A HOUSING developers helped a Swindon charity which supports people with Down's Syndrome and their families and carers.

Persimmon Homes Wessex gave £1,000 to the Swindon Down's Syndrome Group as part of its Community Champions scheme.

For more than 10 years, the charity has offered a broad range of services and support from the moment a child is born right through to adulthood.

It has tailor-made resource packs to help at every stage of a child’s development, with a specially designed pack for new parents.

Kim West, from the charity, said: “We are so proud to have received this funding.

“This money will be going towards our project of speech and language therapy for children and young people with Down’s Syndrome.

“For all of us being able to communicate is such a basic need and is part of our everyday life, but it is very difficult for our young people, which is why we pay to provide this vital service to them.

“It enables our young people to communicate choice, feelings, needs and allows them to socialise and in turn speak for themselves.

“Communication is a fundamental part of our ability to be a part of our workplaces, communities and families so without the help of schemes like this, we would not be able to continue to provide weekly speech therapy for our young people.

“We are all extremely grateful to have received this money and once again would like to extend our most sincere thanks to Persimmon Homes.”

Persimmon makes £64,000 a month available to fund community initiatives in the UK.

Sales director Pauline Fletcher said: “We’re really excited to be supporting Swindon Down’s Syndrome Group this month and hope this £1,000 will be of great use to them.

“I think it’s great they provide lots of group activities for local people with Down’s Syndrome giving them an opportunity to socialise and make friends.

“The fact the charity was recently recognised with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service shows just how hard the team works and how important this service is for the local area.”