A Farnham-based organisation for young people with learning disabilities is celebrating an early Christmas present with a grant of £1,400 from the South Street Trust.

Post 19 provides young adults who have special educational needs with an alternative to traditional colleges and day care centres. It will use the funds to employ an artist to work with small groups of young people to help them create mosaics, including cutting, fixing, grouting the tiles and making the frames.

The South Street Trust is a grant giving body which is administered by Farnham Town Council and provides funds for art-based educational activity. “Post 19 does amazing work with many local young adults. I was impressed to hear how the mosaic project will help participants’ creativity and give them practical skills,” says Councillor John Ward, Mayor of Farnham.

“Running the mosaic project will be of enormous benefit to the young adults we work with. Over a series of sessions, they will work in groups and individually to create artwork that they can be proud of, developing their social skills and levels of independence as well as learning something new,” says Rob Power, Director at Post 19.

Post 19 accepts young adults from the Surrey and Hampshire borders with severe or lower ability learning difficulties. It offers a range of meaningful activities, such as horticulture, mechanics, art and graphic design. It generates some of its own income, ploughing it back in to the organisation to fund further work and give the participants a sense of achievement.

The South Street Trust funds numerous art-based activities and organisations in and around Farnham, with grants from a few hundred pounds up to several thousand. The current round of funding closed on 12 December. Details of how to make an application in the next round will be available on our grants page in 2017.