27 Jan Beckenham Rotary donation

The Rotary Club of Beckenham is the latest to support the campaign to purchase a £55,000 piece of equipment called a LokoHelp after reading about the campaign in the News Shopper newspaper.

Charity Trustee Mike Ash attended the annual Goodwill Christmas Tree Dinner at Park Langley Club, Beckenham last week to receive a cheque for £1,000 from Club President Charles Wood. The donation was on top of a previous donation of £1,500 which the Club made in 2016.

“In true tradition, we invited guests from one of our chosen charities. This is an opportunity for the charity to tell us more about their work and to receive another donation from Rotary Beckenham. This time the invited charity was the Freddie Farmer Foundation, to whom we were pleased to give £1,000 towards the LokoHelp.”

The LokoHelp electromechanical gait trainer looks like a sophisticated treadmill – the child is suspended from a harness, and their legs enclosed in robotic boots, on top of the conveyor belt.

It does the work of two physiotherapists – holding the child's legs in an upright position to enable the children to walk in the correct walking pattern, to build their muscles required for walking and encourages a more effective application of therapy in all phases of gait training.

“The LokoHelp helps improve physical mobility and also helps with mental focus. We’re delighted that our donation will go towards the purchase of this equipment,” said Geoff.

Click here to find out more about the campaign.