Our story

Matthew's Hub was founded in 2014 and was originally the project of another charity called FIND, who have day services for autistic people with a learning disability.

FIND were approached by a parent (Simona) whose son Matthew sadly died by suicide. Simona wanted there to be something in Matthew's memory which supported autistic people like Matthew who didn't have a learning disability. Simona believes that had there been an appropriate service which could have supported Matthew, he might still be alive today.

Simona donated a substantial amount of money for FIND to develop something but wasn't sure what this would, or should look like. FIND also secured some extra funding from DEFLOG (a charity which provides education and training) which gave them funding for 3 years.

Gill Poole (our Chief Officer), was Chief Officer for FIND at the time and took up the challenge of bringing Simona's vision of a support service to life. Gill worked with Simona and Sally Stoakes (one of our Trustees) on ideas and vision for the new service. Sally brought in a young man called Ryan who was autistic and had set up his own support group for advice.

They found a building for the service and then appointed a Project Manager, Kath Trotter (our Service Manager) and together Gill, Kath and Ryan developed the service and support offered into the successful charity it is today.