Story
The Finlay Foundation is a small charity that was set up in
memory of a beautiful little boy Finlay Joseph who was run over by the
school bus in 2011. His parents set up the charity which now supports children in a variety of ways. They have donated toys, furniture, art materials, specialist sensory equipment to children's hospital wards, hospices, special needs centres, refuges for women & children and community charity groups in Wiltshire, Somerset, Bristol, Hampshire, Gloucestershire & Dorset. They have also bought a specialist sailing dingy for a Bristol based charity that takes children with both physical & emotional needs sailing around Bristol harbour.
The Finlay Foundation has also provided equipment to an
equine therapy centre in Wiltshire. The centre helps children with emotional problems using the horses in addition of a child psychotherapist. The charity have also paid for the refurbishment of a play bus that takes free play sessions to children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Gloucestershire & surrounding counties.
They are hugely passionate about improving child safety and
have donated thousands of high visibility vests to schools and many children's groups including Southbroom Infants School.
The charity has also donated thousands of pounds to both the
Wiltshire Air ambulance & the Great Western Air Ambulance as well as having paid towards funding a doctor's training to become a 'Swift Medic'. All of these charities were involved in the accident.
Their current project is the creation of a new sensory room
at Uplands school in Swindon. The school is for students with severe or
profound multiple learning and physical difficulties.
Finlay’s family want to keep the memory and spirit alive in
a way that would be a fitting tribute to him. Finlay hated to see others upset, regardless of age, he would worry about them and try to make them smile. It is with this in mind that their aim was to set up a foundation that would bring smiles to children's faces.