TVF awards a grant to the Holly Lodge Centre in Richmond Park to fund a much needed hoist

Published: 09 October 2021

TVF is delighted to award a grant of £1,374 to fund a new hoist for the Holly Lodge Centre in Richmond Park. The hoist replaces the previous one which was 20 years old and was no longer suitable and will ensure that the most disabled visitors to the centre will have access to the facilities that they need.    

'...We are incredibly grateful, this makes an enormous difference and the hoist means that schools for children with profound disabilities can visit us, they find there are very few places they can take their pupils too due to the inaccessibility of  changing/toilet facilities. We also have some families visiting the Centre who will need the hoist to change their children. With enormous thanks.'  Anna Holly Lodge  Centre Manager

The VIctoria Foundation is proud to support the Holly Lodge Centre which makes such a difference to so many in our community. In normal times (pre-pandemic) the Holly Lodge Centre has approx. 8,000 visitors a year – it is reaching out to more and more specialist schools for children with disabilities. The Centre is completely adapted to ensure equal access to all children, particularly those with profound disabilities. They work with some schools (including Bedelsford school) who only bring their pupils to the centre, as they are so vulnerable. The Holly Lodge Centre has  been a haven for our local SEND schools during the Pandemic, providing them with safe, sensory, outdoor workshops for their pupils. Wiithout the new hoist local schools caring for children with profound disabilities such as St Anns, Bedelsford and Greenmead school, would have been unable to visit the center as they need a suitable hoist  to safely change their pupils.