A North East charity has been given a fundraising boost by an event being held by Thompsons Solicitors.

Thompsons raised more than £1,100 during a wine tasting evening in aid of Heel & Toe, a Durham-based charity which provides free therapy to children with cerebral palsy, dyspraxia and other movement conditions.

Heel & Toe, based in Framwellgate Moor, County Durham, was set up in 2008 to provide free therapy to children across the North East. The organisation teaches children new ways to overcome problems with their movement, enabling them to be more active and live more independent lives.

The charity is currently attempting to raise £1m to build new premises after overwhelming demand for its service.

Thompsons supported the charity’s campaign

Thompsons supported the charity’s campaign after many of its clinical negligence lawyers and staff saw the day to day issues faced by children suffering from cerebral palsy.

Gillian Muir from Thompsons’ Newcastle clinical negligence team said: “Working with parents of children with cerebral palsy has made very clear to us the difficulties they can face to get services that can make a real difference to their lives.

“Heel & Toe does outstanding work with families in the North East and when we heard about their plans for new premises we wanted to do all we could to support the charity. The wine tasting is one of a number of events planned in support of the charity over the coming year.”

Amanda Tweedy, Development & Fundraising Officer at Heel & Toe added: “We were delighted when Gillian informed us that her team would like to raise money for our charity this year. We are just a small, local charity and don’t receive any government funding so rely on companies like Thompsons supporting us with fundraising activities and donations.

“The wine tasting was a fantastic event and everyone who attended not only had an really enjoyable evening, but also raised a very large sum of money, which will enable us to continue offering our free service to children across the whole of the North East.”