Rockinghorse and Chailey Heritage Foundation work together

Rockinghorse and Chailey Heritage Foundation have joined up in a plea to the local community...

Rockinghorse and Chailey Heritage Foundation have joined up in a plea to the local community to help raise funds for the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Chailey Heritage Foundation, a charity providing education and care for young people with complex neuro-disabilities, is a long-term partner of Rockinghorse and has stepped in to support the latest campaign pledging to raise funds to purchase 12 emergency camp beds for parents for the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital.

About the campaign

The beds will be available to parents so they can stay with their children during their hospital stay. Hospital staff are using more bed space than they would normally for sick children during the current Covid-19 outbreak which means that there is little or no space for parents to be able to stay with their children.

A hospital stay can be scary for anyone, let alone a child, so knowing that they have the comfort and support of their parents being by their side is a great benefit to their recovery. These beds mean that instead of sleeping on a mattress on the floor, they will be able to get the rest they need to manage what can be a very stressful time.

Hippotherapy session at Chailey Heritage Foundation

A long-standing relationship

Rockinghorse have a long-standing relationship with Chailey Heritage and currently fund the hippotherapy sessions run for the children at the foundation. In addition, many of the children at Chailey are regular visitors to the Alex in Brighton due to their complex health conditions.

Ryan Heal, Rockinghorse CEO, explains how the collaboration came about and why continuing to help fund projects like this is so important in the current climate; “The NHS is under tremendous pressure and our funding is even more necessary than ever. However, like many other charities during this crisis, our funds are seriously depleted due to many of our fundraising events being cancelled or postponed.

“When Chailey Heritage approached me to support our campaign it showed a sense of understanding and compassion that’s hugely welcome at this time and to say we are incredibly grateful to them is an understatement. It’s very special to see two charities come together in this way.”

Sally-Anne Murray, Development Director for Chailey Heritage, said “whilst we still need to raise funds for our specialist services, we are absolutely delighted to be supporting Rockinghorse with their appeal at this difficult time for families.  The Alex Children’s Hospital is the first point of call when the young people at Chailey Heritage need emergency care and Rockinghorse have been great supporters and friends of Chailey Heritage over many years, so we are thrilled to be able to help in any we can.”

If you would like to donate to this great campaign to help children and families during their hospital stays at the Alex, please click here to visit the special Just Giving page.