YOUNGSTERS and staff at Mabel Prichard School were delighted after hearing £4,500 would help transform their run-down playground.

The Blackbird Leys school received the funding from the Gannett Foundation - the charitable arm of Gannett Media, the Oxford Mail's parent company - to construct a children’s wheelchair swing at its Cuddesdon Way base.

Deputy headteacher Kate Schnelling said the school needed to raise £25,000 to replace its “old and rotting” playground equipment but it could not afford to fork out funds to transform the outdoor area.

She added: “It’s given everybody a real boost. It’s made us motivated to go and raise the final bit we need to.”

The school caters for 80 children with learning difficulties, between the ages of two and 19, with about a half of the youngsters being confined a wheelchair.

Dr Schnelling said disabled youngsters struggled to use the existing play equipment, often having difficulties staying on the outdoor apparatus without falling off or unable to use by themselves.

She added: “We have got equipment inside but it’s not the same as being outside.

Our top stories

“I just think everyone has the right to play and our children can’t really play because there is nothing to play with.

“It’s nice for them to be able to play like other children instead of having to being sat in a wheelchair.

“I think it will be wonderful to get the children outside and playing and enjoying things. It will open up a lot of horizons.”

Fundraisers including raffles and cake sales have pulled in about £10,000 over the past four months, meaning more funds are still needed for the project.

Dr Schnelling said the new-look playground would have an integrated roundabout to be created which will allow children of all abilities to play together.

A sensory environment including mirrors and giant chimes, as well as goal posts, a basketball hoop, and outdoor rubber-based surfacing, will also be installed.

Dr Schnelling added: “It’s been very, very hard work to raise it.

“Everything is so expensive for disabled children.

“Why can’t they go outside like other children and be like other children? I find it quite sad.

“They already have quite limited lives in some ways without making it worse at school.”

CASH TO PAY FOR NEW WHEELCHAIRS AT SOBELL HOUSE

MORE than £5,000 was awarded to Sobell House Hospice Charity to support thousands of residents across the county needing palliative and end-of-life care.

The charity will now be able to buy ten wheelchairs for its patients, thanks to £5,400 from the Gannett Foundation.

People visit the centre, which is based at Headington’s Churchill Hospital, to receive support from its team of nursing staff, therapists and volunteers.

Now they will benefit from new Enigma Spirit wheelchairs, which usually retail for more than £250, as well as special gel cushions.

Bicester Advertiser:

From left, occupational therapist Charlotte Sweeney, Neale Conner, senior physiotherapist Anna McMullen and ward sister Alex Jones look forward to getting the new wheelchairs at Sobell House

Head of fundraising Dominique Cadiou said the wheelchairs’ light aluminium frames would ease movement, along with other features including adjustable arm rests, puncture-proof tyres, long-reach brake handles and anti-tip wheels.

She added: “It will make their movement around the hospice that much more possible.

“They will be able to reach out a lot more and go further with greater safety and comfort, which I think is very important.”

Ms Cadiou said the charity’s current wheelchairs could not be used after becoming old and prone to breaks.

And the new wheelchairs will also aid carers of patients, who often struggle to manoeuvre the older wheelchairs.

Ms Cadiou said: “The whole goal here is to enable people who have a terminal illness to enjoy life to the full and if the wheelchairs are an enabler, they are very important.

“A lot of people here don’t have the mobility so they depend on the wheelchairs to get about.”

Visitors and their families are supported through a host of services including medication advice, spiritual and pastoral care, art and music sessions, fitness groups and beauty therapies.

Day service and allied health professional team leader Neale Conner said: “It’s hugely exciting. We can’t wait to get our new wheelchairs.

“We have been managing for the last few years with a collection of old, broken wheelchairs.

“At times we have no wheelchairs to give to patients and have been struggling hugely to do that.

“It’s been really difficult and challenging.”

Miss Conner added: “It should have a big impact on their day-to-day quality of life. If you don’t have a wheelchair and someone can’t walk, you can’t get them out of their room. This means they can’t move around.”

Miss Conner said the wheelchairs would help patients do “normal” tasks that many take for granted, including getting a cup of coffee, walking outside or seeing family and friends.

She added: “To most, to be able to go to a family wedding or family party, that might be the last they see people, that might be the last time.

“It enables them to maintain their role within their family and be as normal as they can and participate in normal things that mean so much to us.”

Giving to good causes EACH year thousands of pounds is handed out to community groups, charities and good causes across the county.

This year the Oxford Mail’s parent company Gannett Media offered grants of up to £10,000 through its charitable arm the Gannett Foundation.

And causes across Oxfordshire applied for their chance to win funds to support their community projects.

Donations were open to projects of any size, which would have a lasting benefit to the community.

Last year charity OXTALK received £3,000 to support blind and partially-sighted people who receive its talking newspaper.

East Oxford’s children’s hospice Helen and Douglas House used the £9,000 funding it received to update its equipment.

Buckinghamshire autism charity Children in Touch also received £9,000 to build a garden at Marston’s St Nicholas School.

Oxford Mail editor Simon O’Neill said: “Once again, we had an incredible response to our call for Gannett applications and the job of compiling a shortlist was tougher than ever this year. I’d have given them all a grant, but sadly that is not possible.

"However, I am delighted that two fantastic organisations have had some good news just in time for Christmas. We hope the cash will make a difference and help them continue their amazing work in 2015.”

  • Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.