Georgia Williams Appeal: Youngsters share their stories

The Georgia Williams Trust provides grants for 11 to 18-year-olds to chase their dreams and give back to their communities, just as the 17-year-old from Wellington did.

The Shropshire Star has launched a text donation campaign to make giving to the trust even easier.

One special young lady who has benefited from a £250 grant from the trust is 11-year-old Emma from Telford.

When Emma was born at 25 weeks, weighing just 1lb 8oz, her parents did not know if she would survive.

Doctors told them to prepare for the worst and mother Lindsy Lloyd, 33, of Maple Close, Trench, took devastating steps of planning her baby girl's funeral.

But against all odds little Emma battled through and is now a bright and enthusiastic girl who is looking forward to going to secondary school at Hadley Learning Community in September.

Emma has cerebral palsy, a neurological condition which affects movement and co-ordination.

The Muxton Primary School pupil has continued to defy doctors who said she would never walk but needs a wheelchair as she cannot manage long periods of time on her feet.

But the youngster found a standard NHS wheelchair heavy and bulky and felt it was holding her back from joining in the activities her school friends were enjoying.

So Mrs Lloyd began fundraising for the £5,000 needed for a specialist chair which could be adapted to enable Emma to join in with sports.

When the Georgia William Trust offered £250 towards Emma's new chair, Mrs Lloyd said they were "over the moon".

She said: "Emma was born at 25 weeks. She weighed 1lb 8oz. Both her lungs collapsed, she had several chest infections and she had a bleed on her brain which meant she had cerebral palsy.

HOW TO GIVE TO THE GEORGIA WILLIAMS APPEAL:

It's easy to give:

• By text: Text FERR31 followed by the amount you want to give to 70070 - for example, to give £5, text FERR31£5

• By post: Send a cheque payable to The Georgia Williams Trust to Georgia Appeal, Newsdesk, Shropshire Star, Ketley, Telford TF1 5HU

• From your bank account: Log on to thegeorgiawilliamstrust.org for details

"We prepared for her not being here. We put everything into a funeral because we didn't think she would pull through.

"Her muscles are constantly tense in her legs so she has to have leg splints to stretch the muscles out so that her feet are at 90 degree angles so that she can walk.

"Doctors said she would never walk at all but my husband and I said: 'We're not having that as a diagnosis'.

"We used to do standing games and see how many steps she could take without falling over.

"And now she can walk around the whole of Ikea.

"She was absolutely shattered afterwards but she did it.

"With her going up to senior school in September she needed a lighter wheelchair because she is going to be propelling herself.

"The NHS don't provide anything so we said: 'Look, we are going to have to fund this ourselves'."

A specialist lightweight wheelchair with a bolt on bike to allow Emma to join in sports was priced at more than £5,000.

"So as and when she wants to take part in track and field, no problem, she can bolt the bike on and off she goes," said Mrs Lloyd.

She said the £250 grant from the Georgia Williams Trust helped them to achieve the dream of mobility for Emma as she starts the next stage of her education.

"We started off thinking how we were going to fund this. We had no savings.

"People have given £2 or £3 and it's all mounted up and when Richard Langton, chairman of the Georgia Williams Trust, said we would like to offer you £250 it was absolutely fantastic. It's such a lovely way of honouring Georgia's memory. What a fabulous thing to do. It's such a beautiful way to help other people. It gives hope to everyone else."

Meanwhile, fundraising went full circle at New College in Telford where Georgia studied.

Students raised money for the trust by a series of events including the Three Peaks Challenge, music event Ferret Fest, a football shoot-out, dress down days and wristband sales.

And three New College students went on to receive a grant from the trust to support the cost of a college trip to Morocco in March.

Travel and tourism students Molly Harvey, Mary Cox and Libby McKendrick worked in the village of Imlil where they helped to repair irrigation channels damaged by flooding.

They also helped children in a primary school and spent a day visiting the ancient imperial city of Marrakech.

On their return the girls created a photo collage of the time they spent in Marrakech and presented it to Georgia's parents Steve and Lynnette Williams.

Molly said: "Taking part in the Morocco trip has enabled me to learn about another culture, help those less fortunate than us and gave me an unforgettable experience."

Libby said: "Spending time with the children in the Berber Primary School and working with members of the local community to help repair the irrigation channels was a very rewarding experience. I wouldn't have been able to have that experience without the grant from the Georgia Williams Trust."

And Mary said: "Without the Georgia Williams Trust I wouldn't have been able to experience the things I did in Morocco.

"I have the memories I have and friends I made.

"I had the most amazing time that will stay with me forever.

"It's an experience I will never forget and would do again in a heartbeat."

Five members of a youth amateur dramatics group were given the opportunity to tread the boards in a professional theatre 10 times the size of their own, thanks to a grant from the Georgia Williams Trust.

Member of The Belfrey Theatre in Wellington – James Cahill, Jessica Bracken, Victoria Cooper, Cameron Duncan and Leah Johnson – were part of a cast of 11 who performed in the Isle of Man.

Lynne Shepherd, youth theatre leader, said: "They put their play DNA by Dennis Kelly into the festival at the Gaiety Theatre in the Isle of Man and it gained a few awards there so they did really, really well.

"This is the first time they've ever performed in a theatre any distance away so it was a great opportunity for them.

"The grant went towards their travel and accommodation. Some of the members knew Georgia quite well so they were really pleased they could do something in memory of her.

"They were very upset about her and were coming to theatre feeling really down so it was nice to have that positive thing for them to work towards."