Celebrations to mark 70 years since the opening of the region's first school to support disabled people were held in North Tyneside today.
The Percy Hedley Foundation, in Killingworth, opened in 1953 with just 12 students and now supports over 600 people across its sites in the North East. It all started when parents Molly and Stephen Darke, whose son Stephen had cerebral palsy, placed an advert in the Evening Chronicle in 1949 appealing for other parents of disabled children to join their fundraising campaign to open a school.
And today one of the first pupils to be supported by the foundation returned to the school to cheer on current students who were taking part in a cycling challenge. She also reflected on her time at the site.
Read more: Join ChronicleLive's Whatsapp community for breaking news and top stories
Jenny Young boarded at the school from the age of six and is now residing at Chipchase House residential home, in Benton - one of the largest residential sites within the Percy Hedley Foundation. The 76-year-old, who is originally from Seaburn, said: "It's come along in heaps and bounds since I was here.
"It's good to see everything happening and good to see people making a life." She added: "I've had a lot of lovely times. I think people think that because you're in a chair you're different, but you're not."
Jenny explained that arriving at the school for the first time as a young girl was "frightening" because she had never been away from home before. But she soon settled in with her fellow students and her parents "got a shock" when she wrote a letter to them to say she was enjoying her time at the school.
She resided in a dormitory with six beds during her first years at the school and bed time was at 6pm each day. Her favourite subject was English and she enjoyed attending Girl Guides every Wednesday, which was also held at the school.
However, Jenny, who left the school aged 16, said that one of her fondest memories at Percy Hedley was when Princess Diana paid a special visit after a pupil wrote to her asking if she would come to the school. "She was lovely", Jenny added.
The Percy Hedley Foundation has provided 30 million hours of education, therapy and care for children and adults since it began and now employs 1,050 people across two primary schools, a college, four residential homes, and an adult learning service. It is the largest education and care provider in the North East for people with physical or learning disabilities including people who are deaf, blind and autistic.
Molly and Stephen Darke made it their mission to open the school and teamed up with parents who would go from pub to pub in Newcastle collecting donations to launch Percy Hedley.
There was a trend in the 1950s where pub customers would dip a penny in a pint and build tall, wide towers of the coins on the bar to donate to charity – the beer would act as a glue. Legend has it, the group used to wash the coins in a bath before banking it.
When the first school opened in February 1953, there were 12 pupils - including Stephen Darke who stayed in the care of the Percy Hedley Foundation throughout his life until he died last year.
To commemorate seven decades of revolutionising the care of disabled people in the region, today a number of current pupils cycled alongside long-time-fundraiser and friend of the charity, Jonny Connop, who is attempting his toughest challenge yet for the foundation by taking on the challenge of cycling to 'space'.
The 44-year-old, from Forest Hall, is cycling an average of 1000 feet in elevation every day on his bike throughout 2023, until he reaches the equivalent of space – at 364,000 ft. And today he took his challenge to Percy Hedley where some of the primary school age pupils cycled around a track on bucket seat bikes, trikes, and go carts, alongside Jonny.
Jonny said: "I'm just about half way to target now. I enjoy seeing where the money for the school goes. The last challenge I did helped to fund a sensory room and I've raised over 10k in the past."
Jonny's previous challenges for The Percy Hedley Foundation include completing the America Coast to Coast and Scotland North Coast 500. More information and how to donate to Jonny's fundraiser can be found on his JustGiving page here.
