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Terms & Conditions

Terms, Conditions and Privacy for the Through the Roof website
Last Updated: May 2018

Introduction

• This web site is owned and run by Through the Roof website
• This website was designed by Access by Design
• This document governs the terms and conditions of the use of the services and the privacy provided on the Through the Roof website
• The Through the Roof website is committed to safeguarding your privacy online. The purpose of this document is to inform you of terms of use of the website and what personal information the Through the Roof website collects and the purposes for which it uses this information.
• Please read this document carefully.
• If you are not happy with our terms, conditions and privacy as laid out in this document, please do not use the Through the Roof website
• If you wish to contact Through the Roof website concerning any matter relating to your personal information then please contact us in writing.
• These terms and conditions may be modified by from time to time so please check occasionally. Continued use of the website by you will constitute your acceptance of any changes or revisions of this document that may happen.

The Website.

• All material on this website belongs to Through the Roof website or its website designers, licensors or third-party contractors.
• All images are copyrighted, either from stock image licensing, graphic design from Access by Design (as designers) or Through the Roof website, itself.
• You may retrieve and display content from this website for your own personal, non-commercial use.
• You may not in any way make commercial or other unauthorised use, by publication, re-transmission, distribution, performance, caching or otherwise, of material obtained through this website
• You acknowledge that the original designers, Access by Design, do not endorse the content of this site after the initial design period has expired (i.e. when the site goes ‘live’)
• You acknowledge that the original designers, Access by Design or Through the Roof website cannot be held responsible for the contents of any website linked to from this website
  Using hyperlinks to any other service or site from this website is done at your sole risk.

Material

Miracle, Church Lane, Birdham, West Sussex, PO20 7AT
Tel: 01243 776399
Email: info@accessbydesign.uk
Web: http://www.accessbydesign.uk

• Any third party website, company or organisation other than the original designer, Access-by Design that links to this web site must not: do any of the following;
  • create a frame or any other browser or border environment around the content of this site;
  • imply that Through the Roof website is endorsing it or its products or services;
  • use any of Through the Roof website logo or images displayed on Through the Roof website web site without permission from Through the Roof website
  • infringe any intellectual property or other right of any person;
  • Be a web site that contains content that could be construed as distasteful, offensive or controversial.
  • RSS may be used but under strict accreditation of source
• Through the Roof website reserves the right to request that any link in breach of these terms be removed and to take whatever other action it deems appropriate.

Copyright

• Access-by Design respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our clients to do the same. If Through the Roof website has used copyrighted material in the ongoing development of its own site, Access-by Design cannot be held responsible for this. However, as clients are informed of copyright and the internet, we trust that it is usually done in ignorance.
• The clients of Access – by Design websites (including Through the Roof website) are not web designers and may make mistakes in ignorance.
• If you believe that your work has been copied and is accessible on Through the Roof website web site in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or that the web site contains links or other references to another online location that contains material or activity that infringes your copyright, we would ask affected parties to simply contact Through the Roof website to remove offending material, rather than taking aggressive action.
• If no response can be had from Through the Roof website, please contact Access-by Design at: http://www.accessbydesign.uk

Disclaimer of Warranty and Limitation of Liability

In using this website:

• You acknowledge that you are using the website at your own risk. The website is provided "as is," and to the extent permitted by applicable law, Through the Roof website, Access by Design and its affiliates hereby expressly disclaim any and all warranties, express and implied, including but not limited to any warranties of accuracy, reliability, title, merchantability, non-infringement, fitness for a particular purpose or any other warranty, condition, guarantee or representation, whether oral, in writing or in electronic form, including but not limited to the accuracy or completeness of any information contained therein or provided by the website
• Through the Roof website and Access by Design and its affiliates have taken steps to provide a reliable, secure and fast service. However, neither Through the Roof website nor its affiliate do represent or warrant that access to the website will be uninterrupted or that there will be no failures, errors or omissions or loss of transmitted information, or that no viruses will be transmitted on the service.
• There are links on Through the Roof website to third party web sites which Through the Roof website has no control over. Through the Roof website accepts no responsibility or liability for any third party practices on third party websites. Through the Roof website advises you to carefully read 3rd party privacy statements prior to the use of any third party website.
  Through the Roof website and its affiliates shall not be liable to you or any third parties for any direct, indirect, special, consequential or punitive damages allegedly sustained arising out of;
  • your access to or inability to access the website, including for viruses alleged to have been obtained from the website;
  • your use of or reliance on the website or any of the information or materials available on the website

  regardless of the type of claim or the nature of the cause of action, even if advised of the possibility of such damages

