A Thornbury charity that supports young people with additional needs and disabilities and their families is getting ready to open the doors of its new venue.

JIGSAW Thornbury had to find a new venue after its last home of the Bakery Annex was condemned earlier this year.

With support from Thornbury Town Council, The National Lottery and the local community, the charity is is now ready to open the doors of its new venue in the St Mary Centre.

Founder and CEO Tor Goodman said: "After a long time without our own venue we are really excited to have such a fantastic and prominent venue to welcome our families and the local community into.

"The other local retailers have been really welcoming to us and the feedback from people has been great. Initially our focus will be on getting our usual services up and running, however we do plan on expanding our services once we have settled in and completed the additional work we have planned.

"We have permission to make some adaptations to make the venue more accessible and usable, such as upgrading to a disabled toilet, and improving the kitchen, so we can restart our young volunteers café.

"We are asking for support with this from the community, so if there are any builders, carpenters, electricians, or plumbers who may be able to help with these specific alterations we would be very grateful. We are also asking for donations from the local community to help us make this work possible.

JIGSAW is holding a Fun Palaces event from 11am-3pm on October 2, to officially open its doors.

Hattie Clayton, chair of trustees, said: "I can't think of a better way to open our doors for the first time than joining the Fun Palaces campaign to celebrate communities coming together.

"It is the perfect opportunity to bring our vision to life and see the families we support empowered to connect, fit in, and thrive as themselves.

"We can't wait to bring people together to reconnect, share experiences, learn from each other, and most importantly, have fun!"

Alan Cole of Peer group, who own the St Mary Centre, added: "JIGSAW do great work within Thornbury and the wider community, providing a range of services that are of huge benefit to families and children.

"We were delighted that the St Mary Centre will be part of the solution that helps this organisation to continue to deliver these services."

Sessions begin on September 14 with the support group running from 9.30am-11am. For details of the charity's other services visit jigsawthornbury.org.uk.

"The team and I are really looking forward to opening our doors and being able to provide face-to-face services again," said support and activities manager Rachel Peart.

"It's been really challenging providing our families with what they have desperately needed without a venue.

"We hope that everyone will feel the space is inviting, comfortable and calm. We have a fun accessible play area for the children that can also be adapted into a sensory space.

"An upstairs separate teen area, to be designed by our youth club, will also be adapted into a training space for our service users. There is also a very important area where parents can relax and socialise in a safe, non-judgmental environment."

You can donate to JIGSAW Thornbury at jigsawthornbury.org.uk. if you are a local tradesperson who is willing to help email admin@jigsawthornbury.org.uk.