Ealing Family Meet Countess of Wessex

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She is President of children's charity Brainwave

A family from Ealing enjoyed a special close encounter with HRH, The Countess of Wessex when she visited children’s charity, Brainwave at its South East Centre in Witham, Essex.

The Countess, who is Brainwave’s President, came to cut a cake to celebrate the Charity’s fourth birthday and was presented with a welcoming bouquet by Stella Stewart, a four year old from Barnfield Road inW5.

Stella’s brother Louie attends the Centre, which works with families to deliver home based individual therapies and exercises to help children with disabilities and Developmental Delay reach their full potential.

Little Stella, obviously influenced by recent coverage of the Royal Wedding, tried to grab the hem of the Countess’s dress so she could walk behind her, playing bridesmaid. The Countess enjoyed the joke and spent some talking to Stella’s mother Lynne Dallow about the help that Brainwave has been able to give her son Louis.

Christine Cryne, Brainwave’s Chief Executive Officer, said ‘We are delighted that our President was able to visit us. Her Royal Highness had the opportunity to see the facilities and to meet some of our families who are on the Brainwave Programme. They were really excited about this. We were also grateful to the Countess for taking the opportunity to thank some of our major supporters, without whom we could not exist’.

Brainwave works with families to deliver home based individual therapies and exercises to help children with disabilities and Developmental Delay reach their full potential. That potential might be anything from a child sitting or walking to feeding themselves or counting. The children on Programme have a range of conditions including brain injury such as Cerebral Palsy, genetic conditions eg Down’s Syndrome, Autism or General Development Delay.

Families are invited to attend an Initial Assessment where the whole family is assessed and a Programme tailor made for that child developed. The parents are then shown how to deliver that Programme, which they undertake at home, returning to the Centre every 4-6 months for it to be adjusted as the child progresses.

The Centre in Witham was set up in 2007 so that families did not have to travel the long distance down to Brainwave’s initial Centre in the South West. Witham was chosen due to the number of families on Programme living in the area. The Centre has currently has 116 families on Programme.

 

 

 

23 June 2011