Please sponsor me for running the London Marathon on behalf of Christopher Place.

Christopher Place, a truly remarkable school, supports deaf children and children with highly complex speech and language disorders. In language development, every year under the age of 7 is worth 10 years over the age of  7 and therefore getting young children the help they need early is absolutely crucial. It is a tragedy that state assistance is virtually non-existent for these children as the state does not have responsibilities until the children are of school age and in consequence the lives of children can be destroyed before they have even started.

Christopher place was established to help these children, to give them and their families hope, help and a chance of having a normal life. It is an incredible facility, very small class sizes, 6 or 7 children with up to 3 specialist teachers, who are teachers and speech therapists. This dynamic and specialised intervention enables the children to progress language if it is at all possible, giving them an opportunity to  move towards a mainstream education.

Why is this School so special to me? The answer is because it was my youngest son, Ben's, first ever school. Aged 2½, he was diagnosed as having a fundamental semantic and pragmatic language disorder and we were told that in all likelihood, he would never be able to communicate verbally. However with the specilalist support of Christopher Place, Ben did develop language and eventually progressed to mainstream education.

Ben was the first child to enter Christopher Place and it is so very poignant that this year he has commenced a degree at York University, studying History.

Other children just like Ben, did not and do not have the opportunity to go to Christopher Place, they can not raise the finance and the local authority do not help. These children do not have a chance.

Back in 1995 I pleaded with the school to raise finance to help these children and I suggested becoming a London Marathon Gold Bond Charity. The school applied and became registered and in the first year of registration back in 1999 I ran the London Marathon on behalf of Christopher Place raising over £18,000. This paid for a child to attend the school for 5 terms. Please help me raise even more this time.

Please, please,  give generously, the money we raise will change the lives of these young children, I know, first hand.

With the new 50% tax relief on gift aid ( if you are a 50% tax payer!) there is the added benefit! Companies or individuals can claim gift aid relief.

If you wish to donate by cheque, please simply make the cheque payable to Christopher Place and send to me at my business address, Len Siskind, Hazlems Fenton, Palladium House 1/4 Argyll Street, London W1F 7LD.

Thank you so much.

Len

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