Every Monday evening Holly Edmundson, a volunteer at KEEN, gets together with a group of lovely people to talk about jumping squirrels, cakes with sprinkles, and ballroom dancing.

Together they make puppets out of spoons, pumpkins from balloons, and dragons with all sorts of crafty bits (but mostly from their imaginations). Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, this is the wonderful world of GrEAT, just one of four sessions run by the charity KEEN Oxford.

KEEN is a joint organisation of Oxford & Oxford Brookes University students which provides provides local children and young adults with a range of special needs (known at KEEN as ‘Athletes’), with a place to get together and participate in sporting and recreational activities.

The sessions — run predominantly by a committed team of university students — give the Athletes more confidence and a sense of belonging, as well as helping them to make great steps physically.

As a KEEN volunteer (or ‘Coach’) Holly can also testify how much being involved in the charity has brought to her life. She said: “There is a brilliant camaraderie between the volunteers and the Athletes have such a love of life, I can’t help but smile when I’m around them.”

Each of the weekly sessions is aimed at a different age group. Zig-Zag is a drama and crafts workshop for children aged 4-18; KEEN Teens is a social club for 11-19 year olds; GrEAT is the over 18s social club; and AllSorts is a Saturday sports session for all Athletes. There are also annual events, including an ice skating trip and the KEEN Olympics.

Founded more than 20 years ago by New College graduate Elliott Portnoy, the charity has gone from strength to strength and now has over 240 Athletes regularly attending sessions.

If you are interested in being a part of this, go to www.keenoxford.org for more information.

Alternatively, contact KEEN Coordinator, Chris Jones, at keen@keenoxford.org or 01865 264173.