CCPS - Chanctonbury Community Playscheme for special needs children

1977:  thirty-five years ago, near Chanctonbury Ring in West Sussex. In a quiet corner of a quiet town, a very special group of people realised that there was - and still is - a desperate need for fun, safe respite care for people with special needs. As this group was primarily made up of mothers who had children with mental and physical disabilities, they knew exactly what their children and others like them needed. These people went on to start the summer holiday play scheme known as CCPS. 

The children and volunteers
play parachute games in
the drama room.

Since that day, many other people have joined the organisation, mostly as volunteers and often devoting many, many years to working with children with special needs. The charity has grown from strength to strength and now runs for four weeks every summer holiday for approximately 70 children every day.


These children, who range in age from 5 to 19 years old, have a diverse range of complex needs. These include well-known conditions like Autism, Cerebral Palsy, ADHD or Downs Syndrome as well individuals with Profound Multiple Learning Difficulties or

Science Sunday - The Week As I See It

Clearly I am new to this blogging malarkey. And also clearly, not being the world's most avid exercise enthusiast, some weeks I am going to struggle to provide relevant anecdotes on the ongoing Tough Mudder training struggle. Not unless you want more posts like:

"Did some skipping. Knackered now. Ate cake.

-Note: for 'some' read 'a very little' and insert 'quite a lot' between 'ate' and 'cake'."

Fancy that? Thought not. So today, having had a terrible weekend exercise-wise - my father's birthday (lots of lovely food, wine and a massive restaurant bill) coincided with an unfortunate time of the month (lying on the sofa groaning and generally being a mardy cow) to produce what is possibly an all-time low in movement let alone actual exercise - I decided to write about a few things that have interested me, science-wise, this week.