THE founder of an animal charity which specialises in helping children with special educational needs and disabilities has been awarded a BEM.

In 2002, Mary Chapman, 67, from Great Ouseburn, near York, rescued a host of animals including ponies, horses, guinea pigs, pigs and goats which had been abandoned.

This was the start for her establishing Nuzzlets in 2004, a small voluntary group specialising in visits for children with special educational needs and disabilities and life-threatening illnesses.

She welcomed her first visitors from Martin House Children’s Hospice to see the Shetland ponies whose heads were just the right height to rest on the children’s laps.

In 2007 she turned Nuzzlets into a charity and became DEFRA accredited as a countryside classroom and care farm.

Nuzzlets has the support of Joules clothing which has resulted in the building of two new mobile and woodland classrooms.

Many local schools visit, to learn about animal welfare, and two special needs schools visit weekly during term time to interact with and learn about the animals.

In 2016 and 2017 she organised and hosted just over 200 visits per year, enlisted help from volunteers to support over 4,000 young people to have access to animals.

If children and young people cannot go to the farm, then she takes the animals to them. Nuzzlets visits Martin House weekly, providing children who are unable to visit the farm with a distraction.

She visited Martin House four times in one week with her guinea pigs so one of the children staying there could find comfort during his last few days.

Many parents request that she, along with the animals, attend their children's funerals.

She does not shy away from the emotionally challenging aspects of her charity work. Her empathy and compassion in these difficult situations are boundless.

Nuzzlets regularly visit The Retreat in York for patients with mental illnesses.

She visits special needs schools, nursing homes and inner-city nurseries with the animals, along with delivering talks about what Nuzzlets does, to children attending Beavers and other schools and colleges.