Would you like to support our young community? At the Neuromuscular Centre (NMC), our aim is to assist and enable young people with neuromuscular conditions to achieve their aspirations in life. We are committed to providing life-enhancing opportunities, improving confidence, developing skills and promoting independence for people under 25.

Many young people are offered a fantastic service delivered by local authorities, called Respite. This is to support families, providing them with some much needed 'time out' from a caring role. Generally, the young person will be offered a place in a hospice or care home for some temporary respite care. Hospices do a phenomenal job without question, but we question the suitability of the environment. Whilst most young people with neuromuscular conditions need day-to-day practical physical care, they also crave challenges and independence.

Instead of spending a week in a hospice or care home, we want our young people to experience a week of adventure! Time to grow, be themselves, forge new friendships and have some much-needed 'time out' too. This is an opportunity to change what 'Respite' traditionally looks like, potentially a blueprint for future local authority offerings to young people and their families.

We are planning a week of challenges, skill building and adventure at an outdoor residential activity centre in the Lake District. Young people will be able to participate in rock climbing, canoeing, orienteering, exploring and hopefully lots of socialising in the local area. This is a chance to experience independent living, a space to discover who they are and to test their own limits. Our young people are no different to any others, and we want respite to be a positive experience for everyone that will encourage future independence.

In order to make this all happen, we need to raise the money! Our proposal is to electric pedal in the NMC gym collectively, 100 miles there and 100 miles back from NMC to the Bendrigg Trust in the Lake District. This will also be a great way to improve our physical health and wellbeing in conjunction with Muscle Month. Our Young Persons Coach Lorraine Woolley, the driving force behind this project, will be joining our young people in this challenge.

 We would be incredibly grateful if you could help to make this wonderful project happen. Please help us if you can. We are doing it with Pedal Power - Peddling our way to future independence for the young people of The NMC!