STAFF, students, and supporters of Aurora Foxes Hospitality and Catering College, Minehead, are planning to celebrate this week’s World Down Syndrome Day by putting their best foot forward for charity.

Two of the staff will take part in a 21-mile run on Friday (March 20) from West Bagborough, on the Quantock Hills, to the Aurora Foxes’ seafront training hotel in aid of the Down’s Syndrome Association.

Learning support practitioner Charlie Hunt and front of house manager Amber Cole will join a Hilton Hotels team of five, including London’s prestigious Waldorf Hilton area manager Guy Hilton.

Hilton Hotels has a long-standing partnership with the specialist college for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Aurora Foxes students will also be involved in the fund-raising initiative, collectively walking 21 miles on Saturday.

In the evening, Foxes Hotel, in The Esplanade, will host a fund-raising ‘Hilton Takeover’ featuring a three-course sit down meal and cocktails by the Waldorf Hilton’s mixologist Kostas Bardas.

Although the training college is already well on the way to achieving its fund-raising target of £2,000, it is hoping to attract more donations through a JustGiving page so it can ‘cross the line’ in style.

Foxes principal Mark Costello said World Down Syndrome Day provided an important opportunity to celebrate the achievements and potential of people with Down’s syndrome, while also continuing the conversation about equality of opportunity.

Mr Costello said the fund-raising efforts would be particularly poignant as they were taking place in memory of Foxes’ inspirational co-founder Maureen Tyler-Moore, who died in December.

He said: “She would have been fully supportive of our efforts to mark the day because it provides an opportunity to celebrate the lives of people with Down’s syndrome and to make sure they have the same freedoms and opportunities as everybody else.

“At Foxes, we believe every young adult can achieve a meaningful level of independence and make a valued contribution to society.

“Our role is to empower students with the confidence, skills, and self-belief to thrive in work, in life, and in their communities.

“We are also incredibly grateful for the continued support of Hilton, whose partnership helps create real employment pathways for our students and demonstrates the power of inclusive workplaces.”

March 21 is chosen to mark World Down Syndrome Day because 3/21 represents the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21 which causes Down’s syndrome.

The Aurora Group was established in 2015 and is one of the UK’s leading providers of education, care and support services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

It works with more than 100 local authorities across the UK to provide them with much needed special educational needs services.

Aurora Group is part of the B-Corp movement, a global initiative transforming the economy to benefit people, communities, and the planet by shifting focus from shareholder profit to stakeholder impact, placing gold-standard social and ethical values at the heart of all it does.