Paces enjoy visit to Bramall Lane

The Blades recently opened their doors to Paces, as one of their nominated charities, for a morning of activities on the hallowed turf of Bramall Lane.

A group of over 70 children and young adults, with a range of motor disabilities, were accompanied by their parents, siblings and carers to take part in the fun.

Dave McCarthy, Operations Director at Sheffield United, said: “It was a privilege to be able to watch our guests and their families enjoy some time together having fun on the pitch.  It also proved to be a great experience for some of our Bramall Lane staff, Academy players and members of our Ladies First Team, who all joined in the kick about.

“Paces is a fantastic local charity that works so hard to help improve the lives of those affected by motor conditions and it was great to play a part in supporting everyone associated with them.”

Vikki Mallinder, External Relations Officer at Paces, said: “Our trip to Sheffield United demonstrates the power of local collaboration in helping transform the lives of the individuals this charity represents.

“Experiences like this provide an invaluable part to the learning process and development of these children and young adults”.

Sheffield United U23s visit Paces

We were delighted to welcome Sheffield United’s U23 Academy Team to Paces today (Tuesday, 1 May).

They visited Paces School to meet some of our children, hear from our headteacher Gabor and parent Vicki about what we do and watched a video all about Paces.

We’re really grateful for all the support of Sheffield United as one of their partners for the current season – and it was great to be able to host them at Paces today.

Paces receives £43,000 donation from Irwin Mitchell

We were delighted to welcome some of the team from Irwin Mitchell to Paces on Thursday (29 March) as they presented us with the £43,000 they had raised during their year supporting the charity.

Paces were voted for by staff at the law firm’s Sheffield office to be their Charity of the Year for 2017 as part of a nationwide initiative with the Irwin Mitchell Charities Foundation (IMCF).

Established in 1997, the IMCF is an independent registered charity set up by the firm which has donated more than £1.6 million to third sector organisations.

Following 12 months of fundraising activities, including a campaign to raise £20,000 in a month to celebrate IMCF’s 20th anniversary, nationally, the law firm raised a £180,000 during 2017 – a record for Irwin Mitchell.

Staff in Sheffield raised funds for Paces in a variety of ways which included holding weekly dress down days, taking part in a sponsored obstacle course and by holding a festive market.

The huge donation will help the charity in their mission to improve the lives of their patrons by providing conductive education to children and adults living with motor disorders, such as cerebral palsy.

Niall Baker, Regional Managing Partner at Irwin Mitchell’s Sheffield office, said: “It’s an honour to be able to provide this donation to a truly fantastic cause in our local community.

“Last year we celebrated 20 years of the IMCF and I am delighted that thanks to the creativity and generosity of Irwin Mitchell employees, we made our anniversary year a record breaking one nationally.

“Everyone at Irwin Mitchell is passionate about giving back to the communities we operate in and making a real difference to the lives of those supported by our Charities of the Year.

“We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved last year. Hearing how this donation is going to benefit local people, who are supported by Paces, is spurring on our staff to think of bigger and better ways to fundraise for this year’s good cause.”

Dr Spencer Pitfield, Chief Executive of Paces, added: “We can only do what we do at Paces thanks to the amazing work of fundraisers who provide the money to allow us to support as many people as possible.

“On behalf of the team here, and the children, adults and families we help, I would like to thank Irwin Mitchell for their year of support.”

BLOG: Exploring the transition into adulthood through the principles of Conductive Education

by Ruth Liu, Assistant Headteacher of Paces School

Last week myself, our Headmaster Gabor Fellner and fellow Conductor Emma Parker visited Munich in Germany for the second meeting of the TrACE project.

TrACE is an EU funded project tasked to explore transition into adulthood through the principles of Conductive Education.

Following the successful launch of the project in Sheffield back in October, it was great to catch up with our colleagues from the Komit Institute in Vienna and from the Pfennigparade Institute in Munich.

All three settings are similar in that they are working with adults using the principles of Conductive Education. As this is unique, it is important that we can work together to share best practice and to encourage others to do the same.

Our brief is to produce a handbook that will provide other settings with guidance regarding the use of Conductive Education with adults.

During our visit it was most interesting to visit the various facilities in Germany and to look at the provision for both children and adults with physical disabilities.

It was also useful to participate in working sessions, engage in professional dialogue and create a framework for our handbook.

We now need to begin creating the handbook in preparation for our visit to Vienna in June where our collaboration will continue to take place.