When local accountants The Accountancy Partnership read on the birkenhead.news website about Thingwall resident Norman Lovely donating his £500 prize money back to the charity after winning Stick ‘n’ Step’s Christmas raffle, they immediately contacted the charity to learn more, and see what they could do to help.
Helping children with cerebral palsy feel more independent and confident Stick ‘n’ Step provide free conductive education to children with cerebral palsy, helping them become more independent and confident.
Receiving no government funding, it’s up to them to raise the £5,500 needed for just one child to attend their Wallasey and Runcorn centres for one year. With over 100 children attending each week, it’s a lot of money to find.
To get the ball rolling, The Accountancy Partnership offered to match Mr Lovely’s £500 donation. To raise the remaining £5,000 needed for one child’s place, the children at Stick ‘n’ Step dared employees to carry out a series of challenges.
Now halfway through their list of dares, The Accountancy Partnership have raised just under half of the target amount, and are calling on other local businesses to rise to the challenge.
Megan Yapp, General Manager, explains, “The dares have been great fun so far, and it’s wonderful to support Stick ‘n’ Step this way. They don’t receive any government funding, and yet they’re one of the very few conductive education centres in the UK, so they support children from all over the Wirral, northwest and right across North Wales.”
“It’s so important that they get this help, and even more so at the moment as the pandemic had such a huge impact on their fundraising.”
“We’d love to be able to hit this fundraising target, and would welcome any support for this amazing charity. Who knows, maybe other businesses in the area will see what we’re doing, and decide to join us with donations or dares of their own too?”
Helping children with cerebral palsy
Esther Whitaker, Head of Fundraising at Stick ‘n’ Step, said, “We were absolutely delighted when The Accountancy Partnership got in touch with us.
“The children were very enthusiastic suggesting challenges for the team to undertake, and we are all excited to see what they end up doing. We are so grateful for The Accountancy Partnership’s support.”
Lee Murphy, Managing Director at The Accountancy Partnership (TAP), said, “Our team has asked the children at Stick ‘n’ Step to suggest various dares for us to do to raise the money. We’ve called it The Big
TAP Dare-a-thon.”
“One of our challenges was to carry plates of jelly and inflatable cakes up a mountain in Wales – how could we say no?!”
Other dares include cycling over 100 miles whilst dressed like superheroes, eating green foods for a day, and a chicken run – with accountants to dress up like chickens and run round Birkenhead Park!
To find out more about Stick ‘n’ Step, visit www.sticknstep.org 
Go to bit.ly/dareathon for more about The Accountancy Partnership’s fundraising.
About the charity
Stick ‘n’ Step offers support services to children with cerebral palsy and their families.
The charity provides the children with totally free of charge conductive education sessions, allowing them to gain the skills they need to live more independent lives.
More than 100 children from across the Wirral, the northwest of England and all across North Wales usually attend these sessions weekly or twice weekly at the charity’s Wallasey and Runcorn centres.
Praising the organisation’s work, Norman Lovely said in January, “My daughter Nicola takes Jude to conductive education sessions at Stick ‘n’ Step’s Wallasey centre every week.
“He was very shy to start with but has really come on and enjoys it so much now.
“My daughter says he is much more sociable as a result, and she is so pleased with his progress.
“I never expected to win a prize in the raffle. I bought a ticket as it seemed such an easy way to support the charity that has helped my family.
“As a retired teacher, I’ve always been motivated by seeing children succeed and that’s what Stick ‘n’ Step helps them do, every day.
“I was thrilled to win but it didn’t occur to me to keep the money – it seemed obvious that I should just give it back so Stick ‘n’’ Step can go on helping as many children as they can.”
Main image: (L-R) Jessica Jackson (Client Experience Manager), Marta Tubacka (Accounts Semi -Senior), and Neil Thompson (Bookkeeper) getting warmed up for Chicken Run.
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