The Story of The A World UK
The A World UK was established in 2019, within the heart of Salford. With Jamie's experience of working within the non-profit sector, along with both his and Adam's understanding and first-hand experience of having autistic family members. It was clear to see that there was a lack of support within Salford for the autistic community, in which they both decided they wanted to try and make a difference to other people's lives.
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Starting out by raising funds through tabletop sales around Swinton they finally settled their roots in the heart of Eccles shopping centre, officially opening The A World UK's first community store doors on November 27th, 2019.
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Unfortunately, within 4 months of opening the Eccles community store and now having an additional community store in Leigh (Spinning Gate Shopping Centre) covid struck and the entire world was put into lockdown, this unfortunately prevented The A World UK from continuing with the weekly autism friendly football sessions hosted by Little Legends.
After returning from the lockdown, Brad joined The A World UK team, with his experience of working operationally and supporting the company he previously worked for with a £7 million turnover Adam and Jamie knew that Brad would be a great asset to the team.
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During the 3 years The A World UK has been fortunate enough to expand, in which there are now numerous community stores across the North of England, which allows The A World UK to provide an array of support to the wider autistic community.
With a team of now over 40 members of staff it is truly incredible how far The A World UK has been able to develop, especially within such a small-time frame, here's to the future and seeing what else The A World UK is able to achieve.
The A World UK has been able to offer a variety of support over the past 3 years, supporting over 2700 people through:
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Weekly autism friendly football sessions with Little Legends.
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Exclusive hire of Playkidd’s playcentre in Swinton, with Twinkleboost in attendance.
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Horse-riding sessions*
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Funded holidays*
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Nerf event with Busy Bushcraft.
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Carer’s event.
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Christmas events for children and adults.
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Blackpool Illuminations Tram Tour's.
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Exclusive hire of Gulliver’s World - Warrington.
Their Words
I blinked, and before I knew it 3 years had flown by.
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From our first initial conversation about setting up The A World UK, never would I of envisioned us achieving what we have, especially within 3 short years, AND through a pandemic!
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It gives me great satisfaction in seeing people's funded holiday* photographs, reading comments and seeing all of the smiling faces at our recent Gulliver's event, just to name a few.
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Knowing that the hard work being put in by the entire The A World UK team is making a difference to other people's lives! What we are able to offer the autistic community allows people to attend events, enjoy them and make memories that many others may take for granted, it is truly amazing.
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I am excited to see what the future holds for The A World UK.
Thank you for your continued support, as we truly would not be able to do what we do without it.
I cannot put into words how proud I am to be a part of The A World UK as it turns 3 years old.
In just a short space of time, we have opened 16 community stores and hosted events around the North of England including ones that have never been done before (Gulliver's World theme park)!
I would like to take this time to mention that the generosity from individuals who donate pre-loved items to our stores is beyond anything we could have ever imagined and without them we wouldn’t be able to offer the amazing services that we do to the Autistic Community.
I burst with pride for each of our team members that make it possible for us to support the community! Seeing The A World grow this quickly is frankly amazing and I’m looking forward to continue with the growth in order for us to offer our services to more people, in more areas.
From a vision to numbers on a spread sheet,
to collecting our first lot of donated items,
to holding the keys to our 16th store,
to holding our first event to booking out a whole theme park,
to hiring our first member of staff to booking a Christmas party for over 60,
from our first volunteer to having over 100.
We have come so far in such little time.
The best part is knowing that we have not even reached the surface of where we are going. The journey of The A World UK has gone through so many ups and downs, however with the resilience and values from every person who has been involved we will always see it through and fight back stronger.
I speak to so many people around the Northwest on a daily basis and The A World UK has become more than what I could have ever imagined.
So many people will have heard me say this, but it will always stand strong. We have created a community that gives everyone a name and not just a number “It’s says Autism above the door, but we do so much more”
Thank you to every single one of you, who has helped support The A World UK over these past 3 years!
Watch out for what’s next to come. WE HAVE ONLY JUST BEGUN!