Twenty families were left bouncing with joy following an exclusive two-hour session at Aberdeen Trampoline Park, supported by The JEllie Foundation’s Advent campaign.
The trip was organised by Aberdeen-based Charlie House, which offers support to children from across the northeast of Scotland with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions, and their families.
The bounce-tastic group, which included 19 supported children and 14 siblings as well as their parents, were given exclusive access to the trampoline park as a Christmas treat, thanks to a £1,000 donation from The JEllie Foundation.
During the laughter-filled afternoon, five children were also able to try out rebound therapy for the first time. An innovative form of exercise therapy, the rebound session has been designed to provide numerous therapeutic benefits, including helping with balance, posture and muscle tone as well as supporting perception and communication.
Established back in 2011, Charlie House works to improve the quality of life of children who are experiencing health conditions that are life threatening or limiting. Through family support services, family activities and advocacy, the team aims to help the children live life to the full while making treasured memories for the whole family. All their services are delivered free of charge.
Activities such as the trampolining afternoon can prove invaluable in giving the children and their families time out to simply have fun. And, for one family, the recent two-hour session was the very first time they had been able to try trampolining together.
“I have never taken my daughter to the trampoline park as I was too scared of her getting hurt due to her limited mobility and unawareness of other people. But having exclusive access made the whole experience so enjoyable! She became so relaxed, and it was so lovely to take part in an activity both her, my son and I could enjoy together.”
JEllie Foundation founders and owners of The Chester Hotel, Gillian and Graham Wood, created the #JEllieJoy Advent campaign to provide some festive cheer and support to 25 local good causes.
Charlie House discovered they were one of the charities to benefit from the Advent campaign in a festive surprise video featuring members of The Chester Hotel team finger painting a Christmas tree.
Leigh Ryrie, Children & Family Support Manager at Charlie House said the team was ‘over the moon’ to have been chosen for the funding from the JEllie Foundation.
“This generous funding enabled us to pull out all the stops! We were able to have exclusive hire of Jump IN for the families to enjoy, we learned about rebounding sessions for the children with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions that are supported by Charlie House, and their siblings had the opportunity to spend time with each other.
“Most importantly, the families were able to have fun making memories for all to cherish. We are so thankful to the JEllie Foundation for gifting us this opportunity.”