John Enjoys a Holiday Break at the Kingwood Caravan
20 July 2026
Two autism charities founded by Dame Stephanie Shirley are coming together at a joint fundraising event which puts the autistic people they support front and centre.
Prior’s Court and Autism at Kingwood will take part in Step by Step on Wednesday, 17 April to mark Autism Acceptance Month.
The event will include 25 adults supported by Kingwood and 25 young adults from Prior’s Court’s Young Adult Provision. They will take to the Prior’s Court grounds in a joint sponsored walk fundraiser.
To sponsor Team Kingwood, click here!
The two groups taking part will be challenged to reach a cumulative number of laps of the 0.6km Prior’s Court track, rather than each person being set individual targets giving the event and feel of inclusivity and teamwork. The groups will then come together for a joint lunch afterwards.
Sarah Butcher, Autism at Kingwood CEO, said: “This joyful event will bring together autistic children, young people and adults to celebrate Autism Acceptance Month. It also brings together two autistic charities set up by Dame Stephanie Shirley. Autism at Kingwood and Prior’s Court are seeking ways to work closely together to support autistic young people transitioning to adult life and adult services.”
Ryan Campbell, Prior’s Court’s CEO, said: “Prior’s Court and Autism at Kingwood share an inspirational founder in Dame Stephanie Shirley. But there is scope for us working more closely together to support autistic people across the age groups. And this joint fundraising event is a great way to start this.”
The timing of the event is significant with both charities in landmark years.
Autism at Kingwood is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, being founded in 1994 by Dame Stephanie to support her autistic son Giles, removing him from a psychiatric hospital where he had lived for 11 years.
And, for Prior’s Court, the 2024/25 school year marks its 25th anniversary.
Together, the two charities directly support close to 200 people, with Kingwood supporting over 100 autistic adults across Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Bucks.
To sponsor Autism at Kingwood’s walkers, click here.
We provide supported living and outreach support, helping and enabling autistic people to live in their own homes and make their own choices about the lives they want to lead.
Our relationship with the families of those we support is incredibly important to us and we work in partnership with families wherever possible.
All Autism at Kingwood support staff receive our Specialist Autism Training, making us leading care providers in Autism support.
If you’d like to make a donation directly to us then you can do this in a number of ways.
You can fundraise for us, through sponsored events or in a number of other ways.