Hannah sitting in her powerchair outside White Lodge. Hannah is wearing a pale pink hoodie, blue and pink striped fitness leggings, splints and purple trainers. She is smiling at the camera and pointing to the White Lodge sign. The sign says 'White Lodge' in red writing, 'providing services for children, young people and adults with disabilities' below in black, and then 'Enabling Ability' in red at the bottom of the sign. There are trees in the background.
disabled people,  Fundraising,  Hospital and rehabilitation,  White Lodge

All About White Lodge

29 October 2023 / 2 Comments

White Lodge is a charity that supports over 1200 disabled children, young people and adults, their families and carers in Surrey. The centre is based in Chertsey, next to St Peter’s Hospital.

Who Does White Lodge Help?

Many people think of White Lodge as a centre for children with Cerebral Palsy, as this is who it was initially set up for, over 60 years ago. They are unaware of all the facilities and groups they provide.

They mainly support people with neurological illnesses such as: Cerebral Palsy, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, Stroke, Motor Neurones Disease, Spinal injuries, brain injuries, injuries as a result of accidents, Autism and more.

Hannah sitting in her powerchair in the gym at Rendezvous, White Lodge. Hannah is wearing a pale pink hoodie, blue and pink striped fitness leggings, splints and purple trainers. She is pointing at the White Lodge logo behind her and there is a physio plinth to her right.
Hannah in the Rendezvous gym at White Lodge

What Does White Lodge Do?

Pathways

White Lodge has a children’s centre called Pathways where they provide physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy and there is a nursery for disabled and non-disabled children. The integration of both disabled and non-disabled children benefits all the children. It is particularly nice when there are twins, for example when one twin has a disability e.g. Cerebral Palsy and one doesn’t, as they can be at nursery together. They don’t have to be split up, due to another nursery not being able to deal with one twin’s disability.

Hannah sitting in her powerchair outside, Pathways- the children's centre, White Lodge. Hannah is wearing a pale pink hoodie, blue and pink striped fitness leggings, splints and purple trainers. She is smiling at the camera.
Hannah outside Pathways at White Lodge

Hydrotherapy

The hydrotherapy pool has just undergone refurbishment. It is a wonderful place enjoyed by children and adults for therapy, and young people in respite and playschemes for swimming and fun. Something they wouldn’t be able to do elsewhere.

Hannah swimming front crawl in the White Lodge hydrotherapy pool.
Hannah swimming in the White Lodge hydrotherapy pool

Treetops

The respite centre ‘Treetops’, provides short breaks for young people aged 12-18 with complex disabilities. It is a lifeline for parents and sibling carers. Often giving them that respite enabling them to cope the rest of the time.

Playschemes and Youth Clubs

Playschemes for 4-18 year olds are run in the holidays across several of the Surrey Boroughs. Enabling parents and their child to have access to what others have readily available.

The pulse club includes a Saturday club for 18-25 year olds. A place where they can enjoy doing things young people do, and be young people.

Rendezvous 

Rendezvous is the adult building, they provide physiotherapy and fitness sessions in the well-equipped gym, as well as group therapy sessions for illnesses such as MS and Parkinson’s. 

Hannah sitting in her powerchair in the gym at Rendezvous, White Lodge. Hannah is wearing a pale pink hoodie, blue and pink striped fitness leggings, splints and purple trainers. There is a treadmill behind her and on the wall in red it says: 'White Lodge' then below 'A world inclusive to all regardless of ability.'
Hannah at in the gym at Rendezvous, White Lodge

Leisure and Life hold day groups where adults come each week, sometimes several days a week. They are looked after and enjoy participating in art, crafts, games, computer skills, gardening, trips out and more.

And there is much more that I have not touched upon.

How Much Does It Cost to Run?

It costs over 2.7 million pounds to run the services at White Lodge each year, of which they have to raise £500,000.

Having a disability is not easy for both the individual and their family, whether a child or adult, but having access to the right support ,and that support being available, makes things a lot easier.

Becoming disabled has had a big impact on me and my family, it is life changing. I think it is important to remember that disability can strike anyone at any time, young or old. Often we think it won’t happen to us, or our family, and disability is only something that you are born with.

My White Lodge Story

When I came home from hospital and the neurological centre in 2012 aged 21 my Mum found White Lodge. As somewhere that specializes in neurological illnesses, they could deal with my complex needs, where as other local services couldn’t. 

Since then, I have been going to White Lodge twice a week, once for physiotherapy or fitness and once for hydrotherapy. They have helped me to continue to make slow, but steady progress. 

Hannah on the motomed in the Rendezvous gym at White Lodge.
Hannah cycling on the Motomed at White Lodge

I love being in the warm hydrotherapy pool at White Lodge. It helps my muscles relax and helps with my pain. It is also where I stood for the first time with a lot of support from therapists. The water is the one place where once I have settled, I can independently move around by swimming. I have relearnt to swim and can now swim well, mainly with my arms. 

In 2018 I took my first step in 13.5 years in the hydrotherapy pool. This was quite an achievement. I still need to use a powerchair, but I can now take some steps in my house, with the support of my specialist splints, four wheeled walker and someone with me. This is quite an improvement from where I was many years ago.

 Ambassador

I am proud to be an Ambassador for White Lodge. I speak at many White Lodge events, and speak raising awareness of the centre at fundraising events, including: the Brownies, Guides, Scouts, Golf days, choir concerts to name a few.

Hannah speaking at choir concert about White Lodge, where their chosen chairty they were raising money for was white Lodge.
Hannah speaking at a fundraising event for White Lodge

White Lodge Has No Age Boundaries 

So many charities stop when you reach eighteen, or only help adults. However, in general there is a lot more support for children than adults. 

I think it is great that they supports disabled people of all ages.

White Lodge Has No Age Boundaries 

As someone who has had their injury as a child and then became too old for children’s services, and struggled to find new services that met my needs. I think it is great that White Lodge supports disabled children, young people and adults. Those children grow up and need to access the same high-quality support as they did when they were a child, to continue to thrive and have a good quality of life.

As White Lodge says in their strapline: let’s strive for a world inclusive to all regardless of ability.

Hannah x

You may be interested in reading: What One Thing You Wished Non-Disabled People Knew Or Understood

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