parents who helped to develop the book.

She says: “I think that the guide is brilliant. It is so comprehensive and I would have loved to have had a book like that as all the ones I read left us wanting.”

The guide is free to order online on the Tommy’s website now.

Asda raises the roof at Throstle Nest Riding School

A long-running RDA (Riding for the Disabled Association) in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, has been given a new lease of life with help from the Asda Foundation.

Throstle Nest Riding School, a small family-run centre, holds its own on-site RDA running group and individual riding sessions for people with disabilities – giving them the opportunity to learn new skills and improve their health, wellbeing and confidence.

The centre was previously limited by their open riding arena – which meant that lessons often had to be cancelled when there was bad weather.

Volunteers at the school managed to raise £25,000 towards a new roof above the arena which would allow lessons in wet or cold weather – and the Asda Foundation’s donation of a further £20,000 helped the centre to complete the construction, giving more members in the community the chance to experience riding for themselves.

For more information on a Riding for the Disabled Association near you visit the charity’s website.

Asda Foundation helps to support cycling club for young people with disabilities in Ayrshire

Asda Foundation, in partnership with CTC – the UK’s National Cyclists’ Organisation, Youth Scotland and ContinYou, funds Bike Club, a non-profit initiative that aims to make cycling part of children’s daily lives by offering support and advice to local youth organisations.

The Ayr Carrick Eagle (A.C.E) RaceRunning group is the 200th Bike Club to be set up in the United Kingdom, allowing young people with restricted mobility to experience the joy of cycling using a specialist running bike with three wheels and no pedals.

Everyone is welcome to attend the group and the running bike is easy to use independently and gives the user a sense of freedom which many of the club’s members, including young people with disabilities, have been unable to enjoy.

With the support of the Asda Foundation and funding from Bike Club, A.C.E RaceRunning group recently purchased a trailer which allows them to expand their “Come and Try” mobile service – introducing more young people to cycling. “Come and Try” events are organised in visit schools and community groups in Scotland throughout the year and the group also offers help to clubs looking to introduce the running bike into their activity program.

We donate £100,000 to help children in East Africa

The Asda Foundation has donated £100,000 to Save the Children to help some of the four million children on the verge of starvation as a result of the drought in East Africa.

Women and children are particularly at risk from the worst droughts for 60 years to hit Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia and no rain is forecast until September. The harrowing photo above shows a young Kenyan woman Fatuma holding her six-week-old son Ibrahim in the stabilization centre for severely malnourished children in the Wajir District Hospital.

Paul Kelly our External Affairs director says: “At Asda we believe in giving children the opportunity to be the best that they can be. The lives of millions of children are at risk from the unfolding humanitarian crisis in East Africa. The Asda Foundation has today donated £100,000 to the Save the Children appeal. Save the Children are best placed to ensure the funds get to where they are needed most to save lives.”

For more information on how Save the Children is helping with the drought appeal visit their website.

"An area that the whole community can enjoy" - the Woodland Project is officially open to the public

A piece of wasteland in Adel, West Yorkshire, has been transformed into a fantastic wooded area for local people to use for community activities, teaching and nature walks – all with the help of the Asda Foundation.

The Woodland Project at Ralph Thoresby School was officially opened by local MP Greg Mulholland on Wednesday 8th June after almost a year of work.

The brainchild of behaviour support worker Paul Bell, this project began in summer 2010 when Paul appealed to the Asda Foundation for the £10,000 needed to redevelop the wasteland behind the school into a full activity area that included an assault course, an outside classroom, a wheelchair slalom, vegetable patches, flower beds and a chill-out area.

Paul says: “Thoresby Wood is for the community, not just the school. We will involve pre-school and primary schools as well as the local elderly residents to keep links between the elderly and young people of the community. Everyone in the community will be able to use the area.”

The project relied not only on the support of the community and the Foundation but also the hard work of the students at Ralph Thoresby. The children got very involved in the project – carrying out some of their lessons in the woods and joining an afternoon club to help out with the development of the area.

“It is a quite inspirational project that will involve and engage students and will benefit the whole community,” says Greg Mulholland. “I am full of admiration for Paul Bell whose idea it was and the students who worked so hard to make it happen and also thank Asda and the other sponsors for giving it their full backing.”

Pam Nicholl, community colleague at Asda Adel, was at the official launch of the site. She says: “I am so proud of the way the community and particularly the school children have worked so hard to make Thoresby Wood such a fantastic area that the whole of the community can enjoy.”