A CHARITY is appealing to businesses to help it offer a greater range of support to adults with learning disabilities.

Ripon Community Link is set to move from its Palace Road base to two sites near the city centre to improve its facilities, boost the charity’s profile and enable it to create more partnerships, such as with schools.

The charity has raised more than £50,000 of the £93,000 it needs to renovate a bungalow, which will include a kitchen, being donated by Howdens Joinery, which has a depot in Ripon.

It will feature inclusive elements to enable everyone to use it for developing skills and involvement in cooking and baking groups.

The bungalow will also have an improved sensory room, a sensory garden and outside area and extra space to offer rebound therapy, which promotes balance, muscle tone, sensory integration, fitness and improved communication skills.

The charity, which has 60 users from an area stretching from Northallerton to York, is running a fundraising drive and is seeking £20,000 of grants to complete the project, but hopes to reduce the costs of the project by £13,000 with donations.

Its chief executive, Lindsay Tanner, said: “Ripon Community Link would very much welcome donations, small and large, from local companies able to express their support for this valuable work.

“With the bungalow currently in a state of disrepair there is a whole range of help needed from fencing to windows and doors, insulation, heating and other materials.”

It will hold a charity walk, with one, five and ten-mile options on Wednesday, (April 30), at 10.30am, starting at Ripon Cathedral.

For details, call 01765-607461 or email info@riponcommmunitylink.org.uk