Sheffield charity launches campaign to raise £1 million for new home

A SHEFFIELD charity and school which supports children, adults and families with cerebral palsy and motor disorders, is launching a campaign to raise £1 million to build a new home.

Paces was founded 21 years ago and has been based at High Green in the north of the city for most of that time. As well as a popular school rated outstanding by Ofsted, the charity has developed to support adults who are leaping the void from childhood to adulthood as well as supporting those who are living with the impact of Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinsons or a stroke.

A growing number of people are now taking advantage of the unique support provided by the organisation through Conductive Education, and to meet growing demand, a vision of a new, modern, purpose-built home on a new site in Sheffield is being unveiled.

Students from Sheffield University’s School of Architecture undertook a six-week project before Christmas to examine options for the future and how a new home might look. Having presented those plans to parents, staff and trustees, the charity is launching a campaign to raise £1 million to turn that vision into reality.

Ann Menzies-Blythe, chair of trustees for Paces, said:

21 years on from when a group of parents of children with Cerebral Palsy came together to form Paces, we need to plan for the future – to write our next chapter, to build a new home and raise a million pounds to ensure that can happen."

We want it to be a home that builds on the past with a collective vision for a shared and exciting future, supporting more children, supporting more adults and supporting more families across Sheffield, South Yorkshire and beyond."

The ‘A New Home For Paces’ campaign is now getting underway with businesses, organisations and individuals across Sheffield being asked to come together to support the vision.

A series of fundraising activities, workshops and events will be taking place in the coming months, including the charity’s chief executive walking up Mount Kilimanjaro.

Dr Spencer Pitfield OBE will travel to Tanzania in September for the trek and hopes to get support from across the city.

He commented:

Our ‘A New Home For Paces’ campaign to raise a million pounds aims to show we are not afraid of any challenge and the sky really is the limit for how much we can achieve together to support our amazing work at Paces. My Kilimanjaro challenge is a key part of this and I hope people are able to support me.”

More information about the campaign can be found at www.newhomeforpaces. co.uk.