Specialist centre backed by donation

Generous fundraisers at two Shropshire companies have given a £5,000 boost to a pioneering, county-based charity that helps children with disabilities affecting their movement. 

Staff at Morris Lubricants and Morris Leisure in Shrewsbury adopted The Movement Centre, based at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital, Gobowen, and Prostate Cancer UK as their charities for 2016 and raised £7,310 through a host of fundraising event throughout the year. 

The companies’ owners decided to round up the figure to £10,000, which has been divided equally between the two charities. 

The Movement Centre, which was founded in 1996, works with children from across the UK who have cerebral palsy, global developmental delay or other movement control problems. 

A unique therapy called Targeted Training helps these children to gain essential functional skills to give them more independence, which can completely change their lives. 

Targeted Training was developed by The Movement Centre drawing on specialist physiotherapy and bioengineering. More than 500 children have been supported by the charity but there are many more who could be helped. 

As many as 2,500 children are born in the UK every year, who could benefit from Targeted Training and the charity wants to reach as many of them as possible to make a lifelong difference. It’s the only charity in the world providing the therapy. 

Although the charity is based in a building at the hospital, it does not receive any statutory funding from the NHS and it relies on fundraising, donations and contributions from the families of children accessing service. A course of therapy costs around £6,250 per child and most of the children supported are aged between one and three years old. 

“We are keen to grow to support more children and to diversify how we raise money,” said Victoria Handbury-Madin from the centre. “We have seen so many children learn to walk here, but not every child will get to that stage. It may be that we are able to help a child gain head control, which can have a huge impact on their lives and the therapy they may require in the future. 

“The Movement Centre is delighted to have been a chosen charity for Morris Lubricants and Morris Leisure in 2016. We need to raise funds every year to continue our vital work with children who have a disability affecting their movement control, but we couldn’t do it without help and support. A huge thank you to everyone at the companies for such a fantastic donation.” 

Morris Lubricants’ managing director Andrew Goddard said: “We are absolutely delighted to support a fabulous local charity. We thoroughly enjoyed raising the money knowing the benefit it is going to bring to children with movement disabilities. 

“My family has personal experience of the fantastic work done by the centre as staff there helped my niece to become more mobile.” 

Picture: The Movement Centre’s director and clinical lead Pauline Holbrook receives the cheque for £5,000 from Andrew Goddard, Morris Lubricants’ managing director.