Privacy

• The information that you provide about yourself to Through the Roof website will only be used by Through the Roof website in accordance with this document. This document does not apply to third party sites

Disclosures

• Through the Roof website may disclose your information, under strict terms of confidentiality and restriction of use, to partners of Through the Roof website who supply services on behalf of Through the Roof website and who require to process personal data in the provision of such services. When you use Through the Roof website services you are consenting to the disclosure of your personal information to Through the Roof website partners. Through the Roof website will not disclose any of your personal information to any other third parties without your express consent.
• However, under certain circumstances the force of law may require the provision of information to legal authorities. In order to maintain the integrity of its website and safeguard the interests of its users, Through the Roof website will comply with any such legally binding request.
• You agree that this document, for all purposes, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law. You also agree, subject to the following clause, to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts as regards any claim or matter arising under this Agreement.
• For the exclusive benefit of Through the Roof website shall retain the right to bring proceedings as to the substance of the matter in the courts of the country of your residence.

Information Collected

• Identifiable information - Your information is collected when you fill in a form on Through the Roof website, or you send an email to Through the Roof website or register any forum on the site. The information that is provided by you will only be used for the purpose for which it is provided, unless you are informed otherwise at the time of giving the information. You may inform Through the Roof website at any time if you wish Through the Roof website to cease using your personal information.
• Non identifiable information - Through the Roof website will from time to time collect information from you that does not reveal your personal identity. Through the Roof website uses this information for editorial purposes, and occasionally for other internal purposes. This information is only used in aggregate form and is not connected to any name, address or other personal identifying information.

Use of personal information

• Through the Roof website processes personal information for the purpose of providing a personalised service, conducting market research surveys, running competitions, communicating with you about our activities and news, and providing you with information about products and services on offer.
• Through the Roof website may from time to time use your contact information to tell you about news or events provided by Through the Roof website or one of its strategic partners. You may opt-out of receiving such mailings at any time.

International Transfers

• Due to the international nature of the Internet, the collecting and processing of your personal information in accordance with Through the Roof website privacy document will often involve transferring the data between countries in which Through the Roof website and strategic partners are located.
• Through the Roof website shall take steps to ensure that any transfer of data to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area, whose laws provide for a different standard of protection for your personal data than that provided under English law, shall be made subject to contractual arrangements which will require that your data be processed to at least a standard compliant with the Data Protection Act 1998.

Security

• This Website has has tried to ensure there are security measures in place to protect against loss, misuse and alteration of your personal information but only where possible and practical. Users of this website are expected to take their own security measures, including using a secure, standards compliant browser, ad-blockers, high browser security options, their own firewall, antivirus (including adware protection) and internet browsing protection.
• Although Through the Roof website strives to protect your personal information, Through the Roof website cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us and you do so at your own risk. Once Through the Roof website receives the transmission, Through the Roof website makes best efforts to ensure the security on the system.

Cookies

• Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site
• This site requires the use of cookies for its functionality. When using this site there is an implied consent from the user that they accept all of the website's cookies. Please note that there is no personal data stored or passed onto third parties as the cookies will expire upon termination of the session. The only third parties used are Google Analytics for measuring traffic to the site and the users are not identified in any reports.
• Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies please follow this link.
• To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites follow this link.

Any Other Terms

• If the Through the Roof website runs competitions, free prize draws and promotions on this website. These are subject to additional terms that will be made available at the time.
• For website accessibility, please see our accessibility page
• This document is the complete and entire agreement between the parties and supersedes any prior agreement, whether written or oral.
• If any provision of this document is found to be invalid by any court having competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of that provision will not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of this document, which shall remain in full force and effect.

If you don't agree to the terms, conditions and privacy policies contained in this document please exit the website now.

Inclusive principles

Through the Roof encourages churches and the Christian community to ensure that disabled people are included in every aspect of church life, by:

