A Shropshire family have raised over £2000 by taking part in a unique challenge to raise funds for a Shropshire charity as part of the Superhero Series. The Superhero Series is the UK’s one and only disability sports series for the Everyday Superhero. The idea is simple: To create fun, full-throttle challenges where people with disabilities call the shots and don’t have to worry about cut-off times or equipment restrictions.

Firstly, Darren and Lydia took on the swim in the cold Dorney Lake. Lydia has cerebral palsy and even though she is well practised in the cold water of a leisure pool, swimming in open water was a massive challenge for her, but one she was determined to complete.

Once Darren and Lydia had completed the swim, they then got onto a bike to complete another leg of the triathlon. They were given a bike to use on the day by Quest 88, which worked in the same way as a tandem bike. Dad and daughter cycled and laughed their way around the course with ease, and then handed over to Mum and Maddison to complete the third leg of the race.

Team Griffiths raised £1,142 for The Movement Centre, and had their fundraising efforts recognised by NatWest, where Jo works. The money was raised by the family along with Jo’s colleagues at NatWest in Oswestry, through Cake sales, a sponsored walk. NatWest match funded their fundraising with a donation £1000. This brought the total to an incredible £2142. Well Done Team Griffiths!!

Pauline Holbrook, The Movement Centre’s Head of Clinical Services, attended Lanyon Bowdler’s Brain Injury Networking Forum in Shrewsbury on 22nd November, which gives attendees the opportunity to coin the the discussions from their hugely successful conference ‘Surviving Brain Injury: The Journey’.

It is a great opportunity to meet with other individuals and organisations. Pauline is pictured with representatives from Megan Baker House who were able to share more details about their services. We believe it is very important for TMC to develop links with other organisations in our field and we are always happy to sign post families.

Megan Baker House (MBH) is a registered charity that provides on-going services for children and adults of all ages with neurological movement disorders (such as cerebral palsy, dyspraxia, Parkinson’s’, stroke and brain injury) using the methods of conductive education.

This is an educational movement approach that teaches individuals how to manage and deal with the difficulties and challenges caused by their condition, and to promote their independence and confidence.

MBH offer regular small group sessions at both centres where individuals will work on all aspects of movement, alongside cognitive skills, social skills, self-care, speech and writing.

At the new Ledbury centre, MBH is offering additional, specific speech and writing sessions, taking place once a month, for individuals with Parkinson’s.

For more information please visit their website:www.meganbakerhouse.org.uk, or to book in for a free consultation, please contact them directly via email: admin@meganbakerhouse.org.uk.

MKM Building Supplies have been supporting The Movement Centre for a long time now and this year they have not disappointed.

MKM held their annual Golf day and presented us with a cheque for £4500. On top of that 4 delivery drivers took it upon themselves to run 13.1 miles, taking on Manchester Half Marathon.

The 4 runners took on the Manchester Half Marathon in October and raised an incredible £1888, taking the total raised by MKM Building Supplies to over £6000.

We held our second charity golf day at Arscott Golf Club, on Friday 21^st September and raised over £2000.

The golfers were amazing, playing through heavy rain and strong winds but there were still some great scores. The charity golf day had 16 teams of 4 battling it out to win a tailored golfing holiday to Ireland, kindly donated by Club Choice Ireland. We are so lucky that Club Choice support our charity golf day. It brings a bit of excitement to the day when there is a holiday up for grabs.

The overall winners of the competition were Jonathan Pierce and Robert Williams who were in the Harrisons Solicitors team. They will be contacting Club Choice in the next few months to organise their trip to Ireland which includes travel, accommodation and playing golf on multiple courses.

 The money raised will help us continue to provide our specialist therapy, called Targeted Training, to children who face problems with their movement control. By attending The Movement Centre, children can gain head control, so they can interact with their family; it can help children develop the skills to sit unaided, so that they can play with their friends. For some children it can enable them to walk, which means they can be far more independent.

