Jim Parker: As Torbay children's champion Tanny goes, there's an appeal from one little girl: 'Please don't let us feel sad, alone and forgotten'

One of the best moments of the Torbay Weekly Business Awards gala finals night for me personally is when I get to present a special Editor’s Award to somebody who has given their life to benefit others.

A couple of years ago I was honoured to present the Lifetime Contribution to the Community Award to Tanny Stobart.

For the last 25 years and many more Tanny has dedicated all her time, energy and life to children. She has firmly believed that one of the most important parts of any child’s upbringing is to have the opportunity, freedom and ability to play. A simple four-letter word that almost all of us parents and grandparents take for granted yet makes so much difference to a youngster’s life.

Yet some children will miss out on playing, children perhaps with special needs or challenging family backgrounds, and they won’t have the chance to engage with others, have some fun, smile and laugh.

Tanny Stobart has done her best to make sure those children are few and far between.

For 25 years Tanny has been the director of Play Torbay, a charity set up to find groups, organisations, schemes and venues and locations for children to play.

It has been announced that Tanny is leaving Play Torbay at the end of the year.

Operations manager Dan Rees-Jones said: “During her remarkable tenure, Tanny has built a truly wonderful organisation, working with hundreds of young people and their families, and creating opportunities that will have a lasting impact across our community.

“On behalf of the trustees and staff, we offer our deepest thanks and heartfelt congratulations to Tanny. Her passion, vision and tireless commitment have shaped Play Torbay into the charity it is today, and her legacy will continue to inspire us all.”

But Tanny and the trustees and Play Torbay have a battle on their hands before she leaves. Funding. Like so many other charities at the moment funding and fund-raising has been a challenge and a couple of play schemes have had to be paused.

Despite being a small charity, Play Torbay has supported and encouraged over 1,500 children and families a year by providing inclusive play spaces and programmes that nurture children’s wellbeing, strengthen community connections, as well as fostering a deeper relationship with nature.  

The Play Torbay schemes have included weekly sessions during term time and weekends at ASRUS in Brixham and Mayfield Hub Club in Torquay for children with additional needs like autism; Crafty Fox sessions in Foxhole, Paignton, to build community relations addressing issues of anti-social behaviour, and Indigos Forest School sessions in Brixham for home educated children many of whom also have additional needs.  

The Forest School parents have been working with Exeter and Plymouth universities and just successfully applied for peer research funding to look into alternative approaches for learning for children who have additional needs.   

Sadly, as the majority of these clubs are not core funded and Play Torbay is facing cash-flow issues, the charity has had to pause these services until it has raised additional funds.  

Tanny says: “Lots of things have made it harder for children to play today – too much traffic, too much homework, a lack of places that are interesting and feel safe spaces for children to play.  

“We have been lucky in Torbay because the charity Play Torbay, with the help of its supporters have for the last 25 years, helped in all sorts of ways to find places for children to play.  

“Every child has the right to play, it is an essential part of growing up, it is the foundation of a healthy, happy childhood and fundamental to safer communities.

“Play Torbay now needs help in different ways. We need a law to protect play in every area; we need help to get funding so communities can improve their play spaces; and we need to make play part of an overall national strategy — not just an afterthought.”

She added: “A recent Ofsted and Care Quality Commission report on Torbay's SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) services found that the long waiting times for assessments and diagnosis which can cause children's needs to worsen while they wait for support, was resulting in a high number of children with SEND being excluded from school.  

“A significant number of these children are then home educated and the numbers are increasing.  

“Several of the services which Play Torbay is providing are for children with additional needs including autism. These are weekly sessions and include ASRUS, Mayfield Hub Club and the Indigos Forest School for home educated children.  Lack of funding means that these services have been paused and the children and families who rely on them are very sad because they are missing the routine and especially seeing their friends.  There is an urgent need to find funding initially until the end of this financial year. “

A young girl and her brother have been attending the Indigo Forest School. The little girl  spoke at a recent youth event at Torre Abbey.

Here is what she had to say: “I live in Paignton with my brother who is 14. We are home educated because school was a really bad place and we did not feel safe or understood.

"It made us very unwell. 

“For the last six years we have had weekly music lessons with Rachel and Lewis from Moor to Sea .We love it, they have helped us both feel happy again. It has taken me a very long time to feel confident. Last week I was brave and sang out loud for the first time.

“For two-and-half years we have been going to Play Torbay's Indigo's Forest school on Wednesday mornings. This is for home educated children to play and learn and be with their friends. 

“We have got to learn really cool stuff, all the teachers are really kind to us and we are very happy when we are there , we feel safe. We can be ourselves. We had the best summer this year and really loved Children's Week. We won the Community Star Award , which made us feel really proud.

“We are very sad now that Play Torbay has run out of money and closed all our clubs.

"We miss our friends and we miss playing and learning all the cool stuff we got to do.

“There are lots of children like us in Torbay that can't go to school who need to have safe spaces and weekly clubs to go to so we can keep learning and seeing our friends.”

Tanny says: “We are working very hard to try to reopen services as soon as possible, bringing them back for the children and families in Torbay who need them most. Currently we are exploring different options to find solutions, including launching a GoFundMe page, with the hope of restarting these vital clubs in the near future.”

You can find the page here: Fundraiser by PLAY TORBAY : Help support Play Torbay's ongoing clubs in Torbay

Last words from  the girl who just wants to get back to playing: “Please help these clubs to keep running weekly sessions so children like us don't feel sad, alone and forgotten.”

Let’s do it for her sake - and for Tanny Stobart