Wigan borough construction company raising money for local care home

The team at Structures Group, based in Leigh, is cycling the equivalent distance of Land’s End to John O’Groats to raise money for an interactive entertainment trolley for the residents of Heathside.

Office manager Toni Howarth said: “At Structures Group we pride ourselves on supporting our community whenever we can. We work closely with lots of charities and community groups and always run a fund-raising campaign at Christmas, so when we heard about Heathside’s fund-raising to buy the Jolly Trolley we thought it would be the perfect cause for us to get involved with.

"This cause is very personal to me as my mum works at Heathside, and knows first-hand what an amazing difference this will make to the lives of the people she supports.

"Dementia is something that effects so many people’s lives, so I feel really fortunate to be in a position to help with the support of Structures.

"We’ve set ourselves the challenge of cycling the distance from Land’s End to John O’Groats. It’s 874 miles (1,407 km) if you were to follow the traditional path along the roads, so it will certainly be a challenge! The office team have pledged to cycle every day, but we’re also hoping to rope in some of our site operatives and any visitors we get to the office – you have been warned!”

The Jolly Trolley is a self contained, mobile interactive entertainment trolley that uses the latest technology and incorporates sensory lights with vision to bring the benefits of music, song, reminiscence and fun to everyone in a care home environment, wherever they may be.

Admin officer Louise Edwards said:

“We at Heathside are raising funds for our residents to enable us to purchase a Jolly Trolley. Heathside Residential is a 23-bedded unit based in Leigh for the elderly living with dementia.

"We feel that every one of our residents would benefit from the Jolly Trolley as this can be personalised to each individual’s interests.

"The Jolly Trolley can be used for themed events and it’s possible to upload new data for each individual resident to personalise the experience to them by displaying pictures of their loved ones and replaying family moments captured on video.

"As the Jolly Trolley is also portable this enables us to use all around our home ensuring that we can cater for everyone even individuals with poor mobility.”

The challenge is taking four weeks. Donations can be made on the crowdfunding page.