Thursday Out and About

Our Barn is intended as a 'bridge' between formal education and adult life for young people with learning difficulties or other disability. It is a meeting place for 16 to 25-year-olds (sometimes up to 35 year-olds) to share their experiences and to grow and develop in a setting that is less formal than school or college but still provides structure and support.

We run activities that are fun and focus on our members' interests to help them develop and grow as individuals and in a group. The young people may undergo training for employment or work to enhance life skills.

Our aim is to develop a service that young people are keen to use, with high quality and energetic staff keeping activities safe, engaging and age appropriate.

The original Our Barn started in 2012 at Redlees Play Centre and evolved in response to parents and carers of disabled young people requesting meaningful activities for their older children that helped prepare them for leaving school and starting adult life. The majority of funding for Our Barn at Redlees comes through Hounslow Council's Short Breaks offer. We have access to additional funding that allows residents of other boroughs to attend 

We have developed additional provision, a gardening project at our new training base - Jubilee Lodge in Osterley Park. Our team contributes to work in the Tudor style kitchen garden, learning Horticulture and other skills for work and a more independent adult life.

Our social enterprise cafe is called Pump & Grind coffee Shop and provides work experience opportunities inside the London Museum of Water & Steam

Additionally, we have a projects for those aged up to 35 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), some multisports and a drop-in session for carers. We also operate a mini social enterprise: Buddy Bicycles, providing disability cycling in Osterley Park and a fantastic work experience project for all our service users.