Lake District charity Calvert Trust warns of financial woes

The Calvert Trust offers outdoor adventures to children and adults with complex needs

A charity which helped rehabilitate profoundly disabled people for the last 45 years has warned it is on the brink of financial collapse.

The Lake District Calvert Trust offers outdoor adventure breaks for adults and children with physical and learning difficulties.

It relies heavily on income from special school residential trips, and has lost more than £1m due to lockdown.

It has now set up an urgent fundraising appeal in a bid to prevent its closure.

Chairman Giles Mounsey-Heysham described Covid-19 as "the perfect storm".

He said: "We are facing permanent closure, and if it's lost we lose our facilities, our services and our wonderful staff, and they may never be replaced.

"So we're appealing for financial assistance, whether it is large or small, whether it is £1 or £1,000, because we cannot let this charity, which helps one of the most disadvantages groups in society, go to the wall."

As well as the Lake District base near Bassenthwaite, the Calvert Trust also has branches at Kielder and Exmoor, which have also been hit hard by the official guidance against overnight educational trips,

The Department for Education said in a statement: "We keep our guidance on both residential and non-residential trips under review, in line with Public Health England advice."