The Matchroom Sport Foundation’s second donation of £20,000 is helping Strongbones fund much needed respite equipment and holiday activities for children with complex orthopaedic conditions.
Strongbones will be purchasing a Delichon Hippocamp beach wheelchair with the donation, which will be used at their respite home near Bournemouth enabling wheelchair users to access the beach. Due to its robust large, inflated wheels this incredible wheelchair can travel easily over sand, enabling the children to dip their toes in the sea and feel the waves.
The donation has also been used to book a residential trip for 24 people to attend Bendrigg activity and sports centre for five days to take part in wheelchair accessible sports such as canoeing and sailing, caving, wheelchair abseiling and adapted archery and biking. Something, ordinarily, that would be totally unachievable in everyday life.
The remainder of the money will be used to purchase sensory projectors with oil wheels. These projectors are mood boosting and create a calm and distracting environment to help develop skills such as tracking, cause and effect, colour recognition and building memory. This equipment is used for our most complex non-verbal children with have severe learning disabilities.
April Fitzmaurice of Strongbones said “This donation is going to have a huge positive life changing impact on the disabled community and the children we support especially at a time when a much-needed boost of morale is needed for our families. It is fantastic to be working with an organisation like Matchroom who share our ethos in breaking down barriers and increasing access for all”
About Strongbones
Strongbones Children’s Charitable Trust is a national registered charity set up to provide emotional and practical support, increase inclusion by providing disability equipment and educational opportunities including workshops and facilities. They also provide support for parents and carers, access to sports and activities and family interaction days for the benefit of children and young people under the age of twenty-one who have complex needs and also a diagnosis of a serious muscular skeletal condition such as scoliosis, bone cancer, scoliosis or spina bifida.