Guest blog by Julie Booth, Head of Fundraising and Communications at Paces.
Here at Paces, we are a specialist school, adult centre and charity rolled into one! We support children and adults with motor disorders such as Cerebral Palsy, MS, Stroke, Parkinson’s and brain injury. Through a method of support called Conductive Education, we teach life-changing skills such as sitting, standing, walking, eating, speaking and independence in an environment where they can have fun, develop friendships and feel like they belong.
You may have been following our fundraising journey for a ‘New Home for Paces’ as the we launched our appeal to move Paces School and Adult Services into a new base. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we have been able to move our Adult Services and Charity into a new base at Smithy Wood and in October 2022, we opened the doors to our new school at Thorncliffe Hall in Chapeltown, Sheffield.
Not only does our school have much better facilities such as 8 classrooms all with en-suite bathrooms, a library, a life-skills kitchen and much more, but it means that we no longer need to turn away families who need our support.
Our fundraising doesn’t end here as we still need to raise money to build a school hall, develop a sensory room and provide all of the services to the families who we support.
Many companies have sponsored rooms in our new school and Adult Centre such as our life-skills kitchen, adult life-skills room and various classrooms which has helped us to kit out these spaces with the specialist equipment which we need to deliver the Conductive Education sessions and we still have a number of classrooms up for sponsorship.
There are lots of ways to get involved from adopting Paces to be your Charity of the Year, taking part in one of our events or joining our Business Networking Club. You can find out more about the work which we do and the ways which you can support at www.pacessheffield.org.uk or by emailing Julie Booth, Head of Fundraising and Communications at julie.booth@pacessheffield.org.uk
