Shere Village Cinema donates £1000 to support Tilly Winford
At the beginning of 2017, local girl Tilly Louise Winford, decided to embark on a world adventure with the aim of changing the world's attitudes towards disability and to encourage others with a disability to get out and live their lives! Tilly has had cerebral palsy since birth and it affects everything she does from her speech, her arms, legs and body tone and she has to use a walker or wheelchair to get around. However, she is determined to lead as normal a life as possible including travelling to and from college independently, going out with friends and doing all the usual things an 18-year-old would do.
"Having a disability doesn't change someone inside; it just means they have their own difficulties! Some people are open-minded enough to see through the disability and to just see the person behind it but most people aren't. Most people just see the disability and they assume the worst, they assume that a person with a disability doesn’t have a mind, that they are not capable of doing normal things or even having normal feelings! So, let’s prove these people wrong, let’s show them that inside we are all equal and that we are all just human beings!" Tilly Winford
Her planned trip in 2018 is testimony to Tilly's determination to help the world embrace disability. So on January 18th 2018, Tilly will be setting off on her travels to Africa where she will be volunteering in an orphanage for 3 months. On this project, Tilly will mainly be working in schools helping teach Maths, English and ICT as well as other subjects. She will also be running her own sessions which will include the following:
- Drama – focusing on script work, teamwork and social skills
- Dance – teaching set routines around contemporary and theatrical dance
- Vocal – teaching how to control the voice whilst singing as well as how to warm up the vocal cords properly to avoid damaging them.
During her trip, Till will also be visiting San Francisco, Los Angeles and Brazil. She has several personal aims for the trip:
- to help improve the attitudes of other countries towards disabilities
- to encourage the orphans that everything is possible no matter what you face in life
- to encourage other people with disabilities to get out and live their lives
- to prove to the world that just because someone has a disability, doesn't mean that they are not capable of doing things, having normal experiences and living their lives fully!
The overall cost of the trip is in the region of £12,000 which includes the cost of a helper to support Tilly throughout the trip. Shere Village Cinema is delighted to donate £1,000 to Tilly to help fund her adventure:
"As many of you know, the cinema donates all its surplus funds to local charities and good causes. We are all impressed with Tilly’s determination to lead as normal a life as possible and not to be confined by her disability (cerebral palsy). Some of us have watched her grow up in the village, attending village events, and more recently using her walker to get to Gomshall to catch the train to attend college in Reading. Her enthusiasm over her planned trip to South Africa is infectious, and we think that she deserves all the support we can give and hence the donation. We wish her well with her work with young people, and hopefully, she will help to change others’ attitudes to disability while she is there."
Caroline Evans, SVC Committee Member
(Caroline Evans and David Roe of Shere Village Cinema present a cheque for £1,000 to Tilly Winford)
We all send Tilly the best of luck and wish her safe travels and lots of fun on her adventure of a lifetime.
