'I've always tried to make Christmas magical for Jake, this year it's cancelled'

Celebrating Christmas has never been easy for Melanie Wallwork and other parents in her position.

Having children with special needs means a typical Santa experience is out of the question as many don't need meet their complex needs.

One shining light in their festive calendar has always been the Christmas parties planned by the Our Kids Eyes charity, or OKE.

For the last 20 years parent and carer volunteers who run the Tameside charity have organised parties and events for the borough's SEN children.

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But this year, none of them are going ahead, leaving families like Melanie's devastated and facing the prospect of Christmas without their son having the chance to meet with Father Christmas and celebrate with other kids.

The charity says it had no choice but to make the decision after a meeting between Tameside council leaders and social care staff in their Jubilee Gardens building earlier this year, resulted in uncertainty over the site.

As it's home to their office, where all the parties and events are planned, the charity said it could not go ahead with the festive plans and 'get people's hopes up' when there was a chance they might have to be cancelled. And even though staff - including the council's Children with Disabilities Team - have remained on site, they say there's been 'no reassurance' over the future.

"There will be no Santa this year for SEN children in Tameside," said Melanie, whose four-year-old son Jake Hamilton-Williams has cerebral palsy, brain injury, global delay and is awaiting a diagnosis of autism.

"These events are popular and for many families are the only chance of their child meeting Santa. The dispute shows no sign of resolution and as a result, disabled children are missing out on the one event they attend each year to meet Father Christmas."

The 43-year-old, from Ashton, added: "Many SEN families cannot attend mainstream local events, as the space isn't appropriate to certain disabilities.

"Children like Jake with complex needs cannot just visit a regular Santa at a shopping centre. Jake cannot wait safely in line or cope with the lights and sounds.

"Two years ago I attempted to take him to see Santa at a local farm, but the event had electric fires he could reach and Jake couldn't manage the projector or noise. I ended up with a £100 plus experience that I had to leave after less than 20 minutes with a very distressed, inconsolable little boy. The space simply wasn't safe enough to meet his need."

Melanie said the OKE parties have always made sure that Christmas is a special event for Jake, who attends Oakdale School, which specialises in supporting children with severe and complex needs.

"On Jake's first Christmas in Tameside Hospital's NICU, we tried to make Christmas special. He was three-and-half months premature and we had no idea if he would live or die. It was the only year I expected him to miss the magic of Christmas," she said.

"Even then, I managed to find him a tiny penguin teddy and had a stocking on his incubator. His dad dressed as Santa while we hugged him and prayed to everything that he lived.

"Every year we've tried hard to make Christmas magical for him. We feel lucky that he is still here with us. Without the OKE events this year, Seeing Santa doesn't seem as possible. It's always made him so happy."

Dozens of other parents have been sharing their disappointment that the events - which happen in Denton, Ashton and Droylsden, with each one catering for different needs - are not going head.

"Oh no, my son will be mortified," said one mum, responding to a post on OKE's Facebook page. "He's talking about it already."

"Aww that’s so sad, said another. "The kids had such a great time last year, it was an amazing party."

Elaine Healey, who runs OKE, said it was a meeting between council leaders and social care staff towards the end of summer - following another damning report of the local authority's 'inadequate' children’s services department - where doubts were raised over the service's future in Jubilee Gardens.

"We run five Christmas parties a year - one in Denton, two in Ashton and two in Droylsden - and it's all done from our office," she said. "We would not have been able to facilitate that without the space.

"Whole families come to the events, with parents and siblings, and we get thousands of presents ready, tailored for each child and labelled up so they're getting something specific for them.

"We didn't want to plan them if we would end up having to cancel. That would be our worst nightmare having to cancel and tell everyone if the children had got all excited.

"We're devastated about it, but we've had no choice. We've tried to get answers from the council but we've not been told anything for definite. This is just one part of a bigger picture with the council and problems we've had."

Ashton MP Angela Rayner has contacted the council on Melanie's behalf, but was told by assistant director of education Deborah Myers that OKE 'is a charity in its own right' and the only engagement the local authority has with them is to commission them to deliver short breaks.

In a letter to Melanie, the MP said: "Unfortunately, we do not know why OKE are not able to support the Santa for SEN this Christmas."

A Tameside Council spokesperson said: "Jubilee Gardens is where our Children with Disabilities team is based and some of this space is used by Our Kids Eyes. We can confirm this space is still available for their use under the same ongoing arrangements currently in place. Nothing has changed. We are separately in contact OKE so we can further understand any concerns."