STAFF from a county law firm boosted the Megan Baker House appeal by collecting toll fees at Whitney-on-Wye.

The Project Chrysalis Appeal is run by the Hereford Times and aims to raise £35,000 for Megan Baker House (MBH) near Leominster.

Staff from Harrison Clark Rickerbys (HCR) took over Whitney Toll Bridge at the weekend as part of the firm’s support for the charity and raised £366.

The owners of the bridge allows groups and charities to collect the toll fees from 10am to 4pm on allocated days.

Heidi Cooper, from HCR who organised the event, said they also plan to renovate a room at the charity’s Leominster base during the summer with new paint and wall art.

She said: “We’re planning an action day to do this work, and I hope very much that local firms will donate much of the paint and equipment so that the charity benefits even more.”

The charity supports children and adults with special educational needs and neurological motor disorders including cerebral palsy, head injuries, stroke, developmental co-ordination delay and Parkinson’s disease.

Using conductive education, the centre runs a system of sessions to help people to solve everyday difficulties with movement and coordination.

Heidi said: “We had a fantastic day and people were very generous. Huge thanks to Maggie and Grahame who own the bridge for kindly giving up their takings for the day.

“We raised £366 on the day, with hopefully more donations to come. If any local business would like to kindly donate paint and equipment, it would be great if they could get in touch with me at hcooper@hcrlaw.com.”

MBH relies entirely on donations from the public and fundraising events and needs £400,000 each year to run.

It has just received a Children in Need award of £115,620 which will be spread over three years. Each year the charity will receive £37,378 and this is restricted to pay the employment costs of the lead conductive education specialist.

Income from grants account for approximately half of the charity's running cost - the remainder comes from community support, parents and the general public which is why Project Chrysalis is needed.

To donate: visit www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/meganbakerhouse/projectchrysalis or send a cheque to Megan Baker House, Moreton Eye, Leominster, HR6 0DP or call the charity on 01568 616179 to arrange a BACS transfer.