It is with a heavy heart that we announce the death of Anne Gait, the  President of SNAPS, a former Trustee and one of the founders of what was then Special Needs and Parent Support.

Anne was the Manager of the Nursery at Leeds Mencap for a number of years, and earned an MBE for her services to children and families. Whilst talking to seven of the families she worked with there, they all agreed that there was a lack support for families of children with additional needs in Leeds and set out to change that. 

Together in a draughty church hall in 2004, they started a parent support group, which became SNAPS, and eventually moved into rented space on a Saturday at Pennyfield Special Inclusive Learning Centre in North West Leeds, which had a hydrotherapy pool and space to play. Like many small charities the first few years were challenging, but the Trustees worked tirelessly to raise funds and support the families who relied on the services the organisation provided.

After her early involvement, Anne joined the Board as a Trustee in January 2013, at a particularly low point for the charity after some resignations, when only 4 Trustees remained. Anne and others helped to stabilise the Board, and towards the end of 2014, several new Trustees arrived with business experience. I took over as Chair and together we started a recovery programme, which basically hasn’t stopped!

I asked Anne to take the role of Vice Chair in 2015, a position which she held with great distinction and contribution, until she resigned in September 2019.However, we weren’t about to let her go that easily, so we suggested that she became the first President of SNAPS, which she absolutely loved. It enabled her to do what she did best – spend time talking to children and families, hearing their stories and sharing advice from her vast experience of working in this field.

During this time she was tremendously helpful to me as the Chair, using her wisdom and experience to help guide the charity and the Board through the many difficulties we faced, including the pandemic and lockdown.

Anne was a tremendous ambassador for SNAPS – as others can confirm, she could charm the birds from the tree. She would walk into a room full of children with a variety of needs and their hard pressed parents, and within minutes they would be telling her their life stories, whilst she played with the kids. Everybody loved her because she took the time to be present and simply show that she really cared.

She was invited to every Board Meeting and strategy day, and her contributions were always thoughtful and helpful. I never heard her say a bad word about anybody, because she believed in the essential goodness of people. She made our families feel that they had been seen, and that they had been listened to and understood.

Anne was passionately dedicated to SNAPS and was determined to provide excellent support to children and families. Her warmth, humour, generosity, and lifelong commitment to others made her beloved by everyone- children, parents, staff, and volunteers alike. For many of us, our children and their families, and the wider SNAPS family, we needed to believe that the world could be a better place. Hope is what is needed. Hope is what Anne gave us. Hope is a good thing. And good things never die. It is said that someone never truly dies until the last person who knew them has died. Anne’s memory and what she gave to us all, will live on for a very, very long time.