Walk raises £1120 for Connections Trust

Martin Coupe presents his cheque to Kathy Thomas (left) and Vivien Carter from Rochdale Connections Trust.

A retired bank manager has raised funds for Rochdale Connections Trust after completing the Nidderdale Charity Walk.

Friends and colleagues of Martin Coupe, who retired from his position as Business Centre Manager at Barclays Bank Rochdale some 10 years ago, helped him to raise £560 from his participation in the North Yorkshire walk, which was matched pound for pound by Barclays.

Rochdale Connections Trust is a community based charity that works with young people with the aim of putting their lives back on track by offering practical and emotional support.

The Charity was started by a group of Rochdale Youth Magistrates in 1998 who noticed that many young people appearing before the Court did not have a school to attend. This often led to exclusion from society in general and a loss of self-esteem and self-worth on the part of the young person.

RCT's aims are to connect young people with trained mentors who can help them return to education and training, but even more importantly, perhaps to raise their individual self-worth and confidence which will lead to inclusion rather than exclusion.

On receiving the cheque from Martin Coupe, Vivian Carter, chairman of the Trust said they were extremely grateful for his support and also the matched funding provided by Barclays Bank for a retired member of their staff in contributing to the work of the charity
Kathy Thomas, Chief Executive of the Trust, said that part of the funds would be used to improve the training facility for basic cooking aimed to make the young people better able to look after themselves.