Since 1870, the Together Trust has been providing life-changing care, support and education services in the north west of England. The charity works to challenge the negative perceptions and missed opportunities that people with disabilities, autism or complex needs and care-experienced people face in society. With a team of over 800 dedicated people, it works flat out to create an environment where people are valued within their communities. Together Trust helps thousands of people each year, offering care, support and education services for children, young people and adults with disabilities, mental health needs, complex health needs
and autism, along with providing life-changing care for looked-after children and care leavers.

Christmas can be a challenging time for care leavers. Around 10,000 children leave care in England every year, and these children are some of the most vulnerable young people in our society.

While lots of people can turn to family and friends at Christmas, not all care leavers have these support networks around them. Many care leavers will be spending Christmas alone or staying in a hostel or temporary accommodation. For some care leavers, this Christmas might be their first experience of living independently.

Mark Lee, Chief Executive of the Together Trust, said: “We’re proud to give our care leavers love and support long after they have left us. Part of that is making sure they don’t feel alone at Christmas, so our hamper appeal is an opportunity to make sure they have everything they need, as well as the treats and luxuries they might not buy for themselves. It means so much to us that CraftWorld members want to get involved and help us spread Christmas cheer by creating handmade Christmas puddings.”

Together Trust and Practical Publishing have teamed up to ask our readers to crochet, knit and sew Christmas puddings to donate to Together Trust to give an extra gift this Christmas to those who need it and to help with fundraising for the charity! The Christmas puddings can be sent to the address below and will be added to the Christmas hampers sent out to help spread Christmas cheer. All extra puddings will be sold by Together Trust to raise funds. The money raised from selling Christmas puddings will help the charity raise much-needed funds to support the charity’s work to support its care leavers, which relies solely on donations from the public.

Free Christmas Pudding patterns

Our generous designers have created some free patterns to be used in this charity campaign, which you can download here.

Let us know below if you want to see patterns for more crafts!

More ways to help

There are lots more ways that CraftWorld members can help the work Together Trust does to support children in care and care leavers.

You can:

Post in your puddings!

Puddings can be sent to the address below by 19th November 2021
The Fundraising Team
Together Trust
Schools Hill
Cheadle
SK8 1JE