• Welcoming and being open to disabled people so they feel they ‘belong’
• Offering reserved parking/a drop-off point
• Having ‘step-free’ access giving level/ramped entry to a building
• Providing accessible toilets
• Having a loop system in operation and, when required, providing sign language interpreters and/or speech-to-text (captioning)
• Using straightforward, jargon-free language
• Supplying written information (including that on a screen) in large print (font size 18 point) and other alternative formats (e.g. audio, electronic, Braille)
• Ensuring that there are clear/pictorial signs (for people with learning disabilities
• Having a quiet space available during the main meeting for those who may need time-out (for people on the autistic spectrum)
• Having good, even, glare and flicker-free lighting to benefit people with sight loss or autism
• Offering seating (some with arms) near the entrance/exit
• Providing a named contact to ‘champion’ issues and initiate training on disability e.g. a Roofbreaker, which Through the Roof can support with a free starter kit, and monthly email ideas and encouragement. Find out more by following this link
• Speaking directly to disabled people, assuming nothing and asking them how they are best supported and included
• Ensuring there is commentary/audio description for purely visual content to those unable to see the screen/stage
• Ensuring the website is accessible and has information that helps disabled people access the building and activities
• Adopting a can-do culture with an inclusive ethos, valuing all and addressing each person’s needs on an individual basis
• Intentionally encouraging and enabling disabled people to contribute to church life using their God-given gifts

Obtaining Funding to Make Disability-Related Improvements

This page has now been updated -

What funding is available for churches wanting to make their building or activities accessible? Follow this link to read our updated guide to possible funding organisations.

Through the Roof's Speaking and Workshops

Our half-day, interactive workshops are run in a professional but friendly way by TTR’s team of Christian trainers who each have many years’ experience of disability:

Does Your Church Include Everyone? – Including Disabled People in Church Life

• Disability from a Biblical perspective plus statistics, models, language etc
• Small group discussion of practical scenarios
• Barriers faced by disabled people
• Solutions to include everyone
• Action planning for your situation

Developing an Inclusivity Mindset

• Different approaches to disability inclusion
• Jesus’ approach to disability inclusion
• The practice and teaching of the early church
• Befriending disabled people – what does Biblical friendship look like?
• God’s heart for the marginalised

Loving the Whole Family – Creating a Welcome for Families with Disabled Children

• Disability from a Biblical perspective
• Discovering issues faced by fathers, mothers, siblings and other children
• Practical suggestions to include families
• Small group discussion of practical scenarios
• Action planning for your situation

Mental Health

• Understanding different classifications
• What can we do as friends, family, churches?
• The role of prayer
• Action planning

Including Autistic People in Church Life

• What is Autism?
• Sensory issues
• Strategies to include
• An autistic view of the world
• Small group discussion of scenarios
• Action planning for your situation

Digging Deeper: Exploring What the Bible Says on Disability

• A creational view of humanity
• Suffering
• Misperceptions about disability
• A Biblical way to view disability including learning disabilities
• Jesus is our model
• Our response

We can also offer bespoke training workshops tailored to your specific needs.
Please contact us to discuss what would be most appropriate

Cost

£175 for a half day session for up to 15 delegates.
(This cost will be increased if the workshop is bespoke)
£5 per additional delegate.
Trainer’s expenses.
Follow this link to download a booking form - please email it to the office or post it to us at Through the Roof, PO Box 353, Epsom, KT18 5WS.

NB We require a deposit of £30 to secure your booking. This is non-refundable.
The church is invoiced for the balance after the event.

A Covenant People (Ros' Blog)

“Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.’”

These words are from Ruth 1. 16-17, and the reading is the one my daughter and her fiancé have chosen for their wedding on Saturday. It is a story I love; Ruth’s devotion is not only to her mother-in-law, but also to the God she has glimpsed in the older woman’s life.

I love it because it is so rich; if you mine deep into this story you find that it contains so many treasures. The devotion between Ruth and Naomi is a model for all of us in our family relationships. They are casting their lot in together; whatever befalls one will befall the other. They will travel together, live together and worship together. Nothing in this life will be allowed to part them. What a perfect model for a marriage!
But there is more in this passage, too. This kind of selfless love is only possible because we are made in the image of God, and His love is demonstrated in and through us. If we mere mortals are capable of loving one another like this, how loyal and unswerving must God’s love for us be!

And it sets a pattern for our relationships within the church. Church is not a building or a denomination or a group of people who prefer a particular mode of worship. Church is a body of people who have a covenant of love with each other, within the love of God, and like all the covenants depicted in the Bible, there is no get out clause. We are in this together, come what may, an ever-expanding family bound together in the love of God and laying down our lives for one another.

One of the saddest things that came out of our survey of disabled people’s experience of church was that for many, this is not what belonging to the Body of Christ is like. People will make adjustments for them as long as these are not too inconvenient or too expensive. The church will allocate funds to install an induction loop, but not to service and maintain it. Congregations will tolerate an autistic child as long as he is quiet but at the first meltdown, instead of finding out what in the church environment has triggered the reaction and trying to adjust it for his comfort, at best there will be tutting, and frequently the family will be asked to leave.

