A FITNESS instructor is raising money for the charity opposite her house so it can carry on “changing children’s lives”.

Karen Smith, of Crescent Road, South Woodford, started her own fitness and nutrition business called Fitgirlslim two years ago after the company she worked for went bust.

Since 2014, the 53-year-old mother-of-two has chosen a different charity to support every year, encouraging her clients to get behind her by going to fundraising fitness classes and charity balls.

This year, Mrs Smith has chosen to support cerebral palsy children’s charity The Rose Walton Centre, which can be found just a stone’s throw away from her home in Mill Grove.

She said: “Last year I decided to raise money for the British Heart Foundation after my husband Graham had to go through major heart surgery.

“This year I wanted to choose a smaller charity, and one that was much more locally-based.

“The Rose Walton Centre have been on my doorstep for years, so living so close to them, I know they’re hugely deserving. They really change children's lives."

The centre was set up to help 0-five-year-olds with motor learning needs in 1992 after its founder Pauline Tingey’s grandson was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

But being such a small centre with very limited funding, Mrs Smith says it is more important than ever the local community gets behind them.

She said: “The work they do is so ground-breaking and so incredible – they get children who are told they are never going to walk or talk to the point where they can go to a mainstream school.

“But they are a very very small organisation and if they don’t have people supporting them, they will have to close.

“I’ve raised thousands for my chosen charities over the last few years, so I’m hoping to do the same again.”

Fitgirlslim is hosting a ball in aid of the Rose Walton Centre at Morello Ristorante in High Road on October 15, followed by a sponsored ‘aerobathon’ at Caterham High School in Clayhall on November 20.

Mrs Smith is also donating £1 to the centre for every one of her healthy recipe books she sells and offering a ‘bring a friend for a fiver’ deal on her fitness classes to help raise more money.

The centre’s senior facilitating manager Jessica O’ Brien says staff are delighted to have such keen local support.

She said: “It’s great to get the help and support of the local community, because without enough money we can’t keep the centre going.

“We rely on donations to carry on doing what we do, which is hard work sometimes, but very rewarding.

“Watching a parent listen to their child’s first words when they have been told they’ll never say anything is incredible.

“More money will mean better equipment for the kids, which would be great.”

For more information on how to support The Rose Walton Centre, see the website.

http://www.rosewaltoncentre.org.uk/