About the cause

Just as Special Needs children at the other end of the IQ spectrum often feel excluded from the mainstream so, too, do Gifted children. In the case of the gifted however, it is usually because the pace of learning is slower than their ability to assimilate knowledge.

Gifted children can often feel just depressed, misunderstood, rejected and very alone as they are frequently set apart and shunned by their peers and teachers and are often the victims of bullies, simply because they are different.

In order to develop their talents fully they usually need greater challenges than others. They also benefit greatly by being able to be in contact with other gifted and talented children.

The MFGC helps these children by providing funding for additional facilities and events not normally provided by educational establishments. A good example is Prenton High School for girls featured on this site and Hills Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge, where we have provided funding for Technical equipment and extra curricular events.

We organised two tours of America for a group of fifty very bright teenagers in the late nineties. They were given access to amazing places in the USA that most people would never get to visit, and both tours were hugely successful. These trips were organised by David Heathcoat, a retired deputy head teacher, who knew exactly how to handle children of this nature. The trip included visits and stays at New York, Niagara Falls and Washington DC.

We would love to do this again, but unfortunately, shortly after the event, the health and safety acts and the Human Rights Act came into force, with the threat of unlimited liability to the organisers, which means that we, or any other organisation can no longer do this sort of thing, for fear of prosecution and claims against us that would financially destroy us and our charity.

Here is a letter we received from one of the youngsters aged 13, who went on one of those tours.  When you read it, you will immediately understand our cause, and why it is so sad that this is a particular route we can no longer go down. If you have any ideas as to how we can rectify this, they would be most welcomely received.

 

The letter (very slightly abbreviated) reads as follows:

 

“Dear David,

Thank you for organising US 1997. It must have taken a lot of time and energy to organise so many unusual, and probably unique, activities. The fact that the trip was such a success is doubtless a testament to your commitment and enthusiasm. There cannot be many adults with your vision in the world (for if there were it would surely be a better place).

 I have not stopped replaying the whole trip in my mind since I got back to England (which seems very small and cold by comparison). I can still see the Niagara Falls by night in my mind’s eye, feel the hot breeze of D.C. and hear the New York traffic. I think I left part of my soul behind at the top of the World Trade Centre that night.

The trip has changed me completely. I used to have a chip on my shoulder about what I could have already achieved, and even used to regret my own birth at times. Now, I look forward to what might be possible in the future and feel privileged to be alive. The old me was scared to be alive, unlike the new me who shouts from the top of the World Trade Centre ‘Hey World. I’m alive’ (and means it!)

Looking back I don’t remember when the others stopped being strangers and became individuals I feel honoured to know, but they did. I made many new friends who understood me in a way I thought no one ever would. For once in my life I feel as though I am not alone.

 

The hardest question I have been asked about the trip was what I had enjoyed the most. The only way I can answer this is to say ‘every single day was the best day of my life!’ There was not a single moment when I wished I was somewhere else. Even the time spent queuing was entertaining.

The only thing that I regret about the trip is that others I know (who I’m sure would have benefitted from it just as much as I have) weren’t with me.

Thank you again for everything.”

We believe the child who wrote that letter could not have given us a clearer description of the nature of her intellectual gifts, the problems she faced, and the kind of help she needed.