Suppose we looked at every disabled person who came into our church and said to each one, “Where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

How would we then respond when the people on the rota for picking up that wheelchair user grew tired of the chore and preferred a half hour lie-in on a Sunday? Or when there were funds available for putting in a ramp or decorating the building but not both? Or when that single mother stopped coming because the effort of controlling her children all by herself throughout the service meant that she no longer gained anything by being there? Or when someone was needed each week to produce the notices and songs in a large-print version? If our relationship with each of these people was based on the kind of covenant love that Ruth showed for Naomi, nothing would be too much trouble. The worst disaster would be that they might stop coming and we might lose touch with them. We would stop at nothing to ensure that didn’t happen. It’s a challenge, isn’t it?

We love stories of churches which are embodying this covenant-love way of life, especially to the disabled people in their communities. If you know of any great examples that would encourage us, we would be delighted to hear them. You can contact us on 01372 737042 or email me by following this link.

Trailblazer or Trailing Behind?

Scope Commissioned Report Shows that it’s Time for Churches to Address Disability Rights at Work

by Mark Bainbridge Solicitor at didlaw Ltd

The findings of an Opinium survey commissioned by Scope show that a person with a disability needs to apply for 60 per cent more jobs than a non-disabled job applicant before they are successful Follow this link to read the survey

The Government was criticised by the United Nations recently for failing to uphold the rights of disabled people through a succession of austerity policies that have impacted access to areas such as healthcare, education, and work. The report from the UN committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, together with the Scope-commissioned survey, show the UK – once regarded as a global trail blazer in disability rights – now sadly trailing far behind.

Disability rights apply to all stages of employment, including recruitment, but mistaken assumptions about different disabilities and the capability of a person with a disability to undertake certain work, is leaving over a million disabled people in the UK unable to secure employment. For a developed nation such as ours, that is unacceptable. Disability discrimination in recruitment devastates lives, often exacerbating the effect of a disability, and deeply impairs self-esteem. Disability discrimination in recruitment also means that employers lose out on talented and skilled workers, and are left exposed to legal claims.

SCOPE have launched a campaign called “Work With Me”, to support more disabled people to get into and stay in work, follow this link to find out more about Work With Me. They’re rightly calling on employers, the Government and the public generally to tackle this issue. If you’re reading this blog, please sign up to support their campaign.

Churches have an important role to play in tackling disability discrimination in all areas of life. Through the Roof can provide training and resources to help your church to become a Roofbreaker, providing training and resources to enabled disabled people to be involved in church life and grow closer to Jesus.

Mark Bainbridge, a Christian lawyer who works for specialist disability rights firm didlaw Ltd, can be contacted for a free initial chat about disability rights.

For more information, please contact:
Tim Wood on 01372 749955 or by following this link to email Tim;
Mark Bainbridge at didlaw Ltd follow this link for more about Mark on 020 7099 7508, or by following this link to email Mark.

After the Thank You – What Next? (Ros' Blog)

Well. We’ve had our thanksgiving service, a memorable and uplifting occasion. You can see some photos of it on our Facebook page, and it was great to see so many of our supporters there. So, what happens next? To answer this question, I’ve been taking a look at some famous “thanksgivings” in the Bible, to see what followed them.

One of the earliest recorded instances of giving thanks is Noah, after his ark came to rest, the waters receded and he released all the animals. Then he built an altar and expressed his thanks to God for deliverance. What happened next? God responded with a promise for the future:

“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.” (Genesis 8. 22)

In Exodus 15 God has just brought the Israelites through the Red Sea in a miraculous deliverance from their pursuers, and Moses has led the people in a prayer of thanks, followed by Miriam leading a song and dance of thanksgiving with her timbrel. And in the next paragraph we read of God performing a miracle, turning brackish, stagnant water into pure, clean drinking water.

There are many occasions when David is recorded as giving thanks to God, such as the one found in 1 Chronicles 16. Overcome by gratitude for God’s goodness, David erupts into a hymn of thanksgiving:

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!
Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!”

And so on, in the same vein, for another twenty-five verses. After this outburst of grateful praise God comes back to him with a great promise for his future – that Israel will enjoy a time of peace and prosperity, its enemies will be subdued, and never, in the future of the world, will there fail to be one of David’s descendants on the throne – a promise fulfilled in the eternal reign of Jesus, the greatest son of David.

