CHILDREN'S rugby charity Wooden Spoon has donated £12,000 to provide new equipment to help provide the very best physiotherapy for disabled children at the Footsteps Centre.

Money has been used by the centre in Dorchester near Abingdon to buy Treax Pads, which are composed of several different coloured pads that respond to the touch of hands or feet.

The pads help improve motor and cognitive skills in a fun way so that the therapists can create individual exercises to help children at the centre with balance, coordination and weight-bearing.

Staff have also bought Happy Rehab, which works with the user playing computer games requiring specific movements that activate specific muscles and the game can be adjusted for each child.

Manager of the Footsteps Centre Kirsty Dawson said: "Having this new equipment means we have new techniques to help the children who come to us and to help us provide cutting edge physiotherapy.

"It is a fantastic new development for the centre and helps us to offer the very best physiotherapy to enable each child to meet their true potential.”

Alice Whilloughby, 10, from Steventon near Abingdon, said: "The Treax Pads and Happy Rehab are so much fun that I don’t really notice the hard work I am putting in!"

Wooden Spoon Oxfordshire chairman John Deeley said: "It's great to see the Wooden Spoon Charity funds being put to such good use.

"This specialist equipment is great for motivating children to work hard which works so well with our own sporty ethos."

The Footsteps Centre, which provides physiotherapy treatment for children with physical and learning difficulties, was launched in Warborough near Wallingford before transferring to Dorchester.

For further information visit footstepscentre.com