Jonathan Pierce from the winning team said “Having played in The Movement Centre charity golf day last year we were really looking forward to this year. Arscott is a lovely course and we really enjoyed what started out as a very wet and windy morning but soon dried out to leave a pleasant afternoon.” The pair had a fantastic score and Jonathan continued to say “Rob played very well and when he did eventually slip up I was able to come in and score some points! Our thanks go out to The Movement Centre for such a fantastic day and for the great work that they do and also to Club Choice Ireland for donating such an amazing prize. We are really looking forward to our trip.”

Larry Byrne, Club Choice Ireland said “This is our second year supporting The Movement Centre and

we’re thrilled to be able to help them raise these much needed funds for their ‘Targeted Training’ programme. It was a real pleasure to be there on the day and meet the people involved in the centre and also some of the families who are benefiting from their services. Congratulations to the winners, Jonathan & Robert, who we look forward to welcoming to Ireland in the near future.”

Three members of the team at Ocean Telecom have raised a fantastic £3540 by scaling the UK’s three highest mountains in under 24 hours.We were delighted that Jeremy Rose, Sean Bolas and Robin Talbot  took on the Three Peaks challenge for The Movement Centre.

They were joined by colleagues Darren Lavender and Simon Calloway who volunteered to drive the long miles between each mountain. The team spent the months leading up to the challenge fundraising around the industrial estate to reach the total and money continues to come in from supporters.

A brilliant effort from the Ocean Telecom team!

Speaking after completing the challenge, Jeremy Rose said: “We started at 8am on Friday morning at Ben Nevis, we managed to get up and down in four hours 40 minutes. There was even some snow at the top to cool us down. After, we headed straight to Scafell Pike in the Lake District, but hit bad traffic and lost 30 minutes of our time. “We started climbing Scafell Pike, the weather was fine and the traditional mist and rain of the Lake District didn’t show up. We had to really push ourselves to climb this due to the loss of time and instead of our scheduled time of four hours to get up and down we managed to do it in three hours 20 minutes by climbing as fast as we could.

“We then drove through the night to Snowdon, however with the M6 closed, we were diverted losing 40 minutes of time. Arriving at Snowdon the adrenaline kicked in and we managed to get up and down in three hours 50 minutes, completing the challenge in a very respectable 22 hours 50 minutes. “My favourite mountain was definitely Scafell Pike, it was the toughest but the most satisfying to conquer in such a short time. As well as being a fantastic team building exercise, we’re all really pleased to have raised so much money for The Movement Centre. We are absolutely thrilled not only to have completed the challenge as a team, but that our loyal customers supported us so generously. The Movement Centre is a very worthy cause and we are delighted we could help fundraise for them.”

A huge thank you from everyone at The Movement Centre

Completing the Three Peaks Challenge is a fantastic achievement, one that the team from Ocean Telecom took on with amazing enthusiasm. The Movement Centre are delighted to be Ocean Telecom’s Charity Partner and we are extremely grateful for their fantastic support. As a charity, we rely on the kind support of donors and fundraisers, which is why the funds raised through the challenge will make such a difference to our work with children with movement disabilities.

Thank you, Ocean Telecom!

 

After a busy few months, and a growth in the number of children accessing Targeted Training therapy we have undergone a restructure to enable us to best meet the needs of The Movement Centre going forwards.

From this month Victoria Handbury-Madin will be taking on the new role of CEO of The Movement Centre. Pauline Holbrook will be Head of Clinical Services and will continue to work directly with many of our families alongside Physiotherapist Sarah Bew. Polly Roberts will be taking on the role of Operations Manager.

We are also delighted to welcome a new member to the team, Ann Norwood, who has joined The Movement Centre as our new Children’s Therapy Assistant. This has allowed Curtis Langley, who previously spent a large proportion of his time assisting our Physiotherapists to work solely on fundraising and marketing, as Fundraising and Marketing Officer. Lynne Ford will continue to assist our physiotherapists in sessions as well as coordinating our therapy services in her new role of Children’s Therapy Coordinator.

We are all excited about the changes and feel TMC is well equipped to move forwards and continue to grow and develop, enabling us to help more children access Targeted Training therapy.

Find out more about the TMC team here!

A big thank you to a superstar fundraiser Annie Jefferies for her wonderful support!