Solomon, at least in the beginning of his reign, follows in his father’s footsteps. He builds the temple his father had longed to see, and dedicates it with a prayer of petition and thanksgiving. “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David…” God’s response is a spectacular one of fire falling from heaven and God’s glory filling the temple, and leads to the entire population falling down in worship and thanksgiving before Him.

This idea, that we can never out-give God, that whatever thanks we render to Him, He will always outdo us in blessings, is continued in the life of Daniel. Daniel is given insight into Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Overwhelmed with thankfulness he exclaims:

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His….
I thank You and praise You,
O God of my fathers;
You have given me wisdom and might,
And have now made known to me what we asked of You,
For You have made known to us the king’s demand.” (Daniel 2. 20-23)

There are two consequences that follow on from this; firstly, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges God as the true God of heaven and earth, and secondly, God responds to Daniel’s faithful, thankful heart with a promotion in the king’s court for him and his three closest friends.

One of the great Old Testament prayers of thanksgiving comes from Hannah, after God has answered her prayers for a son. She breaks out into a spontaneous song of praise which begins,

“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
My horn is exalted in the Lord.
I smile at my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Your salvation.” (1 Samuel 2)

The result of Hannah’s prayer of thanksgiving? After decades of silence from God (or perhaps, more accurately, of hardness of hearing on the part of God’s people) the young Samuel hears God calling him and responds in obedience. The words he hears and passes on mark a sea-change in the direction of the nation and the start of Samuel’s prophetic ministry.

In Matthew 1 we read of Elizabeth and Mary together giving voice to their thanks in spontaneous songs of praise, immediately prior to the fulfilment of God’s promises in the coming of John the Baptist and Jesus the Messiah.
In Luke 17 there is the story of ten lepers being healed. All are healed, but only one returns to give thanks. And his thanksgiving results in Jesus pronouncing that, as a result of his faith, not only is he cured, but he is made whole – a healing that encompasses all that he is, not merely the deformities of his limbs.

Perhaps the most remarkable, indeed, astonishing thank you in the Bible occurs in Luke 22.19. Jesus, fully aware that his body is about to be torn apart by a Roman scourge and nailed to a cross, takes bread, gives thanks and breaks it, and gives it to His disciples, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” It’s hard to imagine the courage, the faith and the love that could give thanks at that moment for the sacrifice He is about to make. And we know the outcome of that – salvation for the world and Jesus’ own exaltation to glory.

In Acts 3 we find Peter and John on their way to the temple, coming across a beggar who has been unable to walk for the whole of his life, and in Jesus’ name they heal him of his disability. The man is so overcome with joy that he enters the temple walking, leaping and praising God for this amazing miracle that he has received. A great revival meeting ensues, in which three thousand people give themselves to following Jesus, and the church is born. Yet hard on its heels follow imprisonment, beatings and persecution, along with miraculous deliverance.

So here at Through the Roof we have given our thanks to God, and we really are overwhelmed with gratitude as we look back over all He has done on our behalf over the past twenty years. What can we expect next?

On the basis of God’s response to His people’s thanksgiving throughout the Bible, I can confidently predict that we can expect blessings, miracles, more promises given and fulfilled, to hear more from God, more people saved, more obstacles overcome – and also more hardships, more opposition, more obstacles still to be overcome. The one thing we do know is that God will be faithful and will continue to bless the work of our hands, bring people to Himself, supply us with the wheelchairs, the funds and the people we need to carry on the work and, though difficulties may come, to give us all the resources we need to push through. We can say this with confidence because we now have 20 years behind us of proving God’s faithfulness and we know beyond doubt that He is to be relied on – and so we can continue to give thanks, even for the blessings we haven’t yet seen. As the old hymn says,

“How good is the God we adore!
Our faithful, unchangeable Friend;
His love is as great as His power,
And knows neither measure nor end.

It’s Jesus, the first and the last,
Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home.
We’ll praise Him for all that is past,
And we’ll trust Him for all that’s to come.”

Apply for a Holiday

We have one holiday planned for 2025 at the moment: the Calvert Trust Exmoor holiday from the 16th to 20th June 2025. Please follow this link to find out more.

For details on future holidays or retreats, please email Jan or telephone the office on 01372 749955.

Please DO NOT SEND MONEY until you receive an invoice.
Places are limited on all our breaks. Early application is advised.

Help on a Holiday

We have one holiday planned for 2025 at the moment, the Calvert Trust Exmoor holiday from the 16th to 20th June 2025. Please follow this link to find out more.

If you have a heart to serve and would be willing to join our team of volunteers, please please follow this link to email or phone Jan on 01372 749955 for further details.