He can now look his friends in the eye.  He can give his mum a hug.  He can play football. And it’s all because of a big hearted gift from his local community…

Fifteen year old Scott Osprey has cerebral palsy and has been confined to a wheel chair all of his life.  But on Valentine’s Day this year the teenager from New Mossley was given a present which has changed his life.

His mum Debbie takes up the story: “He was given the loan of a stand-up wheelchair for a weekend, which gave him a choice to stand or sit.  He went to church that Sunday and the Church said that they wanted to help…”

But after that weekend the family had to hand the chair back - it cost over £12,000 and Debbie concedes they weren’t that hopeful of reaching anywhere near their target.  But within 12 weeks, thanks to generous fund-raising efforts from the church and local community, the money had been raised.

“Scott didn’t know that the chair had been ordered,” says Debbie. “It was Valentine’s Day and we went to church.  Ian, the minister, called Scott up and handed him a card which had been signed by the entire church.  Then when Scott turned back round the chair was there.  He was gobsmacked, everyone was crying…”

Since then Scott has loved embracing the new dimension to life that the chair has gifted him with.  “All he wanted to do on his birthday was to make tea for me and his dad and his grandparents,” says Debbie. “He’s joined the youth club, he’s able to play football, and to go to Tescos on his own.”

The minister of New Mossley Rev Ian McDonald says he was blown away by the response of the community: “It was incredible, I never dreamt we would raise the money.  The generosity of everyone has been overwhelming.

“New Mossley gets so much bad press and yet here is such a really good story…”