Our team of experienced practitioners are experts at what they do with extensive knowledge to guide and support our families. Our team and trustees are all committed to providing the best possible service for the children and their families.
I have worked in the social business and impact sector for 25 years and in that time have had the privilege of working with many inspirational and impact-driven organisations.
I first met the team at Steps following a Young Enterprise event held at Leicester City football ground in 2003. At that time Steps was early in its journey looking to find and purchase a permanent home for the charity. I was hooked, with both the challenge and the positive impact Steps could deliver to Children and families with a permanent and dedicated facility.
Some 21 years later, I am still involved and just as excited and amazed at the work and success Steps has in changing young lives and their families for the better.
I first learned of the remarkable results that Conductive Education could make to children with cerebral palsy and other motor neurological conditions in 1994 after our local vicar’s grandson, Shaun, had greatly benefitted from attending the Pêto Institute in Hungary where this type of specialist physiotherapy was pioneered.
Four families then founded a similar centre in Loughborough, and I was honoured to be asked to be Patron of the Charity.
Now, 30 years on, I am proud to help and avidly promote the remarkable work achieved by Steps. I have seen how the team work with parents to transform the lives of the special little children who attend. Helping children who were told that they would never be able to sit, walk or stand to reverse that brutal prognosis. It is because of this extraordinary difference, that I am so passionate about Steps.
My daughter Ellie (who happens to have Down’s syndrome) attended steps from about 6 months old. I was amazed by the work the team carried out with the children.
At the time I was a senior manager at a Leicestershire manufacturing plant and steps became our charity of the year in 2007. I became a parent representative and subsequently joined the board of trustees.
My daughter is now approaching her 18th birthday and Su and I are convinced that the early input from Steps significantly helped with her with taking her first steps and her early development.
It is a wonderful free service for Children with motor function disorders and a safe space for parents and families. I am proud and privileged to support Steps as a trustee.
I first became involved with Steps with my own little boy when he was 18 months old and then I became a Trustee in 2017. I have seen first hand the incredible impact that Conductive Education has in helping children with physical conditions reach their full potential. They achieve miracles in my eyes. I have great passion around spreading the inportance of Conductive Education and feel honoured to be a parent Trustee of Steps.
Throughout my 45-year career as an NHS doctor and general practitioner, I was aware of Conductive Education and its potential to transform lives of individuals with disabilities and their families. So, in February 2023, as I moved into my retirement, I was really pleased to be able to join Steps as a Trustee.
Over the years, as I gained more experience as a medical doctor, I saw at first hand the value of treating the whole person – not just their medical illness, but the wider impact it has on them and their families. This is something that Steps brilliantly achieves. Lives have literally been transformed by Steps.
Becoming a Trustee enables me to work with the Board of Steps and the team to consider how we can ensure that as many children as possible can benefit from the expertise and life-transforming abilities of Steps.
Ellie was born in July 2006. She has Down’s syndrome and attended Steps from the age of 6 months until she started primary school. She currently attends Dorothy Goodman School in Hinckley but will be moving on to Sense College in Loughborough in summer 2025.
She has an infectious personality, loves music and dance, is learning to play the ukulele and has recently completed a period of work experience at the National Space Centre in Leicester.
The staff at the Space Centre say she met her tribe there as she has a keen interest in all things space, especially Star Wars or Marvel related.
As the Steps Ambassador she was proud to represent the charity when she attended the Carols at Christmas service hosted by HRH The Princess of Wales at Westminster Abbey in December 2023.