Annie ran the Edinburgh Marathon on May 27^th in aid of The Movement Centre. Annie has a special connection with The Movement Centre because her cousin Jackson, who has cerebral palsy, came to The Movement Centre for a course of Targeted Training therapy 10 years ago. Jackson worked hard throughout his course, which helped to maximise his movement control, helped him gain head control and enabled him to interact better at home and school.

Annie rose to the challenge, completing (her first) marathon with an impressive time – less than 4 hours, despite having some challenges with her knees in the last 7 miles. A fantastic achievement!

You can still support Annie on her Just Giving Page.

You can view more pictures of Annie and Jackson on our Facebook Page. 

 

All sponsorship is now in from the 2018 Oswestry Bunny Run and it has been presented to a local charity. The 5k run, which first launched in 2016, raises money each year for local causes. This year the event supported The Movement Centre.

The 2018 event, which took place last month, raised over £860 to help support our work and has raised over £3000 for local causes since it started 2 years ago.

Thanks to the kind support of local businesses, all money raised by the participants of the Oswestry Bunny Run goes straight to The Movement Centre. Participants received a goodie bag, which sponsored by Sainsbury’s in Oswestry and volunteers from Oswestry Cambrian Rotary Club helped support the event. This year’s new online booking system was provided by Up Hill Down Dale.

“The Bunny Run is proud to donate all profits to The Movement Centre for their work supporting children with movement disabilities,” said James Manford, Co-organiser of Oswestry Bunny Run.  “Everyone enjoyed the day and it is great that we were able to raise money for a local cause as well as connecting the community through sport.”

The Oswestry Bunny Run is a fantastic event, and we were delighted to have been selected as the charity supported this year. We want to say a huge thank you to Oswestry Bunny Run, the supporters and everyone who took part in the event!

 

On Saturday 8th September 2018, Ariyan is going to ride his bike from Land’s End to John O’Groats. It will take 9 days, passing 23 counties and 3 countries to cover 969 miles, with plenty of serious hills. He will be raising funds for The Movement Centre.

In September 2017, Ariyan started working on a project with an Engineering team at Liverpool John Moores University, in partnership with The Movement Centre.

While Ariyan loves cycling, he has never cycled more than 68.6 miles in a day.

“I was even shattered after that recent training attempt,” Ariyan said. “In the 9 days in September, I have to cycle over 100  miles per day. This is all about achieving my own personal goal and raising money to support children with disabilities. I feel it is important  to show myself, and others,  the importance of believing in your abilities, no matter if able bodied or not. Together we can move as far as we want, we can beat distances, and even hills, if we have a proper goal in mind and the right ‘Targeted Training’. I have taken this 969 miles cycling challenge seriously and started my own ‘Targeted Training’ from April; cycling every day to work and a long distance at weekends. This is the biggest challenge that I have ever put myself through and it is going to be a bit tough, but still nothing like the toughest fight that some children face to just stand and walk.”

We are all wishing Ariyan lots of luck!

Have a look at Ariyan’s Just Giving page to find out more about his story and to support his challenge: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ariyan

On the 10th April we held our Annual Awards Party, where we celebrate the amazing achievements of the children who come to The Movement Centre for Targeted Training therapy.

We had a fantastic time and it was wonderful to be able to have fun with so many of the families.

We also presented the Lady Trevor Awards to our fantastic volunteer Doreen (we’ll be sharing more about Doreen and her Award soon!).

We were also very lucky to have a special video to show to everyone on the day from our wonderful patron, Sophie Christiansen . Sophie sadly could not attend as she was competing in France. Sophie Christiansen, CBE, is a British dressage rider who has competed in four successive Paralympic Games and is currently an eight-time Paralympic champion. She had a lovely message to share with the children and their families. You can watch the video below… Thank you to Sophie for a lovely video message!

Thank you also to Clarke Pictures for volunteering his services once again and taking so many wonderful pictures that capture the day so well. The day was made extra special due to the kindness of so many people; Corner Exotics, for the incredible entertainment, which went down a storm! Visible Rhythm Mobile Disco for bringing along the brilliant selfie table. Rhosddu Carpets for supplying us with a super red carpet. The Venue at Park Hall for all their help and support on the day. Lanyon Bowdler for bringing the popular Teddy Bear Hoopla to the party!